Bruce Foxton - Smash The Chock Album Review

You’d be forgiven for mistaking Smash The
Clock for a Paul Weller album. Foxton was
the bassist for The Jam, and wants us to
know it (he still tours as ‘From The Jam’) and
his vocalist here, and in that live line-up, is
Russell Hastings, who sounds uncannily like
the man he’s mimicking. Furthermore, Weller
himself plays guitar on the rather lovely,
Arthur Lee vibes of Pictures And Diamonds,
and piano on the easy-going, Wild Wood
stylings of Louder. Apart from the bucolic,
fl ute-laden instrumental 50 Yards Down
Sandy Lane, however, most of this occupies a
middle ground between Weller and Foxton’s
mod revivalists and The Style Council,
especially the brassy Sunday Morning and the
title track, though that turns back – rather
than smashes – the clock.
Rating: 60/100