Sound Affects

Other bands would be proud of this to be their greatest hits

I think I'm going to cry as I listen to this most-excellent album again. Been a while, and I just absolutely heart The Jam. I saw a documentary on them a few years ago, and it served only to deepen my heart-ing them. Paul Weller is very much the opposite of the full-of-himself rock star. This album should receive more attention, as should the band. Just this week, I (a relative noob guitarist) just started learning and practicing 'That's Entertainment,' one of my all-time favorite songs of all-time favorite songs. In honor of this album and band showing up in my 1001 rotation, I shall do my best to play it well, record it, and share it with friends. Make music, share music.

I may be biased from growing up listening to this band, but so be it. A lot of bangers on here for me, I can't not give it a 5 because I know i'll listen to this over and over again

the bass is amazing

New this was going to be good as the album started with Bruce Foxton's superb punchy bass playing (which continued throughout the entire album). A great MOD punk compilation with Paul Weller belting out his lyrics while playing sublime guitar. Most enjoyable!

How did The Jam never hit in the States? Peter Weller's next outfit The Style Council certainly did. But The Jam wasn't even remotely popular here. This album was released shortly after "Get The Knack" by The Knack, which was a monster hit here. I hear a lot of similarities. Maybe they were too British for America in 1980. It was our loss, because this is a gem.

I listened to all of it but cannot remember what it sounded like for the life of me

This list sure loves generic UK rock bands

Pop, post punk, funk...el típico grupo al que nunca le había hecho ni caso por coraje y que me revienta la cabeza con un disco inesperado. Buenas canciones, ritmos pegadizos, grandes líneas de bajo. Descubrimiento.

Really enjoyed this. It hit that punk/pop craving I was having. Going to have to pick up more if their stuff. Reminds a lot of the Clash, but more fun. I was hooked with the first track.

Brilliant socially aware lyrics - 'That's entertainment' should be published separately and added to the National curriculum. I'd forgotten how good The Jam (well, Paul Weller) were.

Paul Weller is definitely my favourite discovery from this undertaking

Some strange production choices — not that they're terrible, though that bass tone is very raw — it just sounds like they went out of their way to make it sound compressed. Could totally be a product of streaming music and the joys of destroying audio quality. I really liked some of the less listened-to tracks (according to the Spotify numbers), esp. "Set The House Ablaze," and was struck by the "Taxman" bassline on "Start!" I think "That's Entertainment" might be my least favorite on the album and was the only song I was familiar with coming into this. Before listening to this and All Mod Cons, I would have guessed The Jam were a prototypical ska band, which either means I'm confusing them with another band or just ignorant of who they were (or both). But I've enjoyed discovering them. BTW, "Music For The Last Couple," another with relatively few listens, was not so great. This was a 4-star album for the first 2/3 and then slid into blahville toward the end and while I'm digging The Jam, I can't quite figure why this particular album merits the 1001 classification.

"Affect: to put on a false appearance of (something).” In this case, The Jam put on a false appearance of being an original band making original music with an original sound when, in fact, they were just biting sounds and styles and, in the case of the song "Start!", an entire (and iconic) bass line from other popular bands. And they did it on purpose. In fact, that was apparently the goal of this album. To pull enough influences from other bands to make this record successful. I guess it worked with the critics because it's on this list. But it's just not working with me. Feels like what it is: an also-ran band making a look-alike album. If this list wasn't so brit-pop slanted, there's no way this album would make the cut.

Not terrible but don’t like the voice

Copy-pasting yesterday's review because it's still relevant: I don't know how many random British punk albums from the late 70s - early 80s I have left in me. Nothing grabbed me and I will sleep soundly at night knowing that I can't recall a single song, lyric or word spoken in The Jam's "Sound Affects".

I can't believe I haven't heard them before

I have liked this album since I first heard it in the early 1980s.

After every song I was hoping the next would not be a dud. But the bops kept on coming. The bass is excellent throughout this, the guitar work was great too. I'm glad this album is good solely because I can say this. This album is my Jam.

I dig it, The Jam are such an underrated gem. I got a lot of mileage out of this album today. It bangs.

First 5 in a long time. Excellent

I really liked this. Never heard of this group before, but I hear so many other groups that I enjoy in this album.

A great album by The Jam and shows the band working together brilliantly making lively, insightful post punk. Foxton’s bass playing is outstanding, giving the album its drive and energy; Buckler’s drumming is equally energetic; and Weller brings the attitude and style to the guitar and vocals. And whilst there a few undercooked tracks (‘Music for the last couple’), ‘Start!’ followed by the exquisite ‘That’s Entertainment’ (Weller’s ‘Waterloo Sunset’) makes for a sequence of tracks any band would be proud of.

This is the sound of Weller coming into his own, both as songwriter and musical leader. Though it only hints at the extent of the evolutions to come, the songs are very well balanced and nuanced, with crisp production and strong, almost flawless execution. "That's Entertainment" and "Monday" and "Man in the Corner Shop" are the top cuts.

God bless Paul Weller.

Not sure who’s dreaming of Monday, fuckin Brits. All 80s and no 80s hits 🤔

Probably the best of the Paul Weller related albums I’ve been assigned so far - based off The Style Council (abysmal) and his solo record Wild Wood (cloying adult contemporary), I didn’t have a lot of hope, even if All Mod Cons was pretty good. This one I liked well enough, it has a good variety and the punk edge I was initially expecting from him when I first was assigned Wild Wood. I would have to agree with Mr. Weller, this the best Jam album (at least in my limited experience with them).

Fun instrumentals.

I honestly just didn't have many feelings about this album. It was fine. Favorite track: Monday

Just ok.

This is so far the best Paul Weller project this list has forced on me, and it's still pretty meh. It's like a mix of an Elvis Costello who is a worse songwriter with an XTC that has less interesting instrumentation.

Tuned the fuck out

it's like the beatles but somehow even worse

Dope!

Mix of punk, new wave , and 60s rock. Driving baselines.

A great album by one of my favorite bands of all time. Extraordinarily British.

Belter

A brilliant album with some of their finest songs. Also made me think about what a fantastic live band they were

Unexpected - really good

really awesome, didn't have the time to listen to the whole album bc monday is a bitch, but will definitely go back to it, the jam was already one of my favorite uk bands

It’s great. Imagine being a teen buying this in 1980 and hearing that opening bassline for the first time

Though the band has been quite forward about the influences, The Beatles' Revolver is very much present from the get go. The guitar is punchy, and the bass is acrobatic and front and center. There are a lot of new wave artists, but the Jam infuse it with a bit of mod flair and attitude that makes me hesitate to just lump this album in with post-punk. The drum work owes a lot (again as stated by the band) to Michael Jackson's Off the Wall, and drive the album forward without seeming out of place. It is a supremely well crafted and enjoyable album

The Seminal Band of my teenage years. A little more experimental than 1979's Setting Sons and a gateway to The Gift, their final studio album. I'm still gutted Weller broke up the band

Donates scuffs to the shoes. Just the right amount of everything. Particularly liked ‘Music for the last couple’

Loved this. Sprinkling of the familiar alongside the new, but all great fun. Fav new track: Man In The Corner Shop

Heard it a hundred times.

Brilliant. Better than I remembered. Dreaming of Monday

Loved it!

não consegui dar só 4 estrelas mas tb não é isso tudoooo

um cacho de uvas

Their most consistent.

Great album.. Awesome bass lines.. Why I don't listen to this album more I don't know.

I grew up with the Jam but didn’t really appreciate them when I was younger. Listening to them again I realise how good they were. This album’s definitely going into my saved list.

Love the jam and Paul weller

This is one of the great punk/new wave albums. The songwriting genius of Weller is the backbone, Buckler laid down some great beats, but it was the phenomenal bass of Bruce Foxton that pinned it all together.

Love this album, it's crisp, punchy and energetic. It's such a fun listen, and I enjoy it more each time I listen to it. The mix of the angular guitar with that insanely good foregrounded bass is a delight to listen to. The Jam had this ability to infuse the anger and energy of punk with a strong pop sensibility that none of their peers have. They remind me a lot of the early Who, more than pretty much any other band I can think of. There are maybe a couple of tracks I like less than the others, but on balance this is an outstanding album. Rounding up to a 5, then going back to listen again. As a side note, if you aren't familiar with Paul Weller, I strongly recommend checking out his post-Jam work. The man has been working practically non-stop for over 40 years and everything he does is interesting. Fave Songs (All songs, from most to least favorite): That's Entertainment, Start!, Set the House Ablaze, Man in the Corner Shop, Scrape Away, Pretty Green, Boy About Town, Music for the Last Couple, But I'm Different Now, Monday, Dream Time

Bought this when it came out when I was 10 and it’s been one of my favourites all my life. The best Jam album as well. Yes there are a couple of well known hits on the album, but all the others are just as good, if not better. Listen loud!

Prefer the style council era but this is still great

Post punk fury mixed with Kinksesque pure pop. The Jam at their best and a go to album for them

One of my favourite albums - these guys are tight!

British Punk Rock with some psychadelic/surf rock and probably better descriptions deep in there. GREAT ALBUM.

Love most of the stuff on this album - plus it has Man in the Cornershop on it, which is my favourite Jam song

Bloc Party before Bloc Party

You can almost hear your influence they had on bands like The Smiths or even Arctic Monkeys. Great record.

New favourite album

Okay, a Jam album seemingly cut to my exact measurements. A group who always wore their influences like they were medals, Sound Affects has the Jam asking to be rewarded for quoting Gang of Four and and Wire. And I'm perfectly happy to give them such a nod, considering that this is rather fabbo. The Jam are probably the biggest British group to gain no traction whatsoever in the United States: two singles in the Billboard top 100, highest position 45 (in the UK, the generally agreed cut-off for a hit is number 40), whilst getting 4 UK number 1s. A similar tale unfurled in Europe; at best, the Jam were a one-hit wonder in a few territories with A Town Called Malice. Though disappointing, this is not surprising at all. The Jam were as singularly English as Morris dancing and a suicidal ignorance regarding the myriad benefits of the European Union. The Jam's aesthetic combined so many distinctly British aspects that other countries had no hope of comprehending them. They had the British moderate punk aspect, where they forwent battered leather jackets in favour of sharp suits whilst delivering charged, politicised lyrics. They had their origins in the pub rock circuit of the mid 70s, and a British pub is not akin to any other country's bar. Most of all, they had mod. Mod, for those outside of Albion, is a British subculture starting in the 60s, with some dapper youths of every subsequent generation still bearing the torch. Your common-or-garden mod is identifiable by a fondness for suits, scooters, speed and fairly raucous guitar rock à la the Who, Small Faces etcetry etcetry. Personally, I find the movement overestimated: why settle for the fairly raucous? Why be a mod when the name of their enemy, the rocker, is self-evidently cooler? And how can Quadrophenia be a swell movie if it stars Sting? Still, some mod groups were genuinely great, and the Jam were one of those groups, and I agree that the leader Paul Weller deserves his honorific of the Modfather. This album, though, exhibits a paradox. It's the Jam's best album, yet it's the least representative of their mod philosophy. Rather, from the opening note onwards, it's clearly the sound of the Jam latching onto the funky angularity and astere freshness of their post-punk contemporaries. My fellow guzzlers, you should know of me by now that such a sound is the sound I love the most, and thus by syllogism I love this album. Lyrically, Weller doesn't stray from his domain, and that's fine, pal: he knows what he's doing on his territory. But the real greatness of this album lies not in the semantic but the sonic: fierce, desperate and defiant. This in turn leads to the conclusion that the album's more conventional Jam songs, such as Start and Boy About Town, are the weakest tracks, but if such tight songs are the runts, then the album really has naught to worry about. Follow-up question: who are the artists where their most incongruous work is their best? I have a few mates who reckon Nirvana's best album is Unplugged in New York. Not to say that's the consensus, but it's definitely arguable.

Loved it.

I liked it a lot, I think it was consistently good although it didn’t stand out a ton. Solid album.

Better than expected

Love The Jam, brilliant album.

cool

Great album. Always thought of All Mod Cons as the better album, but after listening to Sound Affects again for 3-4 times, I am not sure anymore. Anyways, both of them are obviously 5 star albums of course.

The best Jam album. Great from start to finish.

This is essential.

Really, really loved this. Had heard Pretty Green, Start! and That's Entertainment before but not the rest of this record. Never realised they'd gone quite as post-punky as this. Prefer it to the pure mod stuff.

I'd be hard-pressed to not give this 5 stars - Paul Weller is a great songwriter and Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler are a criminally underrated rhythm section. The album loses a bit of momentum with the last couple of songs Boy About Town and Scrape Away, but those two tracks are following an absolute Murderer's Row of songs - Start, That's Entertainment, Pretty Green, and my favorite, Man in the Corner Shop. Probably the best Jam album (though I am partial to Setting Sons, which is not on the list) and this group is either 1 or 1(a) on my list of best power trios (along with Hüsker Dü).

Bangeeersss

What a massively influential band, especially for the early 2000s!

How did i miss this album growing up? Absolutely fantastic. This one is going in my rotation.

Fantastic album - love The Jam anyway but this album feels rebellious, unique and fun.

The Jam released a lot of really good albums and Sound Affects is overall one of their finest moments. I think it's their most complete and consistent albums with some classic tracks such as, Start!, Boy About Town, Monday and perhaps Paul Weller's masterpiece, That's Entertainment. A beautiful and wonderfully full sound that reminds me of peak period late 60's, Kinks. Definitely essential!

Is this The Jam's BEST album? Maybe. But it's not my favourite, (All Mod Cons). It's not my 2nd favourite Jam album (Setting Sons), but listening to it today, I'm not so sure it doesn't deserve a higher ranking on my list. It's more classically pop sounding than previous albums, perhaps more timeless. Absolutely leans more to The Beatles rather than The Who or The Kinks; right down to the Taxman hommage in Start. So it's a collection of really strong songs and one absolutely brilliant stroke in That's Entertainment. In the late 70s and early 80s The Jam were at the top of their game and were about as good a rock band that there was. For me this is their 3rd consecutive 5 star album, a run as strong as by any band in the history of rock music. How you rank those 3 albums relative to each other is a matter of individual taste. To me The Jam are one of the most criminally under appreciated bands in the history of rock music. 5 stars

An underrated classic album. So much going on and Foxtons bass is epic. You can see how far they have progressed from their early days and Wellers word play is fantastic.

РООООООООООООООООООООК

I love this mix of mod and post-punk; every song is great. It has one of their most popular songs in ‘That’s Entertainment’, which has been misunderstood in the million puns of the title made in media. Amazing album.

One of the best records from the 1980s.

Although I hadn't been born when they were smashing it, the jam are one of my all time favourite bands.

As I was jamming my bulbous cock into your mother's pretty little anus, I thought to myself, what would Paul Weller do if I was to shave off his mod haircut and ram it down your mum's throat? He'd obviously be a little upset, but hopefully he'd enjoy the sound of her chocking on his delicate locks as she took my cock deep inside her. We will soon find out.

Totally unexpectedly great album! You can hear so many different influences in their sound. It’s like if the Beatles were punk.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one

Fun covers and guitar riffs. They will put you in the right mood on a Friday afternoon.

What a pleasant new surprise! I love the sound and the vibe- for me it's somewhere between 80s punk and new wave. Not quite angry enough for punk. Not quite synth enough for New Wave. A great listen.

I love it! Never heard it before and it’s great! Like punk but more melodic. I guess that’s the mid revival influence.

PREFS : TOUT MOINS PREF : RIEN

Context: I heard the Jam previously in the listening to All Mod Cons, which I loved. Listens: 3 Opinion: Knowing what I know about hearing the Greatest Hits and All Mod Cons, I knew what I was going to get and I wasn't disappointed, this is the sort of album that I could have played in any University dorm and it would still slap. Highlights: - Monday - That's Entertainment - Start - Pretty Green My favourite album so far, it's so fun and loses nothing after 43 years, absolute banger.

holy shit good

Really cool stuff - loved it :)

Really enjoyed it. Rating: 4.7

LONG LIVE THE JAM!

Enjoyed; good background vibing music