sound affects

The Jam scraped away with desperation and disgust to fight indoctrination with entertainment in the corner shop confessions of this post punk psychedelic soul.   The restless trio had cranked out four albums  (In the City  and  This Is the Modern World  in 1977,   All Mod Cons  in 1978,  and   Setting Sons in 1979)  and had ten consecutive UK hit singles in three short years.    Recorded at London's Town House over three months in between tour dates, their fifth album 'Sound Affects' was produced by The Jam with Chris Parry and Vic Coppersmith-Heaven and engineers George Chambers and Alan Douglas.   The sessions featured  Rick Buckler on drums;  Bruce Foxton on bass and vocals;   and   Paul Weller on guitar, keyboards, and vocals.   

Weller says:   "We never really go into the studio with 12 songs, all arranged, all rehearsed.  If we did that we could probably do an LP in two weeks.  As it is, of late we've been going into the studio with vague ideas and odd bits of song structures, and worked the song out in the studio. It's mainly a lack of time, though, that makes us do it like that. The actual music is always created in the studio, though I may already have written some lyrics...It's not the ideal way of recording or the way we'd really like to do it – it's just down to present circumstances.  Obviously the first album was just the stage act we were playing at that time, which we just put down on vinyl...I thought Setting Sons was a bit too slick, a bit too polished.  I don't think it's a really true sound...although it was certainly never intended to be a rock opera, which is one impression I've heard bandied about of it."

Buckler relates:  "When we were doing the album at the Town House.  I was up there on my own one day and I heard a noise in the corridor outside the studio: when I looked out I found the place had been invaded by about 50 mods. They'd broken in through the door and were swarming all over the place. When they found which studio we were in, though, they just seemed satisfied and said they were going down the pub.  They asked me to come with them for a drink but I figured I couldn't really get through about 50 pints, so I just carried on mixing tracks."


Weller:   "That English following's taken four years to get that large.  We've been building it since 1977. Recently it has suddenly got a lot bigger and more fanatical – probably because of the number ones – but really it's the result of a slow build-Up over the years. Mind you, we've always had a really strong following: even when it was only 400 people those 400 were a really powerful force.  We get loads of mods coming to our gigs.  but there's loads of other kids also...Really, despite what's been claimed, that New Mod thing that happened last year was nothing to do with us. It really came out of a few pubs down the East End of London.  I thought that mod thing was alright.  It gave a bit of new blood to the music. People said it was all very contrived, but I don't think it was from the kids' point of view – It's not their fault all those poxy shops filled with crappy clothes started up...I certainly felt part of [the Punk Movement], yeah!  We didn't call ourselves A Punk Band, because there didn't seem any point – there doesn't seem much point in any of those labels. But I still felt part of it...Punk was the most important musical development in our time – certainly! In fact, it's a pity for really young kids today that things seem to have got away from that sense of unity that was around then – now it's all this splintered tribalism."

 'Sound Affects'  made waves at number seventy-two in the US, thirty-nine in Canada, seventeen in Sweden, and number two in New Zealand and the UK.    Foxton admits: "I wasn’t thinking of music back in school but I did want to be Number One in whatever I was capable of doing, even though that was a nine-to-five career at first (printing). That drive was in me all right."







http://www.fromthejamofficial.com/


http://www.thejam.org.uk/


http://www.thejamfan.net/








"Going Underground" became the band's first number one single before they went into the studio to record 'Sound Affects'.  



"Dreams of Children" was the original A-side.  



"Start!" became their second chart topper.  



"That's Entertainment"


A police car and a screamin' siren
Pneumatic drill and ripped-up concrete
A baby wailing, a stray dog howling
The screech of brakes and lamplight blinking

That's entertainment
That's entertainment

A smash of glass and the rumble of boots
An electric train and a ripped-up phone booth
Paint-splattered walls and the cry of a tomcat
Lights going out and a kick in the balls 

I say that's entertainment
That's entertainment
La la la la la, ah
La la la la la, ah

Days of speed and slow-time Mondays
Pissing down with rain on a boring Wednesday
Watching the news and not eating your tea
A freezing cold flat with damp on the walls

I say that's entertainment
That's entertainment
La la la la la
La la la la la

Waking up at 6 A.M. on a cool warm morning
Opening the windows and breathing in petrol
An amateur band rehearsing in a nearby yard
Watching the telly and thinking 'bout your holidays

That's entertainment
That's entertainment
La la la la la, ah
La la la la la, ah
La la la la la, ah
La la la la la

Waking up from bad dreams and smoking cigarettes
Cuddling a warm girl and smelling stale perfume
A hot summer's day and sticky black tarmac
Feeding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away

That's entertainment
That's entertainment

Two lovers kissing masks a scream of midnight
Two lovers missing the tranquility of solitude
Getting a cab and travelling on buses
Reading the grafitti about slashed-seat affairs

I say that's entertainment
That's entertainment
La la la la la, ah
La la la la la, ah
La la la la la, ah
La la la la la
La la la la la, ah
La la la la la, ah
La la la la la, ah
La la la la la
La la la la la, ah
La la la la la, ah
La la la la la, ah







 'Sound Affects' 
full album:




All tracks written by Paul Weller except as noted.

Side one
"Pretty Green" – 2:37
"Monday" – 3:02
"But I'm Different Now" – 1:52
"Set the House Ablaze" – 5:03
"Start!" – 2:33
"That's Entertainment" – 3:38
Side two
"Dream Time" – 3:54
"Man in the Corner Shop" – 3:12
"Music for the Last Couple" (Rick Buckler, Bruce Foxton, Paul Weller) – 3:45
"Boy About Town" – 2:00
"Scrape Away" – 3:59