Customer Reviews

Setting Sons

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The Jam's November 1979 release Setting Sons is generally considered to be one of their 3 best albums. Inexplicably, however, it is also considered to be the weakest of those three. The only reason for this seems to be that it is neither All Mod Cons (its predecessor) nor Sound Affects (its successor), their other two great albums. Sadly, this underrating of Setting Sons obscures the fact that it contains some of the band's best material and one of their finest singles. (Why only one? Because the 3 other brilliant songs from this era were released as singles but not featured on albums.)

Much of the underrating of Setting Sons can be attributed to the overrating - in hindsight - of their third album, All Mod Cons. The greatness of this album is probably confused to some extent with its significance. AMC was their great leap forward, and proof that their sophomore slump would not cause them to flunk out. So the importance of this album should not be underestimated, but neither should its greatness - bountiful though it is - be overrated.

Setting Sons was a highly anticipated album. Not only was it the follow-up to The Jam's breakthrough, it was also preceded in the eight months prior to its release by two top 20 singles - "Strange Town" and "When You're Young". While these songs would not appear on the new album, they did confirm The Jam's status as one of the more important bands in the UK at the time. When the album was finally released in November 1979, it reached #4 in the UK (and #137 in the US) and was accompanied by the band's highest charting song to date, the explosive #3 single "The Eton Rifles". It had been reported prior to release that the album would deal with the concept of how 3 childhood friends had changed as they became adults after a modern-day English civil war (described in the song "Wasteland"). In essence, it was to be a Weller-generation version of The Kinks album Arthur,or: The Decline and Fall of the British Empire. (The two albums do make very good companion pieces.) About half of the 10 songs on the record addressed this theme directly. But when listened to as a whole, only the first and last tracks -the latter being a cover of "Heat Wave" - seem to have nothing to do with the intended concept.

Setting Sons has been criticized for being too "mature", but since Paul Weller was only 21 when the album was released, perhaps "precocious" is a better word. The album kicks off with the gleefully playful - yet somewhat cynical - "Girl On the Phone". Then come the songs that form the core of the album's theme. The songs take on such issues as dissolving friendships, aging, war, and selling out. The anti-war track "Little Boy Soldiers" is particularly good, pre-dating the Falklands War by a few years and also containing the eerily prescient line "God's on our side and so is Washington". (I don't know if Margaret Thatcher ever said that, but Tony Blair probably has.) The remaining songs contribute to lesser degrees to the album's theme. Foxton's finest composition, "Smithers-Jones", is basically The Jam's version of The Kinks' song "Shangrai-La", with its tale of a middle-aged man who has worked his whole life only to see it amount to nothing. (It also has an instrumental nod to The Kinks' "Victoria" at the end.) "Saturday's Kids" vividly depicts the misadventures of contemporary British youth. Finally, "The Eton Rifles" is plucked straight from the papers, with Weller railing against snotty students' disrespect for workers.

Musically, The Jam is a formidable trio of players, and the fact that they are not virtuosos is part of their strength. Paul Weller is an extraordinarily capable guitar player. I know that does not sound like particularly high praise, but it is. He knows exactly how to craft his guitar work so as to give each song the distinctive flavor that made The Jam so unique. Be it chords, riffs, or solos, the patented Jam sound springs effortlessly from Weller's fingers, and never for a moment does he sound like a show-off. Bruce Foxton's bass playing is good enough to qualify him as what Jake Burns - his current band's lead singer - calls him: "one of the all-time greats". His trademark ominously punky bass lines give the perfect touch to "Private Hell" and "The Eton Rifles", and his punchy, more straightforward playing fills the space beautifully on "Girl On the Phone" and "Saturday's Kids". And while rock critics will forever struggle to find a non-perfunctory way to compliment drummers, the fact is that a band as energetic yet focused as The Jam needs the perfect backbeat to speed them up and slow them down. Rick Buckler fits this role to a T.

Paul Weller sings from several points of view on Setting Sons. At times, he is the 21-year old who he was in 1979 ("Girl", "Rifles", "Soldiers"). At others, he is an adult singing in the first person ("Thieves",
"Burning Sky", "Wasteland"). Finally, he is sometimes someone slightly older than himself commenting on the grown-ups around him ("Private Hell", Foxton on "Smithers-Jones"). The loss of ideals as one grows older is of particular concern to Weller: "we watched our ideals hopelessly unwind", "ideals are fine when you are young", "the smouldering ambers of yesterday". It is the loss of such ideals that leads to unhappiness later in life: "we're no longer as thick as thieves", "We'll watch the rain fall/Tumble and fall/Just like our lives". This unhappiness takes the forms of broken friendships, unhappy marriages, alienation from family, and unsatisfying work. While ideals may seem helpless in the grip of hard reality, it is only by sticking to them and making them a reality that one can avoid being stuck in a "Private Hell".

In the songs described above, Weller is singing from another's perspective. He does so beautifully, but hearing him sing from his own perspective is always a unique treat. He is at his cynical and punky best on "Girl On the Phone", "The Eton Rifles", and "Saturday's Kids". "Girl" has Weller commenting on how his fame has made him so recognizable that even a girl who he cannot identify knows his "leg measurements and the size of his c*ck". In "The Eton Rifles", Weller caustically spews his disdain for privileged students, ridiculing on their love of rugby, their ties and crests, their brand new shoes, and their "untamed wit". He knows damn well that the ivory towers will not protect them forever. "Saturday's Kids" finds Weller singing in a whimsical (and less cynical) tone about a group of youngsters he may be too old to be part of now, but to which he will always belong in his heart. He gets all the details right: the boys with their beer and football (soccer) games, the girls with their cheap perfume and discos, and their parents with their Capston non-filters. (And let's not forget the "v-neck shirts and baggy trousers", which come off in the backs of cars with predictable results.) The influence of Ray Davies clearly trumps that of Pete Townshend on this record.

The 2001 CD re-issue of Setting Sons features 9 very valuable bonus tracks. Individual singles were released as many as 8 months prior to and 4 months after the release of the album. All three of them - "Strange Town", "When You're Young", and "Going Underground", their first #1 single - are all included among the bonus tracks. Also included are the wonderful "The Dreams of Children" - the double A-side of "Going Underground" - and two indispensable B-sides: a version of The Who's "So Sad About Us" and the brilliant "See Saw" (the B-side of "The Eton Rifles"). The latter is particularly valuable not only because it is probably The Jam's best non-political, Who-inspired pop song, but because the only other place it is available on CD is the 5-disc box set. The re-issue is topped off by "Start!", the #1 single from the forthcoming Sound Affects LP.

All things considered, this version of Setting Sons is an ideal first purchase for a Jam newcomer. It captures one of the greatest post-Beatles bands ever at their youthfully energetic but tightly focused best. The newcomer could also opt for Snap! or Greatest Hits for a career overview, but for a snapshot of a terrific band at their peak, the 2001 re-issue of Setting Sons cannot be beat.

The original "Setting Sons" LP was, in my mind, easily The Jam's best LP. While "All Mod Cons" and "Sound Affects" are classics, each suffers from problems with production and/or a couple of tracks of filler, and in the case of their otherwise phenomenal debut "In the City", we had a couple underdeveloped songwriting ideas here and there. But "Setting Sons" had no such problems. There was not a single track of filler here; even the cover of "Heat Wave" serves its purpose as joyous release after the very bleak portraits painted by Paul Weller's own pointed lyrics. The songwriting, musically and lyrically, is at Weller's peak. This is a semi-concept album about three boyhood friends who grow up and apart, a concept only the bravest rock and rollers would go for--in the machismo-fueled world of rock music it probably seems wussy to write all these songs about male friends--but it works brilliantly. Weller has a pretty bitter and bleak outlook on life on this LP, and his observations are cutting and poignant.

And the production emphasizes full-on rock power, with the drums, vocals, guitars, and bass seemingly ALL in the front. As such this may not seem as much as a "hooky" record as "All Mod Cons" and "Sound Affects" but, like any Jam LP, it is of course highly melodic. Paul Weller and co. also got really imaginative on this LP. After three relatively straightforward efforts, The Jam opted to experiment with such devices as Kinks-inspired multi-movement pop as in "Little Boy Soldiers" or using unconvential instruments, like the recorder on "Wasteland", or the full-on orchestral arrangement of "Smithers-Jones". And no matter what they try, it works. Unlike certain later songs (I'm thinking "Trans Global Express" here), the experimentation never seems excessive, pretentious, indulgent or forced.

So, this was their best. But now that there are bonus tracks, it's venturing dangerously close to rock and roll essential. The "Going Underground" b/w "Dreams of Children" single was their absolute peak, their finest A-side coupled with their finest B-side, and now it's on here, along with the other classic singles from the era, "Strange Town" and "When You're Young", and the original, power-trio version of "Smithers Jones". Seriously, if you long for classic, timeless rock music, please pick this up. You won't regret it.

Easily their best record. The music is loud, brash, sharp, precise, and exciting. The lyrics are somewhat pointed, and different from the usual adolescent-oriented rock-and-roll concerns. It's a peak, and a great underheard (in the U.S.) record. Unfortunately, the band did not remain at this peak but went and experimented with other styles (to mixed results).

Although this is about the 5th time "Setting Sons" has been released on CD, this edition is by far the best. In '79, when the original LP was released, the group issued a couple of of UK singles around the same time. Unfortunately, none of these singles were included when the LP was first issued on CD, and subsequent releases have repeated this oversight. So buyers have been stuck with a CD of only 10 (or 11 since the US LP included 'Strange Town' as an extra track) cuts. This Collectors Choice edition finally addresses the situation by reissuing the LP with a total of 19 tracks, including some which were released right after "All Mod Cons" and "Sound Affects"-era stuff like "Going Undergound" and the "Dreams of Children". If you liked the original "Setting Sons" this is a great collection.

In November 1979, The Jam released its 4th album. Paul Weller was 21 years old, facing a world where people "seemed to grow up in a flash of time," even as "we watched our ideals helplessly unwind." In this world, where youthful ideals fall away, adult responsibilities take hold and impersonal governments send real sons and daughters off to war, there is danger and disillusionment everywhere. Suburban homemaking becomes a "Private Hell." Bowing down to the "Burning Sky" means accepting the inevitability that "The taxman's shouting 'cause he wants his dough/And the wheels of finance won't begin to slow." But loyalty to your corporation gets you nowhere, as "Smithers-Jones" (in Bruce Foxton's finest song) discovers when he's summoned to the boss's office to discover "there's no longer a position for you." Worst of all, this is the kind of world where "Little Boy Soldiers" are no longer playing in the local park. They're getting sent home "in pine overcoats." Of course, this all happened 30 years ago, when governments and corporations didn't know any better.

"You've gone and got yourself in trouble/Now you want me to help you out..."

This is in my opinion, the definitive work of The Jam.

This album is smarter than All Mod Cons, but also exerts more independence than Sound Affects. It finds the happy medium between the two.

This is 'The Jam' before they descended into a Paul Weller solo device, when Weller was restrained just enough to move past his tendency to just pay homage to his musical influences.

I still remember buying this album when it was first released...I was 12 at the time. All I can say is WOW....it knocked me over then and still does today. Living in the UK at the time with all the political turmoil etc. this album really hits home. Songs like Eton Rifles sum up the British class system perfectly......lyrics like "All that rugby puts hairs on your chest....what chance of you got against a tie and a crest" hit the nail on the head. Smithers Jones perfectly decsribes the pitfalls of the rat-race...."...Work 'till you die....'cos there's plenty more fish in the sea to fry". It's all great stuff. The whole album is a classic although "Thick as Thieves" is my favourite track. The production on the album is first rate and it's amazing that a power trio sounds like an orchestra.....the musicianship is out of this world. I would rate "All Mod Cons" and "Setting Sons" equal in terms of musical stature....IMHO "Setting Sons" marked a turning point in the band's direction. The song writing on this album is superb. If you haven't heard the album or just want to flash back to a more musically stimulating time go and find a copy. I still have my original LP (vinyl) with picture sleeve :-) Enjoy.

I can't add any more to the accolades given to this great album, but you must be careful about which release you purchase. I have the 1995 PolyGram 11-track CD version, and it really seems to bring out the bizarre, super bright sound of the original vinyl. Who knows know where this treble heavy mix originated, whether it was in the sound booth or the mastering, or if the PolyGram CD is exceptionally harsh, but I always thought "Sons" had a bright sound. (However, in those days it was being played on a cheap, secondhand console.) If you don't mind readjusting the EQ on your stereo, it won't matter, but more recent versions have to be better than the one I have.

Brilliant, bitter, hook-laden mod-punk-pop from the Second British Invasion, not surpassed in dark observations and rebellious energy by later, more aggressive bands. Too bad they didn't keep on going into the 1980s. (I'm sure Weller made more money in his other ventures, but I'm a hopeless idealist.)

Oooooh Boy! I actually use to listen to The Style Council back in the 80's and I "by accident" picked this up in 1997 when I was out in Denver on a business contract trip for 4 months. I have to say I liked this album at first but then I put it on the shelf for many years. I then picked this 2001 version up again and listened to it again in 2008 AND THIS ONE IS WAY BETTER!!!...flows better and sounds better remastered! It includes ALL of the major cutz that The Jam are known for. Sooooo, if you want to start off with a first album from The Jam then get THIS ONE FIRST! This CD KICKS AZZ!!!!! Going Underground...

Setting Sons is a disappointment, but that in no way means it is a bad album. It is widely known that the album was originally conceived to tell the story of three friends in an English Civil War. The tracks that stick to this concept ("Thick As Thieves", "Little Boy Soldiers", "Wasteland", and "Burning Sky") are all five star efforts. One would imagine that if this concept was met to completion Setting Sons would have even been greater than All Mod Cons, The Jam's previous effort. The rest of the album is still good, although I personally prefer the original version of Smithers-Jones released as a b-side. Many have commented that Heat Wave seems unnecessarily tacked on, but it isn't an awful cover, so the more the better. The Eton Rifles, though not traditionally considered part of the original concept, could fit in with it quite easily. All in all, definitely worth the purchase if only for the initial concept tracks.