aaamusic | On 22, Sep 2010

“I still feel it was our best record. There are loads of other things I like, but as an overall body work, I thought it was great. To me, it still sounds fresh.”

Paul Weller – August 2010

Tellingly, when Weller came to record 2010’s Wake Up The Nation, it was Sound Affects that his collaborator and producer Simon Dine held up as a model. “He referenced it right at the start,” says Weller. “That was the sort of sound he imagined we should be going for: hard, metallic, quite stripped-down… jagged.”

Sound Affects was originally released in November 1980 at a time when The Jam was considered the biggest band in Britain. The album followed the band’s first number one single – Going Underground and features the group’s second UK number one single, Start! – a track built around almost exact copies of the bass-line and guitar solos from The Beatles’ Taxman (at the time Weller considered the album a cross between Off the Wall and Revolver!).

It includes many of the band’s classic songs – That’s Entertainment (written in a caravan in Selsey, after the pub), never released as a single in UK, the German import was a UK hit (subsequently covered by Morrissey), the politicalMan in the Corner Shop, Pretty Green (now inspiration for Liam Gallagher’s clothing range!), the pure-pop of Boy About Town and Dream Time.

It’s regarded by critics and fans (as well as Weller) as their most adventurous and experimental collection of material, drawing musical influences from the ‘post-punk’ groups of the late-70s – Wire, Gang Of Four and Joy Division as well as neo-psychedelic touches from The Beatles and The Zombies etc.

The distinctive cover art is a pastiche of the artwork used on various BBC sound effects records of the 1970s, incorporating ‘pop-art’ imagery.

• 30^th anniversary 2-disc, ‘Deluxe’ edition of the classic Jam album.

• Digitally re-mastered – 22 bonus tracks, demos, b-sides and alternative versions.

• 24-page booklet with extensive new sleevenotes by Guardian writer John Harris, a brand new interview with Paul Weller, rare photos and period memorabilia.

• The bonus material includes 8 previously unreleased tracks – demos of Pretty Green and Start!, alternate versions of Set The House Ablaze and Monday and a cover of Kinks’ Waterloo Sunset, and two instrumental demos.

• Paul Weller still plays several songs from Sound Affects in his current live set – Pretty Green, Man in the Corner Shop, That’s Entertainment and Start!

Tracklisting:

Disc1 – Original album (remastered):

1.     Pretty Green

2.     Monday

3.     But I’m Different Now

4.     Set The House Ablaze

5.     Start!

6.     That’s Entertainment

7.     Dream Time

8.     Man In The Corner Shop

9.     Music For The Last Couple

10.  Boy About Town

11.  Scrape Away

Disc 2 – Bonus tracks:

1.     Start! (single version)

2.     Liza Radley (b-side of Start!)

3.     Dreams Of Children (b-side of Going Underground)

4.     That’s Entertainment (alternate version from ‘Direction, Reaction, Creation’)

5.     Pretty Green (‘demo with overdubs’ – previously unreleased)

6.     Pop Art Poem (Jam fan club flexi-disc, from ‘Extras’)

7.     Rain (demo from ‘Direction, Reaction, Creation’)

8.     Boy About Town (demo – previously unreleased)

9.     Dream Time (demo from ‘Direction, Reaction, Creation’)

10.  Dead End Street (demo from ‘Direction, Reaction, Creation’

11.  But I’m Different Now (demo from ‘Extras’)

12.  Scrape Away (instrumental version – previously unreleased) 

13.  Start! (demo – previously unreleased)

14.  Liza Radley (demo from ‘Extras’)

15.  And Your Bird Can Sing (demo from ‘Extras’)

16.  Monday (alternate version – previously unreleased)  

17.  Get Yourself Together (from ‘Extras’)

18.  Set The House Ablaze (alternate ‘dub ending’ version – previously unreleased) 

19.  Boy About Town (alternate version – Jam fan club flexi from ‘Extras’)

20.  No One In The World (demo from ‘Extras’)

21.  ‘Instrumental’ (demo  – previously unreleased) 

22.  Waterloo Sunset (demo – previously unreleased)