Product Description

Britain's a funny place, but not always in the literal sense. While apparently placid on the surface, in reality England has always had issues with class, race, and socio-political turmoil. In 1980 Margaret Thatcher had taken power as Prime Minister, and the youth culture that had usually reserved its disdain for the dominant Labour party had a compelling new target. Not so coincidentally, in 1980 The Jam released SETTING SONS, their strongest and most political album to date.
If The Jam's first three albums are a tribute to the resiliency of British working class youth, SETTING SONS is a call to arms. In the context of politically informed songs such as "Eton Rifles'" and "Burning Sky", even a cover of theMotown chestnut "Heatwave" seems to take on political connotations. The albums centrepiece, the haunting mini-epic "Little Boy Soldiers" leaves no doubt as to the intensity of Weller's ire, with its sarcastic references to shooting to killfor "Queen and country", and lambasting of United States support for Thatcher ("God's on our side and so is Washington"). Luckily the usual Weller hooks are there as well, so it'ssafe to hum along even without knowing what the fuss is allabout.

Track Listing

1. Girl On The Phone
2. Thick As Thieves
3. Private Hell
4. Little Boy Soldiers
5. Wasteland
6. Burning Sky
7. Smithers-Jones
8. Saturday's Kids
9. The Eton Rifles
10. Heatwave

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1861 in Music
• Released on: 1997-08-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Running time: 33 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
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

Customer Reviews

the jam`s best album...
..this was the trio at their best, my fave album by them..contains excellent tracks (thick as thieves, smithers jones and the most underrated jam track ever wasteland) go and buy it at this price it`s a steal!! and then buy all their other albums.

The Jam in their best period, and it's one of the finest albums of the 70s
Although the ever difficult, ever enigmatic Mr. Weller was quick to almost disown this album, as being too polished or too conceptual, or whatever it was he said, I'd be amazed if The Jam made a better album. It's so good it has to be considered as one of the best studio albums of the whole 1970s, which is a major claim, I know, but it really is a brilliant essembly of sharply written, socially aware songs, that captures the very best of the band's sound before they got too poppy and lost a lot of their oomph and spikeyness. The melodies are much better than they were for the previous album (the way over rated All Mod Cons), and Weller's writing is at its heady peak here, and the album resonates with the liberal sprinkling of socially aware lines in the very lyrical songs. It's not perfect, alas, as the throwaway last soul cover track harks back to the mod revival stuff and takes us away from the sharp and modern realist world they had taken great care in constructing. Apart from that, it IS nigh on perfect. Come on Paul, stop being so moody and artistic and admit you created a stonkingly good album here.

The Jam's best studio album....
Modern critical opinion suggests All Mod Cons is The Jam's best album. All Mod Cons is worthy of classic status but Setting Sons is the better album. The biggest compliment I can give is that The Eton Rifles (one of The Jam's very best songs) does not stand out - in fact Thick As Thieves pushes it incredibly close as best track on the album.

Another highlight is the wonderfully tuneful Wasteland but the whole album is fantastic. Tracks such as Girl On the Phone and Heatwave are sometimes criticised when this album is reviewed but I'm a big fan of these and cannot see why this album is not listed more frequently in best ever albums lists.

It is the best album from one of Britain's greatest ever bands.