In 1978 the prolific three piece from Woking had cemented themselves as part of the vibrant and exciting New Wave scene in British music. With elements close to Punk, a movement which was already going out of fashion, they maintained enough of a traditional rock ‘n’ roll sound to stand alone from their peers. Their first two albums had been fast paced and energetic affairs but lacked a certain depth; a patience and melodic warmth to give Paul Weller’s songs a multi dimensional quality.

On ‘All Mod Cons’ the band arrived. The trademark Jam sound which we associate with them today; raw, soulful vocals from Paul Weller plus his angular and bittersweet lead guitar, the chugging bass of Bruce Foxton and the tinderbox drumming from Rick Buckler - it all started here. And the rest is the stuff of legend.

Firstly this album is jam packed with oddities. (Did you see what I did there? Okay no more) It consistently possesses tracks which are unpredictable. But somehow they all work well, knitting the album together wonderfully as Weller thumbs through his scrapbook of poems, skits and short stories to give us a portrait of late 1970’s Britain, a menacing place of social upheaval and urban thuggery.

The bright and shiny title track throws up the curtain and then rather slings it back down again such is its brief existence on the record. But, nevertheless, the sweet harmonies and arched, rocky new sound is introduced to mouth watering effect. After this amuse bouche comes the natty and succulent starter. ‘To be someone (Didn’t we have a nice time?)’ is a weird old record because it’s essentially the counter pointed narrative of a wannabe star and then the fallen star as his career goes backwards. Ironically this fate would befall the others in the band but not Mr Weller as he’s been having a bloody nice time for thirty years and the Modfather is definitely a someone! The guitar solo in the middle eighth sparkles like sunbeams reflecting off snow.