Sound Affects


Sound Affects is the fifth studio album by British rock band the Jam. The cover art is a pastiche of the artwork used on various Sound Effects records produced by the BBC during the 1970s. It is their only album co-produced by the band, and contains the only album track co-written by the entire band, "Music for the Last Couple". The album was released on 28 November 1980.
Paul Weller is known to have opined Sound Affects as the best album the Jam released throughout their career; freely admitting the Beatles' Revolver had been a major influence upon much of the material from the album.

Influences

Musical influences noted include post-punk groups such as Wire, Gang of Four, and Joy Division and, particularly evident in Rick Buckler's drumming, Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album. Frontman Paul Weller said at the time that he considered the album a cross between Off the Wall and Revolver. In BBC Radio 6 Music's documentary The Jam: Made in Britain, Weller cited it as his favourite Jam album.

Singles

The album features the group's second UK number one single, "Start!", built around an almost exact copy of the bassline and a homage to the guitar solo from the Beatles' "Taxman", the first track on Revolver. Polydor pushed for "Pretty Green" to be the first single released, but Weller insisted on "Start!". This involved consulting a few of the band's friends as to what they thought the best release would be. Weller had Polydor A&R man Dennis Munday ask a small peer group of his friends who had been present throughout the recording sessions at the Town House and prior demo recordings at Polydor studios. Given the choice, they chose "Start!" as the best single release and the decision was made to release it. The decision was vindicated when "Start!" topped the British singles charts in its third week after entering at number 3. "Pretty Green" includes a funk bassline and rhythm with melodic guitar breaks and psychedelic sound effects. "That's Entertainment" is an acoustic ballad. "Boy About Town" and "Dream Time" include horns.

Reception

In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at No. 15 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s".
NME ranked Sound Affects as No. 487 on their list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Chart performance

Sound Affects spent 19 weeks on the UK album charts, rising to No. 2 in late 1980. In the U.S., the album spent 11 weeks on the Billboard 200 album charts and reached its peak position of No. 72 in February 1981.
The 2010 rerelease also charted in the UK, reaching No. 63 in November of that year.

Track listing

Sound Affects was re-issued on 8 November 2010 as a 2 CD Deluxe Edition to celebrate its 30th Anniversary.
;CD1 – the original LP.
;CD 2 – Demos, B-sides, alternative versions
All songs by Paul Weller except where stated
  1. "Start!" – The Jam, Vic Coppersmith-Heaven
  2. "Liza Radley" – The Jam, Vic Coppersmith-Heaven
  3. "The Dreams of Children" – The Jam, Vic Coppersmith-Heaven
  4. "That's Entertainment" – Peter Wilson, The Jam, Rick Buckler, Bruce Foxton, Paul Weller
  5. "Pretty Green" – The Jam ♠
  6. "Pop Art Poem" – Peter Wilson, The Jam
  7. "Rain" – Peter Wilson, The Jam, Rick Buckler, Bruce Foxton, Paul Weller
  8. "Boy About Town" – The Jam ♠
  9. "Dream Time" – Rick Buckler, Bruce Foxton, Paul Weller, The Jam, Vic Coppersmith-Heaven
  10. "Dead End Street" – Peter Wilson, The Jam, Rick Buckler, Bruce Foxton, Paul Weller
  11. "But I'm Different Now" – Peter Wilson, The Jam
  12. "Scrapeaway" – The Jam ♠
  13. "Start!" – The Jam
  14. "Liza Radley" – Peter Wilson, The Jam
  15. "And Your Bird Can Sing" - Peter Wilson, The Jam
  16. "Monday" – The Jam ♠
  17. "Get Yourself Together" – Peter Wilson, The Jam
  18. "Set The House Ablaze" – The Jam ♠
  19. "Boy About Town" – Peter Wilson, The Jam, Vic Coppersmith-Heaven
  20. "No One in the World" – Peter Wilson, The Jam
  21. "Instrumental" – The Jam ♠
  22. "Waterloo Sunset" – The Jam ♠
Note ♠ – Tracks previously unreleased

Personnel

;The Jam
;Other performers
;Technical