Squarepusher
Using the same equipment from the sessions that produced the majority of "Feed Me Weird Things" Tom now set about working on the material for his first album for Warp. His broad conception for this record was "to push away from the jazz influence that was being felt at the time to a more soundtrack-type of sound". According to Tom he was listening to, amongst other things, early Lalo Schifrin and the "Deathwish" soundtrack by Herbie Hancock around this time. That said, the album also contains some abrupt diversions into quite different musical territory, evidenced in what Tom calls the "Industrial Psychedelia" of "Chin Hippy" and "Rustic Raver".
The Jam
Following two successful and critically acclaimed non-LP singles, "Strange Town" and "When You're Young", the band released "The Eton Rifles" in advance of their new album. It became their first top 10, rising to No. 3 on the UK charts. November 1979 saw the release of the "Setting Sons" album, another UK hit, and their first chart entry in the US, albeit at 137 on the "Billboard" 200. The album began life as a concept album about three childhood friends, though in the end many of the songs did not relate to this theme. Many of the songs had political overtones; "The Eton Rifles" was inspired by skirmishes between demonstrators on a "Right to Work March" – a campaign initiated by the left-wing Socialist Workers Party – and pupils from Eton College; "Little Boy Soldiers" was an anti-war multi-movement piece in the vein of Ray Davies. Another notable song from the album was Bruce Foxton's "Smithers-Jones", originally a b-side to "When You're Young". The song is almost unanimously considered to be his greatest contribution to The Jam. Recorded with electric rock instrumentation for the single release, "Smithers-Jones" was given a complete makeover for the "Setting Sons" album with a string arrangement.