Setting Sons

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Down At The Tube Station…” from All Mod Cons was a long poem which Vic Smith helped me shape into a song, and that convinced me that there were ways of making things a bit more literary and still fitting them into a song structure. My songs were getting a bit more involved than verse-chorus-verse-chorus. So, from a selfish point of view, I felt I made a leap forward with my writing on Setting Sons. But comparing Setting Sons with, say, the frankly awful second album This Is The Modern World is pushing a nerdy fan theory way too far. The excellence of six of its ten songs, and the tougher, denser sound fashioned by loyal Jam producer Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, make Setting Sons the successful link between the creative breakthrough of 1978’s career-saving All Mod Cons and the February 1980 triumph of the “Going Underground” single, an anthem of nuclear panic and social alienation that revealed that The Jam had stealthily climbed to biggest-band-in-Britain status by becoming the first single to enter the UK charts at No.1 since 1973. Britton, Luke Morgan (26 June 2015). "The Jam drummer fails to attend the band's new London exhibition". NME . Retrieved 20 December 2016. Thank you! The album has unusual depth that people may not grasp at first, which in my book qualifies it as a timeless work.

Weller certainly comes down on the side of non-violence but knows he’s up against centuries of class hatred—strong and valid feelings that no one has effectively translated into positive action. “Hello-hurrah, I’d prefer the plague to the Eton rifles” may make someone feel good but it doesn’t change anything. I read Weller’s message in the “The Eton Rifles” as this: “Reconsider your approach. Class warfare isn’t going to get you anywhere when the other side has all the power and not likely to give it up. Educate yourselves, learn how the system works, then figure out how to outwit the bastards.” Sound Affects is my favourite. That was us doing something really different. But I think there’s some great songs on Setting Sons, with “The Eton Rifles” as the stand-out. “Private Hell” I really like as well. I was concentrating more on my lyrics at that time, and quite a few of the songs, like “Burning Sky”, started off as prose or poetry. The Jam: About The Young Idea CD/DVD documentary". Music-News.com. 24 October 2015 . Retrieved 19 July 2023. Clayton-Lea, Tony (18 December 2014). "The Jam: Setting Sons (Super Deluxe Edition)". The Irish Times . Retrieved 29 August 2016. I think I just ran out of ideas, if I’m really honest. Maybe I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing for us to do anyway. It was a bit of a half-baked concept.From The Jam 2007 tour". Noble PR. 2007. Archived from the original on 3 November 2007 . Retrieved 30 July 2007. Several things going on here—Weller plays the role of working-class bloke, building on the stereotype of men always looking for a fight even if they haven’t the slightest idea what they’re fighting about. Even American readers know that fags = cigarettes, but the word is also used to describe what Americans would recognize as the hazing rituals practiced by fraternities in some U. S. colleges (fagging) and was part of daily life at Eton. “Get out your mat” alludes to a significant Muslim population in Slough, and the suggestion to “pray to the west” reveals the narrator’s ignorance of geography and non-Christian religious rituals. Slough (town folk) and Eton (gown folk) have a long history of class-related conflict, so the narrator’s response to the possibility of a punch-up is a product of cultural inheritance. The 1982 release The Gift – the band's final studio LP – was a massive commercial success, peaking at No.1 on the UK charts while spending an unprecedented 16 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100. It featured several soul, funk, and R&B-stylised songs; most notably the No.1 hit " Town Called Malice", which boasts a Motown-style bassline somewhat reminiscent of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love". The song included work by Keith Thomas and Steve Nichol, who later became well known as members of the R&B groups Legacy and Loose Ends respectively. "Town Called Malice", a reality-based tale about dealing with hardship in a small, downtrodden English town, is one of a handful of Jam songs Weller still performs (along with " That's Entertainment", "Man in the Corner Shop", "Strange Town", "Art School", "Start!" and "In the Crowd"). [26] [27] [28] So its a bit of a shame that the record cops out with a weak cover of the soul classic "heatwave" , and "little boy soldiers" suite like structure doesnt really work - ray davies was really the best writer of this kind of stuff .

Throughout their career, the Jam were managed by Weller's father, John Weller, who then managed Paul's subsequent career until his death in 2009. [9] Sheffield, Rob (1995). "Jam". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp.195–96. ISBN 0-679-75574-8. He dismisses their vibrant period of youth as ” . . . a laugh but that’s all it was and will ever be” then reveals his allegiance to Mammon with all the fervor of a religious convert: a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19thed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p.277. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. But before he goes there, Foxton establishes the lead character, painting a too-typical picture of a man addicted to routine:Review: He's Still the Changingman - Brilliant Paul Weller Just Keeps on Getting Better". The Northampton Chronicle. 25 August 2018. Pierre Perrone (27 April 2009). "John Weller: Father of Paul Weller who managed his son for 30 years". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Wilkinson, Matt (26 May 2010). "Paul Weller reunites with The Jam's Bruce Foxton at London gig – video". NME . Retrieved 6 October 2023.

Kudos to Weller for identifying the white supremacy that fueled the empire and calling bullshit on the whole god-is-on-your-side crap. In the third segment—featuring a more morose arrangement marked by minor chords and whispers—our anti-hero divulges the secret behind successful colonization and how the truth is shrouded in soothing lies: Watts, Halina (25 August 2015). "Paul Weller insists The Jam will never reunite as it's 'against everything we stood for' ". Mirror . Retrieved 20 December 2016. THE JAM: About The Young Idea (Book+2DVD+CD)". hifi answers. 16 January 2022. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022 . Retrieved 28 July 2022. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrateded.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p.153. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. This is the second song Weller dashed off to meet the record company’s deadline, and all I can say is that Paul Weller is one hell of a dasher. “Private Hell” is a painful but truthful depiction of modern ennui and the toll it takes on human mental health.Young, Natasha (8 September 2016). "Liverpool's exhibition on The Jam extended following demand". You Move. Move Publishing. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017 . Retrieved 21 October 2017. Following a short stint recording demos with Jake Burns and Dolphin Taylor, previously of Irish punk outfit Stiff Little Fingers, Foxton released his debut single "Freak" on Arista Records. Entering the UK Singles Chart at No. 34 on 30 July 1983, it eventually peaked at No. 23 [36] and secured an appearance on Top of the Pops. Foxton's solo album Touch Sensitive followed in 1984, but subsequent singles "This Is The Way", "It Makes Me Wonder" and "SOS: My Imagination" failed to enter the Top 40. A final single "Play This Game To Win" was released on Harvest Records in November 1986. [37]

Vote up content that is on-topic, within the rules/guidelines, and will likely stay relevant long-term. I love your writing even when I don’t agree with you but, like the Jam, you hit this one out the park. Great analysis of one of my favorite albums ever. Being a similar age to Paul Weller, this album connected with me strongly when it first came out and I love it even more all these years later. Like some of Dylan’s early work (“Bob Dylan’s Dream” reminds me of some of Weller’s lyrics on this album), Paul Weller seems to display a wisdom beyond his years on this album. You are absolutely right that “Wasteland” is a brilliant song – as are most others on this album. To me this album is the apex of Weller’s work and I don’t think he ever came close to matching it. “Sound Affects” has some decent songs but I think his goes down hill from there. Like you, I would have loved to have heard the full concept album, which would have bested any of Ray Davies concept works (as good as they are) but this is still a masterpiece even with it’s minor flaws.All I know is this—despite the recent appearance of the second wave of COVID-19 and the return of restrictions—and despite losing part of my roof to the thunderstorms from the tail end of Tempête Alex—when I slipped my headphones on to listen to Setting Sons, all my troubles vanished into insignificance.