The Jam- Sound Affects (1980)

I'll get round to them all eventually, so it's probably unwise to make my favourite Jam album my first one to blog. I can't resist, though. I know the album well; for some reason, alongside PiL's Metal Box this has been my go-to album when cooking something from scratch ever since my early 20s. It makes me think of chopping onions, playing with spices in the wok and suddenly remembering I need to actually put the rice on.

As an aside, "Pretty Green" gave me an epiphany that British people used to have the same cultural association as Americans do with money being thought of as green until the pound note, which was tinted green, was withdrawn from circulation in 1984. That's alsp probably why Douglas Adams wrote about the human obsession with "green pieces of paper".

In my defence, I was only seven in 1984.

Anyway, this is probably the best Jam album simply because it's a splendid collection of songs but, interestingy, I think it sounds less obviously "mod" than the earlier albums, which simultaneously makes it both less and more reminiscent of the Kinks. But, ultimately, it's a strong album allthe way through- nit just "Start" and "That's Entertainment".