Album: Sound Affects
Artist: The Jam
Born: Woking, Surrey
Released: November 1980
Genre: Mod Rock
Influenced: Billy Bragg, Morrissey, Pulp, Oasis, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys
Like ska revivalists the Specials, the Jam's uniquely British sound was undoubtedly a barrier to commercial success in the US. Though Mod music was partly inspired by 60s soul, its main musical wellspring was the Who (especially Quadrophenia), the Kinks and the Small Faces, and Weller's lyrical concerns were with a post-industrial Britain in decline, his anger expressed in colourful English colloquialisms. By the time of their fifth album, Sound Affects, the Jam had evolved a long way from their early Mod and Dr Feelgood influences, with a sound inspired by 60s psychedelia (especially the Beatles' Revolver) and contemporary post-punk (Go4's Entertainment!) and R&B (Michael Jackson's Off The Wall). Weller was also tapping into that visionary strain of English poetry, notably the likes of Blake and Shelley, mixing romantic images (the two lovers "missing the tranquility of solitude" on That's Entertainment) with everyday boredom ("watching the telly and thinking about your holidays"). It's no wonder that a quintessentially English song like That's Entertainment has been covered by generations of working class poets, from Billy Bragg and Morrissey onwards.
As well as the acerbic social commentary (a Jam speciality from In The City to Eton Rifles), there are also melodic love songs like Monday and mood pieces like Scrape Away, making Sound Affects the Jam's most varied and original album, and a template for Paul Weller's solo records. Album opener Pretty Green harks back to the Jam's early sound before the band starts shooting off in new directions, with Start! a new departure in style and content, its lyrics exploring how technological advances are causing human communication to go backwards. Just as the guitar riff on Start! is a carbon copy of the Beatles' Taxman, so too was the opening riff of Set The House Ablaze sampled unashamedly by Bloc Party on Helicopter. Monday is one of many songs indebted to the 60s (and the upbeat, downbeat sequencing of its albums' tracks), with lyrics full of yearning for a school sweetheart and phrasing that seems to owe a debt to Bowie's Love You Till Tuesday. Man In The Corner Shop is in the same vein as That's Entertainment, with its small insightful details about modern city life, while Scrape Away is more in line with Go4 and Wire post-punk, its strong bass line and political focus giving it a sharp edge. This is easily the most essential of the Jam's records and its album cover is one of the best of the 80s.
P.S. There's a story in Bob Stanley's Yeah Yeah Yeah about the Jam capping ticket prices for their gigs and finishing early enough so that fans could make their way home on public transport. Hard to imagine that kind of old-fashioned sense of decency catching on nowadays.
Like ska revivalists the Specials, the Jam's uniquely British sound was undoubtedly a barrier to commercial success in the US. Though Mod music was partly inspired by 60s soul, its main musical wellspring was the Who (especially Quadrophenia), the Kinks and the Small Faces, and Weller's lyrical concerns were with a post-industrial Britain in decline, his anger expressed in colourful English colloquialisms. By the time of their fifth album, Sound Affects, the Jam had evolved a long way from their early Mod and Dr Feelgood influences, with a sound inspired by 60s psychedelia (especially the Beatles' Revolver) and contemporary post-punk (Go4's Entertainment!) and R&B (Michael Jackson's Off The Wall). Weller was also tapping into that visionary strain of English poetry, notably the likes of Blake and Shelley, mixing romantic images (the two lovers "missing the tranquility of solitude" on That's Entertainment) with everyday boredom ("watching the telly and thinking about your holidays"). It's no wonder that a quintessentially English song like That's Entertainment has been covered by generations of working class poets, from Billy Bragg and Morrissey onwards.
As well as the acerbic social commentary (a Jam speciality from In The City to Eton Rifles), there are also melodic love songs like Monday and mood pieces like Scrape Away, making Sound Affects the Jam's most varied and original album, and a template for Paul Weller's solo records. Album opener Pretty Green harks back to the Jam's early sound before the band starts shooting off in new directions, with Start! a new departure in style and content, its lyrics exploring how technological advances are causing human communication to go backwards. Just as the guitar riff on Start! is a carbon copy of the Beatles' Taxman, so too was the opening riff of Set The House Ablaze sampled unashamedly by Bloc Party on Helicopter. Monday is one of many songs indebted to the 60s (and the upbeat, downbeat sequencing of its albums' tracks), with lyrics full of yearning for a school sweetheart and phrasing that seems to owe a debt to Bowie's Love You Till Tuesday. Man In The Corner Shop is in the same vein as That's Entertainment, with its small insightful details about modern city life, while Scrape Away is more in line with Go4 and Wire post-punk, its strong bass line and political focus giving it a sharp edge. This is easily the most essential of the Jam's records and its album cover is one of the best of the 80s.
P.S. There's a story in Bob Stanley's Yeah Yeah Yeah about the Jam capping ticket prices for their gigs and finishing early enough so that fans could make their way home on public transport. Hard to imagine that kind of old-fashioned sense of decency catching on nowadays.
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