All Mod Cons

{{quote box

| quote = "I'd found my feet. After This Is the Modern World, I thought, 'am I going to let this slide or fight against it?' My back was against the wall. It was a matter of self-pride".

| source = Paul Weller, reflecting on his mindset between This Is the Modern World and All Mod Cons in a 1998 interview with Uncut magazine.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.wellerworld.co.uk/Uncut.html |title=Last Man Standing |magazine=Uncut |issue=19 |date=December 1998 |access-date=23 March 2017 |last=Lester |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Lester}}

| width = 30em

}}

Following the release of their second album, This Is the Modern World, the Jam undertook a 1978 tour of the US supporting American rock band Blue Öyster Cult. The Jam were not well received on the tour and This Is the Modern World failed to reach the Billboard 200 chart. Under pressure from their record company, Polydor, to deliver a hit record, songwriter Paul Weller was suffering from writer's block when the band returned to the UK.{{cite web |last=Alexander |first=Phil |date=12 August 2013 |title=The Jam: All Mod Cons Revisited |url=http://www.mojo4music.com/5135/the-jam-all-mod-cons-revisited/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122113827/https://www.mojo4music.com/5135/the-jam-all-mod-cons-revisited/ |archive-date=22 January 2014 |access-date=27 October 2015 |website=Mojo}} Weller admitted to a lack of interest during the writing/recording process, and had to completely re-record a new set of songs for the album after producer Chris Parry rejected the first batch as being sub-standard. All Mod Cons was more commercially successful than This Is the Modern World.

British Invasion pop influences run through the album, most obviously in the cover of The Kinks' "David Watts". The single "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight", which Weller had originally discarded because he was unhappy with the song's arrangement,{{cite magazine |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar07/articles/classictracks_0307.htm |title=Classic Tracks: The Jam 'The Eton Rifles' |magazine=Sound on Sound |date=March 2007 |access-date=2 December 2015 |last=Buskin |first=Richard}} was rescued from the studio bin by producer Vic Coppersmith and became one of the band's most successful chart hits up to that point, peaking at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart. The song is a first-person narrative of a young man who walks into a tube station on the way home to his wife, and is beaten by far right thugs. The lyrics of the song "To Be Someone (Didn't We Have a Nice Time)" criticised fickle people who attach themselves to people who enjoy success and leave them once that is over.

"Class issues were very important to me at that time ..." said Weller. "Woking has a bit of a stockbroker belt on its outskirts. So I had those images – people catching the train to Waterloo to go to the city. 'Mr Clean' was my view of that."The Guardian, 16 March 2009

All Mod Cons was reissued on CD in 2006, featuring a second disc of b-sides, outtakes and unreleased demos and a DVD containing a 40-minute documentary directed by Don Letts.{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/news/the-jam/22592 |title=The Jam's 'All Mod Cons' to be expanded |website=NME |date=24 March 2006 |access-date=27 October 2015 |last=Bychawski |first=Adam |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080121113654/http://www.nme.com/news/the-jam/22592 |archive-date=21 January 2008 |url-status=dead}}

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/all-mod-cons-mw0000194278 |title=All Mod Cons – The Jam |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=27 October 2015 |last=Woodstra |first=Chris}}

| rev2 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev2score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite book |chapter=Jam |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |last=Larkin |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Larkin |publisher=Omnibus Press |edition=5th concise |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-85712-595-8}}

| rev3 = Mojo

| rev3score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine |title=The Jam: All Mod Cons |magazine=Mojo |page=114 |quote=All Mod Cons encapsulated life in dull mid-'70s suburbia with sharp, faintly surreal character songs ...}}

| rev4 = Q

| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |title=The Jam: All Mod Cons |magazine=Q |page=125 |quote=[The album] marks the point of Weller's artistic blooming ... Weller had broken free of the pack and secured The Jam's future.}}

| rev5 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev5score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite book |chapter=The Jam |last=Sheffield |first=Rob |author-link=Rob Sheffield |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/416 416–17]}}

| rev6 = Sounds

| rev6score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine |title=I wish I could be like Paul Weller |magazine=Sounds |date=4 November 1978 |last=Bushell |first=Garry |author-link=Garry Bushell |page=39}}

| rev7 = Spin

| rev7score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XJj9SR3-aSgC&pg=PA88 |title=Discography: Paul Weller |magazine=Spin |volume=24 |issue=7 |date=July 2008 |access-date=26 December 2016 |last=Duerden |first=Nick |page=88}}

| rev8 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

| rev8score = 8/10{{cite book |chapter=Jam |last=Sheffield |first=Rob |author-link=Rob Sheffield |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor1-link=Eric Weisbard |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-75574-8 |pages=195–96}}

| rev9 = The Village Voice

| rev9score = B{{cite news |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv4b-79.php |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide |newspaper=The Village Voice |date=30 April 1979 |access-date=29 August 2016 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau}}

}}

In his review for NME, Charles Shaar Murray said that All Mod Cons was "not only several light years ahead of anything they've done before but also the album that's going to catapult the Jam right into the front rank of international rock and roll; one of the handful of truly essential rock albums of the last few years."{{cite magazine |url=http://skatepunk.com/profiled/jam-collection-articlesvideos |title=The Jam: All Mod Cons |magazine=NME |date=28 October 1978 |access-date=27 October 2015 |last=Murray |first=Charles Shaar |author-link=Charles Shaar Murray |page=43}} Sounds critic Garry Bushell hailed it as the Jam's "statement of artistic triumph, musical maturation and compositional strength". Dave Schulps of Trouser Press stated that "All Mod Cons firmly establishes Paul Weller (and the Jam) as a major talent (and band) for the '80s."{{cite magazine |title=The Jam: All Mod Cons |magazine=Trouser Press |date=February 1979 |last=Schulps |first=Dave}} The Globe and Mail deemed the album "sober, topical rock and roll with a touch of pop tunefulness that sneaks out from the metallic sounds and martial rhythms to add a note of levity".{{cite news |last1=McGrath |first1=Paul |title=The Jam All Mod Cons |work=The Globe and Mail |date=17 Feb 1979 |page=F11}}

NME ranked All Mod Cons as the second best album of 1978 in its end of year review.{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/bestalbumsandtracksoftheyear/1978 |title=1978 Best Albums And Tracks Of The Year |website=NME |date=10 October 2016 |access-date=24 November 2020}}

In 2000, Q placed All Mod Cons at number 50 on its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever".{{cite magazine |title=The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever! – The Jam: All Mod Cons |magazine=Q |issue=165 |date=June 2000 |page=71}} In 2013, NME ranked All Mod Cons at number 219 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/photos/the-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-300-201-1426482 |title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: 300–201 |website=NME |date=24 October 2013 |access-date=27 October 2015}} The album is listed in the reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.{{cite book |title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die |title-link=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die |editor-last=Dimery |editor-first=Robert |publisher=Universe Publishing |edition=revised and updated |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-7893-2074-2 |page=58}}

All songs written by Paul Weller except "David Watts" written by Ray Davies.

;Side one

1. "All Mod Cons" – 1:20
2. "To Be Someone (Didn't We Have a Nice Time)" – 2:32
3. "Mr. Clean"* – 3:29
4. "David Watts" – 2:56
5. "English Rose"** – 2:51
6. "In the Crowd" – 5:40

;Side two

1. "Billy Hunt" – 3:01 [UK and 1st US pressings] "The Butterfly Collector" – 3:11 [US reissues]
2. "It's Too Bad" – 2:39
3. "Fly" – 3:22
4. "The Place I Love" – 2:54
5. "'A' Bomb in Wardour Street" – 2:37
6. "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" – 4:43

**Neither the title nor lyrics of "English Rose" were printed on the original vinyl release of All Mod Cons due to Weller's feeling that the song's lyrics did not mean much without the music behind them.

;The Jam

• Paul Weller – vocals, guitars, piano, harmonica
• Bruce Foxton – vocals, bass guitar
• Rick Buckler – drums, percussion

;Technical

• Vic Coppersmith-Heaven – production, soundboard engineering
• Chris Parry – associate production
• Roger Béchirian – soundboard engineering
• Gregg Jackman – soundboard engineering
• Peter Schierwade – assistant engineering
• Phil Thornalley – assistant engineering
• Bill Smith – design
• The Jam – design
• Peter "Kodick" Gravelle – photography

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|title=All Mod Cons|artist=The Jam|type=album|award=Gold|accessdate=5 November 2020|id=387-2171-2}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Discogs master|20164|All Mod Cons}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120407005012/http://www.radio3net.ro/dbartists/supersearch/QWxsIE1vZCBDb25z/All%20Mod%20Cons Album online] on Radio3Net a radio channel of Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company

{{The Jam}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1978 albums

Category:Albums recorded at RAK Studios

Category:Polydor Records albums

Category:The Jam albums