Sound Affects was the fifth studio album by British mod-revival group The Jam.
Released during 1980 at the height of the band’s career, a career that would
include a run of eighteen consecutive top 40 singles in the UK charts, many deem
Sound Affects to be The Jam’s best
album and at the very least their most musically interesting. With an overall sound
that stuck to their traditional 60s beat influences, but that also branched out
to include splashes of R&B and psychedelic rock, this is probably an
accurate assessment of one of the 80s most underrated albums but best
surprises.
Paul Weller, the band’s
front man described Sound Affects as
a cross between Michael Jackson’s Off the
Wall and The Beatles Revolver, a
description that certainly holds true on listening. The sound on the album
combines a strong emphasis on rhythm and a prominent rhythm section with pop
melodies and the occasional punk rage. The Off
the Wall influence comes in the form of the excellent rhythm playing of
Bruce Foxton on bass and Rick Buckler on drums, whose pounding bass and drum
lines dominates across the album. Their playing is very much a Motown-inspired
style and both the drums and bass sound so good on here (a very clean sound) to
the point that they often take centre stage as lead instruments, whilst also
being an essential part of the overall Jam sound. Paul Weller’s guitar playing,
vocals and compositional skills bring in the 60s Beatles influences, punk, as well
as a hint of psychedelia. His vocals flow between punk aggression and a
mellower pop style similar to mid-60s Beatles, while his guitar playing is a
mix of jangly chimes and a heavy distorted drive. On some of the tracks Weller
also experiments both with guitar distortion and feedback, as well as the odd
sound affect here and there, including a fly buzzing at the beginning of “Music
for the Last Couple” and some French audio on the outro of “Scrape Away”.
The tracks on Sound Affects are generally of a high
standard all and all, and despite a couple of somewhat lesser tracks most of
the material is interesting and diverse. There is melody driven Beatles-like
pop in the form of “Monday” and “Man in the Corner Shop”, while “That’s
Entertainment”, probably the band’s most well known song is an acoustic mod
anthem that forms the basis of a commentary on the drudgery and dreariness of English
working class life. The Beatles influence becomes remarkably close on “Start”
which includes an exact copy of the bass line and guitar riff from classic Revolver track “Taxman”, while also incorporating
subtle R&B influences with a great rhythm track and a backing horn section.
Then there are the more up-tempo ferocious punk anthems such as opening track
“Pretty Green” with its pounding bass line and “But I’m Different Now with its heavily
charged punk guitar. Experimental psychedelic rock also appears with the anthemic
distortion driven “Set the House Ablaze” and album closer “Scrape Away”. On
this note I would say that psychedelia was just a slight influence on the
material here and was more used in an experimental capacity without playing a
central role. With this in mind the influence of psychedelic rock and in
particular The Beatles Revolver came
mainly in the use of studio affects and heavy guitar distortion and echo.
Finally, there are also hints at The Jam’s and Weller’s future direction with
subtle splashes of R&B here and there. This is evident especially in the
rhythm playing right across the album as I have already mentioned, but also on
particular songs such as “Boy About Town” and “Start”, of which both contain
horn parts and heavy funk-inspired bass and drum fills.
Overall, Sound Affects is a fantastic collection
of infectious early-80s pop songs that are dotted with little bits and pieces
from all sorts of different musical areas, which although feature do not
compromise The Jam’s 60’s pop sound and overall punk ethos. Apart from the
general catchiness of the songs and their cleverly crafted pop nature, as well
as the interesting experimentation with different sounds and textures, the
definite standout of Sound Affects is
the rhythm section of Buckler and Foxton, who’s playing make these songs that
extra special. Their playing to me is made even more remarkable considering the
80s would become dominated by drum machines and synths, and how also technology
often came to overshadow the musical abilities of the people making the music.
On listening to this album it is just nice to hear a proper rhythm section made
up of proper players playing an essential part to the overall sound on display,
of which without whose input the music would be half as good. Weller’s song-writing
craft, aggressive vocals, and lead rhythm playing is simply the icing on the
cake in what is overall a great 80s album, all be it an overlooked and
underrated one at that.
A-
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