Customer Reviews
Not just a great album but a great Jam album ..which is something else altogether - By: russell clarke, 27 Sep 2008 
Or when The Jam took off & really started fulfilling the potential they had shown with a string of singles & intermittently on their previous albums In The City And This Is The Modern World. All Mod Cons see's Paul Weller embracing a more English stance to his song-writing , with undercurrents of 1960,s pop like The Kinks - so much so they even cover the Kinks song "David Watts". The albums title also alludes playfully to the bands prevalencein the Mod revival.
The songs on All Mod Cons are often about ordinary people , or places but viewed through Weller's coruscating filter . He scorns the 9-5 existence of "Mr Clean" ( "If I get the chance ill f**k up your life") while seemingly revellingin the indestructible qualities of "Billy Hunt" right down to it's terrace chant chorus. "In The Crowd" is a glistening pop tinged number about the numbing anonymity of being errr part of a crowd. "The Place I Love" manages the neat trick of being urgent & wistful at the same time while "To be Someone ( Didn't We Have a Nice Time)" neatly encapsulates the celebrity grasping culture we have saddled ourselves with . The original vinyl edition ( which i still have) ended with the prescient twins "A Bomb In Wardour Street" powered by a chugging riff & the first person narrative of "Down In The Tube At Midnight " replete with Bruce Foxton,s expressive bass lines & Weller's vivid imagery. "They smelt of pubs , & Wormwood Scrubs & too many right wing meetings".Both these songs are probably more topical now than they were then .A bomb is taking it a bit far maybe but then you cast your mind back to the horrendous London bombings ...
By way of contrast there is the lovely acoustic ballad "English Rose" ( which portents some of Weller's solo work) which was not acknowledged on the original vinyl pressingin any way as Weller found it too personnel. The soaring chords of "Fly" are added to Weller's rather strained falsetto after the incongruously jaunty break up song "It's Too Bad".
All Mod Cons eschewed the more strident punkish themes of the era for a more considered quintessentially English album. The Jams angry punk album followed with the brilliant 1979 album "Setting Sons" . So what if it is lyrically clumsy sometimes ( "And my only link is pots of Walls ice cream"....oh dear) & that it contains a cover version ( I rather like" David Watts" & rather identified with it's scabrous envy of someone more self assured, better looking & more successful with the opposite sex) All Mod Cons is not just a great album but a great Jam album & that makes it something else all together.
LAZILY OVERATED - By: HBMAN, 28 Apr 2007 
MUST BE GOOD COS IT'S THE JAM INNIT? WELL SORRY, BUT NO, ONE GOOD SONG DOESN'T MAKE A GREAT OR EVEN GOOD ALBUM. ALL THE PEOPLE WHO GIVE THIS ALBUM 4 OR 5 STARS SHOULD HAVE A LONG HARD HONEST THINK ABOUT HOW INSPIRING THIS ALBUM REALLY IS. PERSONALY, LISTENING TO IT NOW 25 YEARS OR SO SINCE I FIRST HEARD IT, I FIND IT DULL AS DITCH WATER. HAS A MORE BANAL SONG THAN "IT'S TOO BAD" (LYRICALLY OR MUSICALLY) EVER BEEN WRITTEN? I DOUBT IT. ENGLISH ROSE MAKES MY TOES CURL. DULL, DULL, DULL.
A Classic of the Seventies - By: Steve Keen, 05 Feb 2007 The Jam's third album saw them at the zenith of their powers. Their first two had established them as a vital force amongst the angry young musicians of the punk era, & In The Cityin particular is a classicin its own right. But All Mod Cons has all the energy of its predecessors with the added thoughtfulness probably enabled by a record contract & a decent time interval between albums (This Is The Modern World was reportedly rush-recorded by a record company desperate to exploit the success of In The City).
The two opening songs, the title track & To Be Someone, reflect some of the disillusion that must have been assailing the still-young Paul Weller, berating the hangers-on making a living from his talent.
Mr Clean is the first of three tracks, with David Watts & Billy Hunt,in which a real resentment of the meritocracy comes to the fore. The band performed David Watts on Top of the Pops at the time, & the disdainin Weller's voice & facial expression was tangible - it was very clear that "I wish I could have all he has got" is 100% ferrous irony.
English Rose is the best slow song Weller has recorded, & the final three tracks form a suite for the seventies, particularly the imagery of A-Bomb - "In the corner I can see my girl, fifteen geezers got her pinned to the wall" - & the thugs smelling of "too many right wing meetings"in Tube Station.
My one criticism is that, whereas on vinyl the dying notes of Place I Love segued perfectly into A-Bomb, the record company has sadly not reproduced the effect on the CD.
Sheer class! - By: Paul A, 15 Nov 2006 This album is a must purchase... If you like anything mod or even indie then shame on you if you do not already own a copy of this timeless masterpiece of modern music, everyone else could benefit from giving it a listen. Quite simply this is one of the best, well-rounded albums ever to be released. Every song has been crafted & although lyrically beautiful it is never trying to be too clever or wordy. Songs of all tempos are gelled together by very impressive turns from all the band & all topped off with an excellent cover of the Kinks 'David Watts' rightin the middle. Love it!!! The Jam did other quality albums, but this is Weller & co at their best.
May Mod makes us truly thankful... - By: Merry Terry, 01 Sep 2006 
Striking gold on album number three.... "All Mod Cons" showed up the true quantity of talentin Mr Weller & lets not forget his rhythmn section who on this album are shown up to very good.
"Down In The Tube Station..." is a lyrical & musical triumph. "Fly" showed the man had a softer string to his bow. "In The Crowd" is a tune that has lasted the test of time.
