The Jam would appear to be an early alternative rock bank with some punk influence. Sound Affects features heavy bass lines on the first two tracks which create nice grooves. The guitar riffs are chunkier and not quite as interesting. The vocals are pretty standard for an 80s band- heavy on the reverb and British accent. But in an extremely positive development the first 4 tracks do not feature heavy droning synthesizers.
I feel like I've heard the opening bass line to "Start!" somewhere before but I'm not sure where. The melody to the rest of the song doesn't sound familiar. It's probably from a commercial that only used that one short clip from the beginning but not the rest of the song. Or worse I heard it in a hip-hop song that sampled that part to use in a crappy rap or something. Since I don't know who to blame I guess I can't be so mad.
So I'm thinking I kinda like Sound Affects. There's plenty of driving bass, the melodies are clever and uplifting, and the songs have varying arrangements that keep things interesting. One thing that I'm not so high on is the sound doesn't vary much between songs in that every song has that same crunchy guitar, same thick plodding bass, same reverb treatment on the vocals, etc. Still, it's a good album that I wouldn't mind hearing again. 3 stars.
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