25 September 1980
Even the video (below) looks like ’66 Beatles cosplay. I already own a perfectly good copy of Revolver, so I find it hard to work up any enthusiasm about this ‘Taxman’ recycling. I’m just surprised that George didn’t have his legal people take Paul Weller to the cleaners on this one; perhaps he was still feeling a bit sheepish after the whole ‘My Sweet Lord’/’He’s So Fine’ episode.
Given that ‘Start!’ comes right in the middle of The Jam’s imperial phase—’Going Underground’ was their previous single, ‘That’s Entertainment’ their next, ‘Town Called Malice’ also to come—Weller must have figured that he could get anything to number one (in the UK as well as in Ireland). In this case, he was right.
