Setting Sons - The Jam [Audio CD]

Product Description Digitally remastered edition of Paul Weller and the boys' fifth album that stands as one of the best in their canon. It's late 1979 appearance was prefaced with the release of the single "The Eton Rifles", which pulled no punches and had their audience clamoring for more. Originally to be a concept album, hurried schedules prevented a fully realized vision to come to fruition, but what was issued is some of Weller's best songwriting. Plus, the album included a contribution from Bruce Foxton (Smothers-Jones). Other highlights include "Private Hell", "Girl on the Phone" and "Saturday's Kids". The preceding album, All Mod Cons, had already proved there was more to The Jam than just being Mod revivalists, but it was Setting Sons that established Weller as a songwriting force to be reckoned with. The lead-off single "Eton Rifles" was Weller's most confident effort to date--a scathing look at class divisions in Thatcher's Britain. Originally planned as a concept album--The Jam's equivalent of The Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society--only fragments ("Little Boy Soldiers", "Wasteland") of this original vision survived, and the finished album centred on The Jam's customary guitar, bass and drums, although enhanced by fuller arrangements and production. The nostalgic "Saturday's Kids" is one of the highlights, and the album concludes with a breezy thrash through "Heat Wave". Fondly remembered as a singles band, Setting Sons is proof that The Jam also made some great albums. --Patrick Humphries