Sound Affects

Product Information

The cover art is a pastiche of the artwork used on various Sound Effects records produced by the BBC during the 1970s.

Okay, a Jam album seemingly cut to my exact measurements. A group who always wore their influences like they were medals, Sound Affects has the Jam asking to be rewarded for quoting Gang of Four and and Wire. And I'm perfectly happy to give them such a nod, considering that this is rather fabbo. Paul Weller was barely 22 when he started recording Sound Affects, his fifth album in just over 3 years. He was reading histories of Camelot alongside the romanticism of Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Blake, obsessing over The Beatles’ Revolver, and delving further into his disillusionment with the political and social climate that had prevailed in England at the end of the 1970s. During the same time, Weller apparently had a ‘thing’ for electricity pylons. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. There cannot be much more said about the album’s masterful centerpiece 'That’s Entertainment' that hasn’t been already. It’s a piece of urban art in league with Banksy – about finding beauty in the little noticed and sometimes maligned details of the grey mood and mundane routines of city life. The unsubtle words are accompanied by simple acoustic instrumentation, all appropriately stripped down for a tune that needs no bells and whistles. However, even this monster tune is not without influences worn brazenly. The lyrics take inspiration from a poem by the young poet Paul Drew called 'Entertainment' and Weller favourites The Small Faces’ 'Itchycoo Park' lends the spinal chords to the intro. Sound Affects sold over 100,000 copies and spent 19 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, rising to number two in late 1980. [6] [7] [8] In the United States, the album spent 11 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart and reached its peak position of number 72 in February 1981. [9]Bubbling Under the Top LPs". Billboard. Vol.90, no.5. 4 February 1978. p.30 . Retrieved 25 March 2021. And of course, we can’t forget the familiar ‘angry young man’ tunes that The Jam’s frontman was so well known for. The dystopian 'Set the House Ablaze' serves up an aggressive portrayal of a society being misled. Weller, not often one to understate in political reference, cites the Reichstag fire that cemented the Nazi Party’s hold over Germany as a comparison to the current political climate in England. Sinclair, Paul (23 October 2012). "The Jam / Classic Album Selection". Super Deluxe Edition . Retrieved 25 March 2021.

Top Selling Albums of 1981 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Recorded Music New Zealand . Retrieved 1 February 2022. Sound Affects (liner notes). The Jam. Polydor Records. 1980. POLD 5035. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link) The Jam were seen as the centre of mod revival culture during the 1970s to the 1980s, and the lead singer of the band, Paul Weller, was seen as The Modfather. The band separated in 1982, following ten years active, and five years of success. Shortly after the band's break-up, Weller went on to form The Style Council, before embarking on a solo career and releasing his first studio album, which was self-titled, in 1992.Jam - The Bitterest Pill I Ever Had to Swallow". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved 25 March 2021. Bubbling Under the Top LPs". Billboard. Vol.91, no.19. 12 May 1979. p.27 . Retrieved 25 March 2021.

Besides these firm 60s roots, Sound Affects stands up superbly over many of its now-dated contemporaries. In fact, the opening stabs of guitar in 'Music For The Last Couple' (the only song here credited to all band members) is just waiting to be snapped up by one of these post-post-punk, new-new-wave groups like Chapel Club and the melody of Weller’s ode to human nature 'Man In The Corner Shop' was even used by The Strokes in 'You Only Live Once'. This Is the Modern World peaked in the British charts at number 22, yet it received criticism for repeating the sound of the debut. The band began a headlining tour of the U.K., yet it was derailed shortly after it started when the group got into a nasty fight with a bunch of rugby players in a Leeds hotel. Weller broke several bones and was charged with assault, although the Leeds Crown Court would eventually acquit him. The Jam departed for another American tour in March of 1978 and it was yet another unsuccessful tour, as they opened for Blue Oyster Cult. It did nothing to win new American fans, yet their star continued to rise in Britain. Bands copying the group’s mod look and sound popped up across Britain and The Jam itself performed at the Reading Festival in August. All Mod Cons, released late in 1978, marked a turning point in The Jam’s career, illustrating that Weller’s songwriting was becoming more melodic, complex, and lyrically incisive, resembling Ray Davies more than Pete Townshend. Even as their sound became more pop-oriented, the group lost none of their tightly controlled energy. All Mod Cons was a major success, peaking at number six on the U.K. charts, even if it didn’t make a dent in the U.S. Every one of the band’s singles were now charting in the Top 20, with the driving “Eton Rifles” becoming their first Top Ten in November 1979, charting at number three. The Jam signed to Polydor on 25 February 1977 to record their debut album In The City, which was also the title of their debut single. Their second album This Is The Modern World, followed just seven months later. In the Autumn of 1978 out came the single, Down The Tube Station At Midnight that made the UK Top 20 and it was immediately followed by All Mod Cons which became their highest-placed to that point when it made No.6 on the album chart.Apart from “Start”’s Revolver-isms, “Monday” all but directly quotes Bowie’s early single “Love You Till Tuesday” while “Boy About Town” and “Man In The Corner Shop” are la-la-ing echoes of everyone from The Kinks to, well, The Beatles. All of which is run through with Weller’s unique style – from the edgy “Scrape Away” (which features a Style Council-predating French voice-over) to the furious “Set The House Ablaze”, from the cynical “Pretty Green” to the brilliant “That’s Entertainment”, Sound Affects is no weak mod pastiche album, but a proper pop remodelling of the past on Weller’s own terms. Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1sted.). Helsinki: Tammi. p.221. ISBN 951-31-2503-3. While The Jam were firmly embedded in Punk from a music perspective they stood apart from just about all of their contemporaries by wearing smartly tailored suits; the very epitome of a Mod revival band, in looks, if not in music. With Paul Weller’s songwriting ability and guitar playing, along with Bruce Foxton’s clever driving bass lines, they had a sophisticated sound that seemed deceptively simple, yet was complex in thought and style. British certifications – Jam – Town Called Malice". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved 3 December 2022.