The Jam: Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton, Rick Buckler.
While other first-generation British punk bands embraced art and nihilism, the Jam offered working-class soul–solid, honest rhythms that were a ray of hope to the country’s recession-racked youth. SOUND AFFECTS was released at the height of the Jam’s popularity, and found frontman Paul Weller at his songwriting peak. Equally as influenced by Motown as by punk, Weller’s songs defy categorization. While “Start!” (a No. 1 hit in England) is as upbeat as the best James Brown, the driving instrumentation of “Set The House Ablaze,” “Monday” and “Boy About Town” bears comparison to the the early Who. There are even ska echoes on “Music For The Last Couple.”
But the most enduring quality of these songs is their humanism. Even through Weller’s early flirtation with Toryism, his deep concern for Britain’s dispossessed was evident. “That’s Entertainment” and “Man In The Corner Shop” speak of an England that everyone, from scooter-gangs to businessmen, can relate to. It was this everyman appeal, this boy-next-door earnestness, that a generation of British youth rallied around.

• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Pop
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