- Sound Affects
Infobox Album | Name = Sound Affects
Type =Album
Artist =The Jam
Released =November 28 ,1980
Recorded =June 15 -October 22 ,1980
Genre = Punk, New Wave,Mod Revival
Length = 35:18
Label =Polydor Records
Producer = Chris Parry,Vic Coppersmith-Heaven
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:4k8gtq5ztu45 link]
Last album = "Setting Sons "
(1979)
This album = "Sound Affects"
(1980)
Next album = "The Gift"
(1982)"Sound Affects" is a 1980 album by British group
The Jam . This release, their fifth album, is frequently considered the closing point of The Jam's artistic peak begun on their third LP, "All Mod Cons " and carried through on its follow-up, "Setting Sons ". This is considered by many fans and critics to be The Jam's best album; only "All Mod Cons " receives more claims thereto. Paul Weller considers this album to be The Jam's best work.After the ambitious, harder-rocking "Setting Sons", The Jam returned to the pop-oriented outlook of "All Mod Cons", albeit with a noticeably different sound. The most salient influence on this album is '60s British psychedelic pop, such as
The Beatles ' "Revolver",The Who 's "The Who Sell Out ", andThe Kinks ' "The Village Green Preservation Society ". The psychedelic overtones run throughout the album: in the backwards guitar on "That's Entertainment"; in the swirling, gauzy feel of "Man in the Cornershop "; in the punchy British horns of "Boy About Town" and "Dream Time". Other obvious influences are post-punk groups such as Wire, Gang Of Four, andJoy Division and, particularly evident inRick Buckler 's drumming,Michael Jackson 's "Off the Wall" album. Indeed, singer/guitarist/songwriter Paul Weller said at the time that he considered the album a cross between "Off the Wall" and "Revolver".The album's cover is a pastiche of the artwork used on the various "Sound Effects" records produced by BBC Records during the 1970s. [http://www.vinylvulture.co.uk/labels_of_love/bbc_1.php "Sound Effects No1"] , "Label of Love", Vinyl Vulture. Article retrieved
2007-03-04 .] [ [http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/B/BBC.html Cover Art: BBC Sound Effects] , Album Art Gallery at tralfaz-archives.com. Article retrieved2007-03-04 .]This album features the group's second UK number one single, "
Start! ", built around a bassline obviously inspired by The Beatles' "Taxman ", the lead cut on "Revolver". Incidentally,Polydor pushed for "Pretty Green" to get the single release instead, thinking it a surer bet, but Weller insisted on "Start!""Pretty Green" is perhaps the apotheosis of the Michael Jackson and Beatles fusion, melding a throbbing funk bassline and rhythm with melodic guitar breaks and psychedelic sound effects. The group would later explore the "
Britfunk " sound in earnest on their next and final album, "The Gift".Perhaps The Jam's best known and most acclaimed song is the striking acoustic ballad "That's Entertainment"; it was recently named to the
List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #306, The Jam's lone entry. For a full discussion of this song, see the relevant article page.Track listing
*All tracks written by Paul Weller except as noted.
Side One:
# "Pretty Green"
# "Monday"
# "But I'm Different Now"
# "Set The House Ablaze"
# "Start! "
# "That's Entertainment"Side Two:
# "Dream Time"
# "Man In The Corner Shop"
# "Music For The Last Couple" (Rick Buckler ,Bruce Foxton , Paul Weller)
# "Boy About Town"
# "Scrape Away"*The song order on the US release of the album differed in that "Start!" was the first track on Side One.
References
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