All Mod Cons

Infobox Album
Name = All Mod Cons
Type = Album
Artist = The Jam


Released = November 3 1978
Recorded = July 4 1978 to
August 17 1978
RAK (Upper London) and Eden Studios
Genre = Punk rock, New Wave, Power pop, Mod Revival
Length = 37:28
Label = Polydor Records
Producer = Vic Coppersmith-Heaven,
Chris Parry
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:le5ibkj96akv~T1 link]
Last album = "This Is the Modern World"
(1977)
This album = "All Mod Cons"
(1978)
Next album = "Setting Sons"
(1979)

"All Mod Cons" is a 1978 album by the British punk rock/mod revival band The Jam. The album was released in the US in 1979, with the song "Billy Hunt" replaced by "The Butterfly Collector."

The album received more critical praise and commercial success than The Jam's second album, "This Is the Modern World". The single "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" was one of the band's most successful chart hits, peaking at #15 on the UK charts. That was their biggest hit since "All Around the World", a non-LP single released between the band's first and second albums. In 2000, "Q" magazine placed "All Mod Cons" at number 50 in its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever".

This album, which is the band's third full-length LP, represents a transition from the relatively straightforward mod/punk music that dominated the first two albums, and the band's later artistic endeavours. Strong undercurrents of British 1960s pop influences, particularly The Kinks, run throughout the album. Most obvious is the cover of The Kinks song "David Watts".

The song "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" is a first-person narrative of a young man who walks into a tube station on the way home to his wife, and is beaten by far right thugs.

The lyrics of the song "All Mod Cons" features Weller attacking the fact that many of the benefits of fame fall with a lack of commercial success (something he suffered when the Jam's second album "This Is the Modern World" failed to be as commercially successful as their debut). The lyrics criticise fickle people who attach themselves to people who enjoy success and leave them once that is over. The phrase "all mod cons", short for "all modern conveniences", is a British idiom one might find in housing advertisements. The title is a play on the word "mod", in reference to the band being part of the mod revival.

Track listing

All songs written by Paul Weller except as noted.

Side One:
# "All Mod Cons" – 1:20
# "To Be Someone (Didn't We Have a Nice Time)" – 2:32
# "Mr. Clean" – 3:29
# "David Watts" (Ray Davies) – 2:56
# "English Rose"* – 2:51
# "In the Crowd" – 5:40

Side Two:
# "Billy Hunt" – 3:01 (UK release)/"The Butterfly Collector" - 3:11 (US release)
# "It's Too Bad" – 2:39
# "Fly" – 3:22
# "The Place I Love" – 2:54
# "'A' Bomb in Wardour Street" – 2:37
# "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" – 4:43

*Neither name nor lyrics of 'English Rose' were printed on the original vinyl release of 'All Mod Cons' due to Weller finding it too personal

Deluxe 2006 Track listing

The album was re-released on June 5, 2006 with two discs.

CD

# "All Mod Cons" – 1:20
# "To Be Someone (Didn't We Have A Nice Time)" – 2:32
# "Mr. Clean" – 3:29
# "David Watts" (Ray Davies) – 2:56
# "English Rose" – 2:51
# "In The Crowd" – 5:40
# "Billy Hunt" – 3:01
# "It's Too Bad" – 2:39
# "Fly" – 3:22
# "The Place I Love" – 2:54
# "'A' Bomb In Wardour Street" – 2:37
# "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" – 4:43
#"News of the World" (single)
#"Aunties and Uncles" (Impulsive Youths) (b-side)
#"Innocent Man" (b-side)
#"Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" (single version)
#"So Sad About Us" (b-side)
#"The Night" (b-side)
#"So Sad About Us" (demo)
#"Worlds Apart" (demo)
#"It's Too Bad" (demo)
#"To Be Someone" (demo)
#"David Watts" (demo)
#"Billy Hunt" (alternate version)
#"Mr Clean" (demo)
#"Fly" (demo)

DVD

*"The Making Of All Mod Cons" - DVD Documentary