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Music : Sound Affects
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Rating: 
- Really Affecting
So, this is the penultimate album by The Jam. Of course it's fantastic, in my opinion it's their best. In eschewing the rather more slightly bombastic elements of the overall miraculous "Setting Sons" LP from the previous year The Jam here create an aural landscape which refines their obsessive opinions on English life.
It should be said that this album is one of the many miletones in (what is commonly known) as post-punk. Although the most impressive moments come from Paul Weller's nagging realisation that The Jam need to stay one step ahead of any prevailing fashions.
A few random highlights include the sub-funk bassline of the opener "Pretty Green", & the startingly brilliant "Set The House Ablaze" wherein Weller attempts & succeeds in cutting through the post-punk fog while slyly crafting a classic state-of-the nation pop song.
Talking of state-of-the-nation pop songs "That's Entertainment" rings as true for 1980 as it does for 2008. It's surely no coincidence that it's one of Morrissey's more succesful cover versions.
Apart from the all too true feel of the above mentioned songs special mention must be made of "Dream Time" (Joy Division with a shred of optimism?), the closing grind of "Scrape Away" & my own personal favourite "Music For The Last Couple" which sounds like Krautrock filtered through a very English sensibility.
To put it bluntly this is one of those forever classic albums that weirdly consistently get overlooked..... You really should become familiar with it's Wintry charms now.
Rating: - The last in a formidable hat-trick of Jam albums
Described as a cross between Off the Wall: Remastered and Revolver by Paul Weller the Jams fifth studio album is also the last in a formidable trio of albums starting with All Mod Cons and continuing with the blistering Setting Sons. Weller also considers it the bands finest album and listening to it again its difficult to argue with him .....though i will because i prefer Setting Sons buts that a purely subjective thing as much to do with my history as well as any musical connotations.
Released in 1980 Sound Affects cover was a clever pastiche of the Sound Effects records produced by the BBC during the 1970,s . It also heralded a return to the more pop orientated sound of All Mod Cons after the angry punk edged Setting Sons. The music also has classic British psychedelic undertones so redolent of the 1960,s sound of The Kinks, The Who and The Beatles but also brings in elements of the burgeoning post punk movement . All this is melded together well by producers Chris Parry and Vic Coppersmith-Heaven but as usual its the quality of the songs that make the album special.
"Pretty Green" ( the record label Polydor wanted this as the first single off the album but Weller opted for "Start") kicks off with a deceptively simple thrumming Foxton bass line and Weller's trebly stabs of guitar. The lines "this is the pretty green / this is society " have never seemed more apt than they do now. The woozy ruminative "Monday" is followed by the static electricity chords of "But Im Different Now". "Start" is a good song but it is undoubtedly true that the bass line is a rip-off of the Beatles "Taxman" .The acoustic "That Entertainment" is lyrically one of Weller's finest moments and again a prescient view of modern day living though i would hazard a guess that if he were to write a modern version it would be even bleaker . It would be interesting to hear how the former "Red Wedge" member ( Weller infamously also aligned himself with the Tories at one point) views Britain after 10 years of New Labour.
"Dreamtime" is the most direct in the use of psychedelia though the coagulated chords of "Scrape Away" is also draped with overt psychedelic tones while the horn fuelled "Boy About Town" drops broad hints about the more soulful direction the band would take for their next album The Gift. "The Man In The Corner Shop " is a lovely wistful number full of empathy for it,s subjects and even the instrumental ( credited to the whole band) is a cracking tune with neat interplay between the bass and guitar and a tangible ska influence.
Sound Affects is a not just a great album but a great Jam album and that lifts it onto another level all together. Today's whelps could only dream of making an album as great as this. The fact it,s the third such triumph in a row only confirms further , if indeed it really needs confirming , what a special band The Jam were.
Rating: - one of the best
one of my personal faves this album,and in my opinion when the jam"sound" began,the jam were not just a singles band as jam fans loved the album tracks just as much,polydor wanted pretty green released as the single from this album,but paul and producer vic heaven insisted on"start" which in turn gave the band their second number one,thats entertainment was also released as an import single as it did so well in holland and charted high in the uk,with a new era of jam fans coming along this album is a good place to start,besides the two tracks mentioned above theres some hidden gems on here,the brilliant"man in the corner shop.but im different now,boy about town and set the house ablaze stand up to the test of time and should have been hits in thier own right.buy this album you'll not regret it.
Rating: - A classic!
It was Mark Ronson's rendition of Pretty Green that made me want to check this album out again. My memory always told me All Mod Cons was Weller's most artistic achievement with The Jam but listening to Sound Affects again, I find an angular amalgam of bubblegum melody and sharp industrial production - very post punk art pop, very 'now'. In fact I recognise this is the enduring sound of The Jam and not All Mod Cons which, out of context with the Mod Revival sounds more like 'Squeeze' than 'street sharp'.
Though both are great records from a great band, this is the one that has stood the test of time for me.
Rating: - The perfect Jam studio offering?
For many this album represents the musical zenith for The Jam. It is a fantastic album from start to finish in terms of the songwriting. The earlier Setting Sons has few brilliant anthemic tracks such as Thick as Thieves or The Eton Rifles and was intended as a concept album with the themes of friendship over time being the focal point but by Paul Weller's own admission had a few fillers such as Girl on the Phone, Private Hell and the cover of Martha Reeves' Heatwave. This album by contrast is a highly polished offering, perhaps a little too over produced at times and as such saw The Jam going in a new direction. Gone is the earlier raucousness and anger and the imperfect guitar playing and vocals which added something to the songs and at times made them seem rather like live tracks. Instead, this album has a veneer and a polish which firmly established The Jam as a post-punk band.
Weller's vocals are muted and his growth in maturity as both a songwriter and a singer are clear. His voice sounds less angry, the guitar is strummed rather than twanged, Foxton's bass no longer pounds and in songs like The Man In The Corner Shop, Music For The Last Couple, Monday, Dreamtime and That's Entertainment show how musically at least the band produce some "sweet" and melodic music. Even the mandatory Weller rail at society's inequity and the hypocrisy of the establishment, Scrape Away is delivered in a more ironic and sombre rather than vitriolic way.
Nevertheless, the album is masterful. The band have sounded as good but never any better than they do here. For many The Jam existed first and foremost as a live act full of passion and adrenaline and this is as far from that image as the band ever came.
The album probably is as close to mainstream as the band ever came in terms of the music but the real reward for listening to the songs comes with the lyrics. Weller writes such fantasticly here in poetic style (indeed a section from Shelley's Mask of Anarchy is printed on the back of the original vinyl album- Weller's homage to romantic poetry and a hint at his mellowing)and with a clear precision not seen in many young writers of the time. Lyrically, The Jam reach their peak with this album and when you listen, they show that sound does indeed affect.
- Really AffectingSo, this is the penultimate album by The Jam. Of course it's fantastic, in my opinion it's their best. In eschewing the rather more slightly bombastic elements of the overall miraculous "Setting Sons" LP from the previous year The Jam here create an aural landscape which refines their obsessive opinions on English life.
It should be said that this album is one of the many miletones in (what is commonly known) as post-punk. Although the most impressive moments come from Paul Weller's nagging realisation that The Jam need to stay one step ahead of any prevailing fashions.
A few random highlights include the sub-funk bassline of the opener "Pretty Green", & the startingly brilliant "Set The House Ablaze" wherein Weller attempts & succeeds in cutting through the post-punk fog while slyly crafting a classic state-of-the nation pop song.
Talking of state-of-the-nation pop songs "That's Entertainment" rings as true for 1980 as it does for 2008. It's surely no coincidence that it's one of Morrissey's more succesful cover versions.
Apart from the all too true feel of the above mentioned songs special mention must be made of "Dream Time" (Joy Division with a shred of optimism?), the closing grind of "Scrape Away" & my own personal favourite "Music For The Last Couple" which sounds like Krautrock filtered through a very English sensibility.
To put it bluntly this is one of those forever classic albums that weirdly consistently get overlooked..... You really should become familiar with it's Wintry charms now.
Rating:
- The last in a formidable hat-trick of Jam albums Described as a cross between Off the Wall: Remastered and Revolver by Paul Weller the Jams fifth studio album is also the last in a formidable trio of albums starting with All Mod Cons and continuing with the blistering Setting Sons. Weller also considers it the bands finest album and listening to it again its difficult to argue with him .....though i will because i prefer Setting Sons buts that a purely subjective thing as much to do with my history as well as any musical connotations.
Released in 1980 Sound Affects cover was a clever pastiche of the Sound Effects records produced by the BBC during the 1970,s . It also heralded a return to the more pop orientated sound of All Mod Cons after the angry punk edged Setting Sons. The music also has classic British psychedelic undertones so redolent of the 1960,s sound of The Kinks, The Who and The Beatles but also brings in elements of the burgeoning post punk movement . All this is melded together well by producers Chris Parry and Vic Coppersmith-Heaven but as usual its the quality of the songs that make the album special.
"Pretty Green" ( the record label Polydor wanted this as the first single off the album but Weller opted for "Start") kicks off with a deceptively simple thrumming Foxton bass line and Weller's trebly stabs of guitar. The lines "this is the pretty green / this is society " have never seemed more apt than they do now. The woozy ruminative "Monday" is followed by the static electricity chords of "But Im Different Now". "Start" is a good song but it is undoubtedly true that the bass line is a rip-off of the Beatles "Taxman" .The acoustic "That Entertainment" is lyrically one of Weller's finest moments and again a prescient view of modern day living though i would hazard a guess that if he were to write a modern version it would be even bleaker . It would be interesting to hear how the former "Red Wedge" member ( Weller infamously also aligned himself with the Tories at one point) views Britain after 10 years of New Labour.
"Dreamtime" is the most direct in the use of psychedelia though the coagulated chords of "Scrape Away" is also draped with overt psychedelic tones while the horn fuelled "Boy About Town" drops broad hints about the more soulful direction the band would take for their next album The Gift. "The Man In The Corner Shop " is a lovely wistful number full of empathy for it,s subjects and even the instrumental ( credited to the whole band) is a cracking tune with neat interplay between the bass and guitar and a tangible ska influence.
Sound Affects is a not just a great album but a great Jam album and that lifts it onto another level all together. Today's whelps could only dream of making an album as great as this. The fact it,s the third such triumph in a row only confirms further , if indeed it really needs confirming , what a special band The Jam were.
Rating:
- one of the bestone of my personal faves this album,and in my opinion when the jam"sound" began,the jam were not just a singles band as jam fans loved the album tracks just as much,polydor wanted pretty green released as the single from this album,but paul and producer vic heaven insisted on"start" which in turn gave the band their second number one,thats entertainment was also released as an import single as it did so well in holland and charted high in the uk,with a new era of jam fans coming along this album is a good place to start,besides the two tracks mentioned above theres some hidden gems on here,the brilliant"man in the corner shop.but im different now,boy about town and set the house ablaze stand up to the test of time and should have been hits in thier own right.buy this album you'll not regret it.
Rating:
- A classic!It was Mark Ronson's rendition of Pretty Green that made me want to check this album out again. My memory always told me All Mod Cons was Weller's most artistic achievement with The Jam but listening to Sound Affects again, I find an angular amalgam of bubblegum melody and sharp industrial production - very post punk art pop, very 'now'. In fact I recognise this is the enduring sound of The Jam and not All Mod Cons which, out of context with the Mod Revival sounds more like 'Squeeze' than 'street sharp'.
Though both are great records from a great band, this is the one that has stood the test of time for me.
Rating:
- The perfect Jam studio offering?For many this album represents the musical zenith for The Jam. It is a fantastic album from start to finish in terms of the songwriting. The earlier Setting Sons has few brilliant anthemic tracks such as Thick as Thieves or The Eton Rifles and was intended as a concept album with the themes of friendship over time being the focal point but by Paul Weller's own admission had a few fillers such as Girl on the Phone, Private Hell and the cover of Martha Reeves' Heatwave. This album by contrast is a highly polished offering, perhaps a little too over produced at times and as such saw The Jam going in a new direction. Gone is the earlier raucousness and anger and the imperfect guitar playing and vocals which added something to the songs and at times made them seem rather like live tracks. Instead, this album has a veneer and a polish which firmly established The Jam as a post-punk band.
Weller's vocals are muted and his growth in maturity as both a songwriter and a singer are clear. His voice sounds less angry, the guitar is strummed rather than twanged, Foxton's bass no longer pounds and in songs like The Man In The Corner Shop, Music For The Last Couple, Monday, Dreamtime and That's Entertainment show how musically at least the band produce some "sweet" and melodic music. Even the mandatory Weller rail at society's inequity and the hypocrisy of the establishment, Scrape Away is delivered in a more ironic and sombre rather than vitriolic way.
Nevertheless, the album is masterful. The band have sounded as good but never any better than they do here. For many The Jam existed first and foremost as a live act full of passion and adrenaline and this is as far from that image as the band ever came.
The album probably is as close to mainstream as the band ever came in terms of the music but the real reward for listening to the songs comes with the lyrics. Weller writes such fantasticly here in poetic style (indeed a section from Shelley's Mask of Anarchy is printed on the back of the original vinyl album- Weller's homage to romantic poetry and a hint at his mellowing)and with a clear precision not seen in many young writers of the time. Lyrically, The Jam reach their peak with this album and when you listen, they show that sound does indeed affect.