Sound Affects

[Quaco]

Lady Q and I have been listening to music together on our jogs, and a lot of classic albums she's never listened to in their entirety, so it's been a great chance for us to assess and reassess everything and to discuss. I'm thinking of doing threads on some of these albums.

Last night was The Jam's Sound Effects. What are your three favorite tunes on the album? Have your views on the album changed over the years?

On our run, I resequenced it to reflect the U.S. sequence, with "Start!" at the beginning. Non-canonical I know, but so good that way. I'm interested if any of you have any thoughts on this ... or why such an immediate song/single -- named "Start!" no less -- as this was placed fifth. I assume it was to be less obvious?

[Ranking Ted]

I haven’t listened to it all the way through in years - which I have done with All Mod Coms and Setting Sons - so it’s hard to be definitive. My entrenched view is that it’s a genuinely great, progressive in the literal not genre sense, record - full of that restless forward momentum that Weller has brought to the majority of his career.

It’s well known as a post punk influenced lp that marks - along with Funeral Pyre, Dreams Of Children, Going Underground and Absolute Beginners - their Revolver-esquire mid period, all metallic and angular guitar sounds, studio concrete, jerky funk and so on. The best songs are probably the big hitters - Monday, That’s Entertainment, Start! Or Pretty Green, but I’d need to give a spin to be sure. I think I’ll do so soon.

[Bent Fabric]

It's the only album of theirs (or his) I've ever been able to enjoy, and...yeah, there's something special about it.

"Monday" and "That's Entertainment" are absolutely fantastic. Any of the others could be third (though, I suspect it's "Scrape Away").

A young person "discovering Revolver" seems like the sort of thing I should hate, but...somehow, it works.

[Moleskin]

I think it's their best LP. And perhaps the best Weller has made in any incarnation.

[naughty boy]

I can tolerate it. Nice cover too.

Looks like the special edition CD that came out a couple of years ago is now OOP...

[Graham Murakami]

Man in the Corner Shop
Monday
Boy About Town
It wouldn't be such a good album if every song was like these three though. The unusual sonic experiments add to the album and I still enjoy it. Setting Sons doesn't have the coherence of All Mod Cons or Setting Sons (- Heatwave), however, and I would lump it together with the Gift and the difficult number 4 singles, rather than including it in the band's purple patch.

[echolalia]

Start should definitely have been at the… beginning.

Start, That’s Entertainment, and Boy About Town are my favourite tracks just now. BAT always has been, but not the other two. And their position is always threatened by Dream Time.

Graffiti about slashed seat affairs! I like this:

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/slashed-seat-affairs.2768243/

[Bent Fabric]

I'd forgotten all about Dream Time - that's a good one!

[yomptepi]

It is thin and earnest. It is derivative and crass. Just the sort of thing Weller fans are into.

Pathetic.

[Quaco]

Side one is pretty impressive, pretty much wall-to-wall hits. Side two is subtler. Strangely, one of my favorites this time was "Music from the Last Couple". What an odd piece. Any insight into its origins? Being the one three-way-written Jam tune, it must have some story behind it.

[The Prof]

I'm interested if any of you have any thoughts on this ... or why such an immediate song/single -- named "Start!" no less -- as this was placed fifth. I assume it was to be less obvious?

Polydoor were all set to release Pretty Green as the first single. I think the artworks had already been signed off but Weller put his foot down and Start got released first instead.
Maybe they were hoping if Start was just an album track George Harrison wouldn't hear it and sue them after his court case with My Sweet Lord.

[The Modernist]

Man in the Corner Shop
Monday
Boy About Town
It wouldn't be such a good album if every song was like these three though. The unusual sonic experiments add to the album and I still enjoy it. Setting Sons doesn't have the coherence of All Mod Cons or Setting Sons (- Heatwave), however, and I would lump it together with the Gift and the difficult number 4 singles, rather than including it in the band's purple patch.

Yeah this is a pretty good summary. To be honest it really doesn't fall that short of AMC or Setting Sons, I'd say the only weak tracks are 'Music for the Last Couple' and 'Scrape Away'.