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Setting Sons
 
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Setting Sons [Original recording remastered]

~ The Jam
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
Price: £5.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Setting Sons + Sound Affects + All Mod Cons
Price For All Three: £18.04

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Product details

  • Audio CD (4 Aug 1997)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Format: Original recording remastered
  • Label: Polydor Group
  • ASIN: B000006TZA
  • Other Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 8,854 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

    Popular in these categories:

    #42 in  Music > Hard Rock & Metal > Classic Punk
    #99 in  Music > Indie > British

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.

Extraits
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Girl On The Phone 2:55£0.69
Listen  2. Thick As Thieves 3:38£0.69
Listen  3. Private Hell 3:49£0.79
Listen  4. Little Boy Soldiers 3:31£0.69
Listen  5. Wasteland 2:50£0.69
Listen  6. Burning Sky 3:30£0.59
Listen  7. Smithers-Jones 2:59£0.69
Listen  8. Saturday's Kids 2:51£0.69
Listen  9. The Eton Rifles 3:57£0.69
Listen10. Heatwave 2:24£0.69

Product Description

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

CD 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.

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (11)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Spitting snarling perceptive 1979 gem. The Jams best., 2 Aug 2004
By russell clarke "stipesdoppleganger" (halifax, west yorks) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)      
There I was watching "The Long Firm" on T.V. when at the end of the episode on came The Jams "Thick as Thieves" and it got me thinking. "Y, know, I haven't listened to "Setting Sons" since the Jam split up, over twenty years ago."(I was bitterly upset, and have never really forgiven Weller, especially since most of his output since has been dire) So guess what? I did, and cover me in glass and use me as a paperweight it's even better than I remember it. I always thought it was the bands best album, but time had diminished the albums erudite righteous anger and the sheer melodic power of the songs. "Setting Sons "is a flawless series of snorting rock/pop songs cloaked in barbed wire. A spitting snarling masterpiece.
Musically its bog standard, guitar, bass, drums -with the exception of the orchestral "Smithers Jones"- yet Bruce Foxton and Rick Butler are such a dynamic rhythm section that the songs transcend these constraints and like that other brilliant three piece Husker Du achieve a lacerating organic vigour. A lonely recorder trills in the background on "Wasteland" to add a touch of poignancy.
Lyrically it's a definite step up from "In the City" and "Modern World" and taken on a contemporary level is amazingly perspicacious. "Burning Sky" laments the onset of big business and commercialisation, "Private Hell" chronicles one person's mental disintegration under the daily grind while "Wasteland" and "Saturdays Kids" sees Weller attack urban decay, ennui and the paucity of hope and choice for a generation. Something that was to become even more acute as this album was released in 1979, the year Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. "Eton Rifles "wittily sends up the class struggle, and "Little Boy Soldiers" is more pertinent than ever given events in Iraq. Foxtons "Smithers Jones" rues the plight of being a wage slave with some sympathy for its rather sad protaganist."Girl on the Phone "is a rather silly ditty about obsession, but is set to an infectious scalpel sharp riff and given recent stalker cases isn't as daft as it may seem. The cover of "Heatwave" reveals Weller's love of soul, and is a decent skirmishing version.
The Jams three middle albums, "All Mod Cons" before this, and "Sound Affects" after are all superb, but taken as a complete work this, while not as diverse, is the best of the lot. Essential stuff, now more than ever.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The sons never set!, 11 Jun 2007
By A. J. Rabet "Rabs" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I first heard this album in 1979 when at University shortly after its release as a flatmate of my girlfriend had a copy I was a fan of the Jam at the time but I was rather impoverished at the time and wasn't going to buy it on spec. I immediately went and bought my own copy even though it stretched my overdraft to the limit.

But then again what is money compared to the genius of the songs on this album tracks such as "Eton Rifles" "Girl on the Phone" "Little Boy Soldiers" "Private Hell" "Smithers-Jones" "Saturday's Kids" in fact I could name all the tracks as having some relevance to life in general in the 1970's and for me during my time at University. Needless to say as soon as the Jam toured in Bristol I was straight there risking being spat on to hear them live, which is a pleasure which remains at the forefront of my concert going memory.

BUY it now!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Jam cement their place as the most exciting band of the time., 4 Sep 2007
By Mr. A. S. T. Bateman (Halifax, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This album released in 1979 when Paul Weller was a mere 22 years old was originally intended to be a concept album with a common theme running through it, that of putting away the childish and nostalgic things in life in favour of growing up and embracing the corporate world. Naturally, those who are familiar with Weller's writing will know that he laments the tendency to do this and his English nostalgia is one of his most notorious features. Some of the tracks on this album, such as Burning Sky, Thick as Thieves, The Eton Rifles and Wasteland are written in this mould and each comments upon this theme in some way. Legend has it that Weller intended the whole album to reflect this theme but he ran out of time and material and consequently filled the rest of the album with other tracks, many of which were essentially made up on the spot by Weller building upon bass and drum jams by Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. The result of this are the inclusion of tracks such as Girl on the Phone, Private Hell, Saturday's Kids and Little Boy Soldiers which do not follow the same theme as the others. Knowing Weller's admiration for the Beatles and given that their Sgt Peppers album was originally intended as a concept album but ened up only half complete this may have been a deliberate emulation.

Nevertheless, the album is exquisite. The bass driven power of the harmonies show that Bruce Foxton was an essential contributor to the Jam sound and gone is the brash angst usually associated with bands of the late 70s, instead it is replaced by controlled guitar playing which loses none of the power but which shows Weller's emerging maturity as a player, loud and harsh is not necessarily better.

The real joy of the album however and what makes it stand head and shoulders above the other Jam albums are the lyrics. They are superb. Weller shows that even at such a young age he was a highly accomplished poet. The words of Thick as Thieves have been identified by the poet Simon Armitage as an exquisite example of British poetry, and quite righly so...

"We stole the love from young girls in ivory towers
We stole autumn leaves and summer showers
We stole the silent wind that says you are free
We stole everything that we could see...
We stole the burning sun in the open sky
We stole the twinkling stars in the black night
We stole the greenbelt fields that made us believe
We stole everything that we could see
But something came along and changed our minds
I don't know what and I don't know why
But we seemed to grow up in a flash of time
And we watched out ideals helplessly unwind..."

delightful!!!


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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Saturdays Kids
Following sure-fire classic hit albums is never easy but with 'Setting Sons', Weller's irate follow-up to 'All Mod Cons', the now supremely confident, can-do-no-wrong Jam, had a... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Paul Ess.

5.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more
Published 12 months ago by J. A. lyons

5.0 out of 5 stars 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. Read more
Published 22 months ago by The Bada Bing

4.0 out of 5 stars Selsey Bill or Bracklesham Bay....
By this stage Mr Weller had stepepd fully into his songwriting stride and there are some real gems here. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2006 by Merry Terry

5.0 out of 5 stars The best album ever
Due to their non stop output of top notch singles, The Jam are often understandably remembered as a "singles band", when in fact nothing could be further than the truth. Read more
Published on 28 May 2005

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my Top 10 favorite albums
First saw the Jam, on a Saturday afternoon on American Bandstand (they were supporting the then-new Setting Sons), and performed (Love Is Like A)Heatwave. Read more
Published on 12 April 2005 by Andrew

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the Jam's finest album
The Jam's masterpiece.
Strictly a singles band,this only contained the one single "The Eton Rifles" plus a orchestrated version of Bruce Foxton's brilliant slice of life "... Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2004 by gmorris114

5.0 out of 5 stars Setting Sons
This album was the very first quality L.P. that I ever bought, and "Girl on the phone" simply lit up my record player every time it was played. Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Another one that helped me through adolescence
From the angst that is Private Hell to the sing-along joy of Saturday's Kids, this is one of the Jam's best. Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2002 by hruxton

5.0 out of 5 stars Setting Sons, the album, the classic
Setting Sons is the album which best defines The Jams most prophetic period. Weller and Foxtons finely balanced composisions make this album a true classic. Read more
Published on 21 Aug 2000 by anwillis@lineone.net

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