And the Taxman's Shouting

The Jam : Burning Sky

[Purchase]

On November 16, 1979 The Jam released Setting Sons, their fourth album. One of Paul Weller's favorite bands, The Who, recorded a very famous fourth album, Tommy --a concept album about a deaf dumb and blind boy who becomes a kind of Christ figure. It has been suggested that Weller's Setting Sons began as a concept album about a trio of friends who go to war only to return as strangers to each other.

In his book That's Entertainment : My Life in The Jam  drummer Rick Buckler disagrees with the theory:

The notion of Setting Sons being some kind of concept album is quite loose and that certainly wasn't on our minds while we were recording it. It most definitely wasn't an attempt to be The Jam's Tommy or The Wall. All Jam songs--and Paul's lyrics--are open to any interpretation from whoever is listening...It just so happened that when Setting Sons was released in 1979 it was exactly 40 years after the outbreak of the Second World War.

OK, but there is plenty of literature to suggest at least five songs came from a scrapped concept album ("Private Hell", "Little Boy Soliders", "Eton Rifles", "Burning Sky", and "Thick As Thieves"). But the concept falls apart on "Smithers-Jones", the string version of the song bassist Bruce Foxton wrote about his dad, and on the band's live in the studio recording of "Heat Wave".

Red Starr of Smash Hits gave the album 9 out of 10,  writing:

In a word; brilliant. Paul Weller has always tried to be good and different, but this time he's excelled himself. Excellent lyrics ( as always), strong melodies this time ( eg "Eton Rifles", included here)  superbly executed--power, precision and imagination all around. It's all dynamite stuff that gets mightier with every play. Simply amazing. Best tracks: "Private Hell", "Girl on the Phone".

From Robert Christgau a B+:

Likable lads, as always, and improving themselves, too. The music has gained density and power, and they do OK with the social commentary--nice to see some empathy for doomed middle-class plodders like "Smithers-Jones" instead of the usual contempt, and "The Eton Rifles" and "Little Boy Soldiers" place them firmly on the left. On the other hand, some of this is pretty dumb ("Wasteland," ugh), and overarrangement (not so much extra instruments as dramatic vocal shifts) is no way to disguise thin melody.


Setting Sons was ranked number four among the top "Albums of the Year" for 1979 by NME, with "The Eton Rifles" ranked at number one among the year's top tracks.