Customer Reviews

Sound Affects

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's difficult to define what the Jam really mean to me as there's always that risk of pidgeonholing them and thus reducing them, but in the rare case of the Jam the music speaks for itself. I'm sure likeminded people who really love the Jam will know what I mean and admit that the band's music is more than just a collection of great songs, but instead a soundtrack to life, particularly for those like me who lived in Britain at the time the songs were written and recorded. Weller's songs speak of how we all feel but could never quite put into words and the Jam were always about speaking to young people one-on-one from a mutual standpoint and never as the "idolised pop group singing to the starry-eyed fans that hang on their every word". The Jam's first two albums were essentially punk records while their following albums showed a broad range of influences including the Small Faces, the Who, the Kinks, the Beatles, Tamla Motown and, in the last year or so of their career, soul and funk. Paul Weller's songwriting abilities already reached incredible heights on the album "All Mod Cons" and progressed even further on "Setting Sons", but for me, the next album, "Sounds Affects" is the one that continues to stand out and is, in my view, the album that displays the peak of Weller's songwriting. Some critics have cited "Sound Affects" as the Jam's "Revolver" and it's not difficult to see why. In fact, the Beatles' "Revolver" was played relentlessly by the group on the tour they embarked on prior to entering the studio to record "Sound Affects" and it's influence is clearly audible here, from the backwards guitars on "Dream Time" and "That's Entertainment" to the bass riff from "Taxman" on "Start!". There isn't a bad song on the album. From the infectious opening bass line of "Pretty Green" to the closing fade of "Scrape Away", this album perfectly captures the angst, boredom and frustration felt in the dawn of Thatcher's Britain at the dawn of a new decade. The line "Pissing down with rain and boring Wednesdays" from "That's Entertainment" sums it all up, and it is also clearly felt in the track "Set The House Ablaze", but there are still glimmers of optimism shown in the Ray Davies-esque "Monday" and "Man In The Corner Shop". A truly great album is one that evokes the times when it was recorded but that also still carries momentum, and sometimes even relevance, when listening to it today. "Sound Affects" is one such album.

As an audiophile, the first thing I have to say about this package is that the remastering has to be one of the best I've ever heard. Every time I purchase a CD over the last 10+ years, my first concern is if it's going to be blasted so loud that most of the dynamics are squashed out making it painful to listen to. Not only are all the dynamics fully retained in this wonderful new remaster, but there has been a careful amount of re-equalization to correct from the midrange-heavy remaster from 2000. Also, there have been no poor attempts to remove or minimize the analog tape hiss. The person credited for remastering the sound is Tibor Pesci. I am unfamiliar with any previous release that may have been remastered by him but if this is the kind of quality that comes as a result, Universal mastering should hire him to remaster the entire back catalog of the Siouxsie and the Banshees botched remasters. I'm remarkably impressed with this product.

Now, onto the music. I spent many years avoiding The Jam. The video for `A Town Called Malice' was all over MTV in 1982 but did not catch my ear. It wasn't until first hearing `Going Underground' in the early 2000's on VH1 Classic that I decided to investigate some of The Jam's music. Based on a compilation I purchased, I avoided the early punk albums and started with the `Setting Sons' album. I was somewhat underwhelmed, but liked enough to move to the next album, 1980's `Sound Affects'. This album was a revelation for me. There are plenty of wonderfully catchy hooks and great songs that made me think The Jam's overblown and overrated reputation may not be entirely exaggerated. I eventually purchased their final album, `The Gift'. While I enjoyed many tracks on that album as well, I still find `Sound Affects' to be the most consistent album.

`Sound Affects' is filled with so many great songs: `Set The House Ablaze' has a great whistle-hook, `Monday' has an attractive melancholy melody, `Scrape Away' is a strong and hook-filled album closer. This special edition also comes with a bonus disc of 22 period rarities and curiosities. Though many are only of minor interest to me, it's nice to have all of it collected in this one package for any future interest.

If `The Gift' and `Setting Sons' are given the deluxe treatment, and remastered by the same engineer, I'll happily re-purchase those as well. As a nice change to some of my other (audio) critical reviews, I'm pleased to finish this by saying, well done Universal Music.

After hitting a new peak with their third LP, "All Mod Cons," their fourth LP, "Setting Sons" seemed to lose focus. This followup, and their next-to-last studio LP, put it all back together: the punchy instrumentalism of their debut, the strong songwriting and melodicism of "All Mod Cons," and a strong dash of poeticism in the lyrics. It's truly Paul Weller's most consistent and powerful set of songs to date.

Musically this draws heavily from Revolver-era Beatles. The psychedelic touches are spare, but the guitar and basslines echo the tone of the Beatles '66 release. Lyrically, Weller moves away from the storytelling he'd become so adept at and uses more poetic forms. "Man in the Corner Shop," for example, is a brilliantly formed lyric that describes a community's chain of envy, and "That's Entertainment" creates images that stick in the mind long after the LP's finished playing.

Through and through this is the Jam's highpoint, and perhaps the finest example of Britain's rock 'n' roll of the era. It's an amazing document of how far this band evolved in the three years since their debut.

this is the jam's finest moment. weller at the height of his considerable powers. man in the corner shop. set the house ablaze. boy about town. close your eyes....it's 1965. 100% pure mod ethic. that's entertainment, indeed.

More upbeat than "Setting Sons," which preceded it, "Sound Affects" contains two of Paul Weller's greatest songs, "Man in the Corner Shop," an indictment of England's stratified class system, and "That's Entertainment," a simple song about simple pleasures, written by Weller in an alcohol-induced euphoria (and later covered by Morrissey). These song alone are worth the price of the CD. Also not to be missed is the perfect segue between "Pretty Green" and the wistful "Monday," the brusing postpunk thrashers "Set the House Ablaze" and "But I'm Different Now," or the sprightly "Boy About Town." This CD is worth every penny.

Quite simply the Jam's best. The aggression of the first album is magnificently coupled with Paul Weller's growing melodic and lyrical gifts and the result is a masterpiece. So many of these songs are memorable not just for the great melodies and rhythms but for Weller's laser like social criticism. Start, Thats Entertainment, Pretty Green, Man In The Corner Shop, Set The House Ablaze, Scrape Away, good lord, most bands would kill for one of their songs per cd to be as good as any of these, yet the Jam put them all on one record! Sound Effects is where the Beatles, meet the Kinks, meet punk rock, and its stunning.

I usually am not very harsh on remasters, unless they are brickwalled. I'm certainly not as harsh as many audiophiles who are all over a CDs re-release, the day it comes out. However, this CD sounds terrible. I have the previous remaster, and the difference is like night and day. The only way I can describe it, is it seems that they sucked all of the bass out of the music. It is the thinnest sounding re-master, I have ever heard. In fact, it's probably the thinnest sounding CD, I have. It really sounds that bad.

A real shame too, since this is a great album, and has tons of extras, that are worth listening to. Stick with the previous release(non-special edition), which is still in print, and cheaper. It sounds much better.

Simply a wonderful album filled to the brim with wonderful, hooky songs. It's their only album that you can find for cheap in the US and it certainly deserves it, especially with excellent tunes like "Pretty Green," "Set The House Ablaze," "Music For The Last Couple," and "That's Entertainment," one of Weller's most effective narratives. And though "Start!" rather blatantly lifts its bassline from the Beatles' "Taxman," it doesn't matter considering that they build an entirely new melody around it which equals, if not surpasses, the original masterpiece. The only slightly-boring song is "Scrape Away," but that's no biggie. Get this album. NOW!

Greatest album of the 80s IMHO. Now made even better with the bonus disc. Weller at his peak.

The Jam's Sound Afects, although hardly punk, is a great album. It is more like pop rock. Paul Weller was a great song writer and this album shows that. The highlights of the album are Monday, Start!, That's Entertainment and Man In The Corner Shop.