We’re celebrating one of many UK’s most constantly inventive singer-songwriters and frontmen of the previous 5 many years, with 20 of the very best songs within the extraordinary catalog of Paul Weller.
Weller, born on Could 25, 1958, had already achieved greater than most musicians ever do together with his two earlier bands, The Jam and the Model Council. However when he put his personal title on an album for the primary time with an eponymous 1992 launch, he set off down a brand new path on which his inexhaustible musical curiosity has led to absolutely one of the crucial fascinating songbooks in all trendy music.
‘Into Tomorrow’
Our assortment begins earlier than Paul was even positive he wished to launch music beneath his personal title slightly than a band set-up, with a staging-post 1991 single by the Paul Weller Motion. As he advised Q journal in 1993: “The turning point for me was writing ‘Into Tomorrow’ on my first solo album. Up until then I thought I’d lost it. Sometimes you just have to wait until it comes round.”
‘Above The Clouds’
The albeit modest High 40 look of “Into Tomorrow” within the UK reassured Weller to observe his instincts. That in flip led to a brand new take care of the highly-regarded impartial Go! Discs label and Paul’s spectacular, self-titled first solo album the next 12 months. A High 10 album within the UK – modest by his former and certainly future requirements – additionally included the stirring “Uh Huh Oh Yeh” and our subsequent choice, “Above The Clouds.”
‘Wild Wood’
From the massively profitable Nineteen Nineties interval by which he was embraced once more by outdated followers, found by new ones and in the end topped the Modfather — whether or not he appreciated it or not — there’s the title hit from Wild Wooden. It was one other brave departure into acoustic, folk-influenced territory. The bucolic really feel was an acknowledgement that everybody, together with Weller himself, had let the closely politicized scene of the Eighties get in the way in which of a very powerful factor, the music itself.
‘The Changingman’
The primary single from the landmark Stanley Highway album was the infectious rocky “The Changingman,” which gave Weller a brand new UK High 10 single, his first as a solo artist. A flagship composition with Brendan Lynch, the music was an thrilling encapsulation of Paul’s inventive restlessness, and a observe with a descending chord development drawn from deep in his rock consciousness.
‘You Do Something To Me’
“You Do Something To Me” is probably one of many musician’s most common compositions, and possibly the music that comes quickest to thoughts every time anybody thinks of a Weller ballad. With its open-hearted lyric and profitable melody, it turned one other High 10 hit and continues to be a signature of his solo catalog. “This definitely strikes a chord in people’s hearts, a song for lovers,” he mentioned. “I’m told by many people they had it played at their wedding, the first dance…ironically, it’s really about unattainable love. But you can interpret it whichever way you want.”
‘Stanley Road’
The Stanley Highway album, from which we hear the title music, was named after the road in Woking, Surrey, the place Paul grew up. He continues to treat the album, which featured such friends as Steve Winwood and Noel Gallagher, as a specific excessive level of his profession, a nod each to his youth and to his current and future.
‘Peacock Suit’
Weller’s album output has all the time mirrored his love of Sixties-influenced rock, as on “Peacock Suit” from Heavy Soul. The only turned his highest-placed solo hit within the UK, reaching No.5, and wooed followers with its sometimes gritty replace of the mod sound of his earliest musical recollection.
‘Friday Street’
The seasoned singer-songwriter was in additional acoustic, troubadour temper for “Friday Street” from the identical album. The set was once more produced by confidant Brendan Lynch, additionally identified for his work with Primal Scream and Ocean Color Scene. The music gained comparisons with Weller’s mid-to-late Jam interval with its guitar work and harmonies.
‘It’s Written In The Stars’
Leaping forward to 2002, throughout Weller’s spell with Independiente Data, the Illumination album (his second UK No.1, after Stanley Highway) was co-produced with Simon Dine. Collaborators included Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer of Oasis and Kelly Jones of Stereophonics. Its highlights included the soul-jazz-inflected “It’s Written In The Stars,” a taste that bubbles again to the floor on a lot of his work.
‘The Bottle’
2004’s Studio 150 was named after the small studio the place it was recorded in Amsterdam. This time, one of the crucial prolific writers in rock devoted his time to a set of covers (and anybody who has ever been to a Weller present, from his earliest Jam days to the current, is aware of of his means to reinhabit so a lot of his favourite songs to nice impact). He paid tribute to everybody from Bacharach & David to Rodgers & Edwards, additionally transforming songs by Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin, and Gil Scott-Heron, the latter with a model of the influential “The Bottle.”
‘From The Floorboards Up’
Weller was again together with his personal new materials for 2005’s As Is Now. It had him rocking as laborious as ever on the exhilaratingly uncompromising first single, “From The Floorboards Up,” all two minutes and 27 seconds of it. “The fortysomething sharp-dressed man is still mod for it,” wrote The Observer.
‘Have You Made Up Your Mind’
Because the 2000s have progressed, Weller has all the time stayed one step forward of the chasing pack with a mix of the experimental and conventional. In 2008, solo album quantity 9 was 22 Desires, which turned his third solo No.1 set within the UK. Its first single, and a UK High 20 entry, was the soul-tinged, harmony-filled “Have You Made Up Your Mind?”.
‘Wake Up The Nation’
Weller marched into the 2010s with Wake Up The Nation, devoted to a number of absent mates together with his father and supervisor John, who died in 2009. As Pierre Perrone’s obituary in The Impartial mentioned: “Theirs was a unique father-son relationship in the music industry, built on John’s unwavering belief in Paul’s talent and shared values like hard work and pragmatism.” For the primary time amongst his solo releases, the album featured his former Jam bandmate Bruce Foxton. “We just slipped back into it,” mentioned Paul. The title music featured one other of Paul’s favourite musicians, former Transfer and ELO drummer Bev Bevan.
‘Fast Car/Slow Traffic’
Wake Up The Nation, recorded at Weller’s Black Barn Studios in Woking, carried a solo manufacturing credit score for Simon Dine. Additionally amongst its contributors had been My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields and much-travelled, veteran British session drummer Clem Catini. “Fast Car/Slow Traffic” was one other frenetic spotlight.
‘That Dangerous Age’
The 2012 launch Sonik Kicks lived as much as its title and have become yet one more No. 1 for Weller within the UK. Pitchfork mentioned the album “wears its search for new textures in its title.” The only “That Dangerous Age” had greater than a touch of bands of the Britpop period that had been themselves impressed by Weller, notably Blur.
‘Going My Way’
The piano-based second of tenderness “Going My Way” comes from the 2015 album Saturns Sample, which had Weller enjoying a big selection of devices together with bass, mellotron, Moog and harmonica. Produced largely with Jan “Stan” Kybert, it was extremely praised by the media, with The Guardian calling it “another style-hopping triumph.”
‘Aspects’
After 2017’s A Variety Revolution, Weller remained as productive as ever within the studio and as tireless on the street. True Meanings, his 14th solo studio file, got here out in September 2018, led by the preview observe, the enticing and acoustic-based “Aspects.”
‘The Cranes Are Back’
Paul’s prodigious output continued within the later 2010s with the 2017 launch A Variety Revolution, which featured ten new songs, two of which had been co-written with Kybert. Contributors included Robert Wyatt, Madeline Bell, P.P. Arnold, and Boy George. “The Cranes Are Back” was among the many highlights. “That was supposed to be a song of hope in an otherwise very, very increasingly bleak world,” mentioned Weller. “In some cultures the cranes returning are seen as a sign of good fortune.”
‘Village’
In 2020, he arrived at his fifteenth solo album, On Sundown, which he launched with two singles together with “Village.” “It’s a response to being told that we’ve all got to explore the Amazon and climb Everest to make our lives complete,” he mentioned.
‘Shades Of Blue’
Inside a 12 months of solo album 15 got here quantity 16, 2021’s Fats Pop (Quantity 1). That includes the infectious “Shades Of Blue,” it was created throughout lockdown and universally admired by reviewers. “For the second time in less than a year he’s released a record that can sit safely among the best of his long career,” purred the NME. For Conflict Music, it was “a kind of blue eyed soul take on the Basement Tapes, ‘Fat Pop (Volume 1)’ stands as further testimony to Paul Weller’s disregard for the expectations laid upon him.” If anybody personifies the crucial of creating good music for its personal sake throughout greater than 45 years, it’s Paul Weller.
Hearken to the very best of Paul Weller on Apple Music and Spotify.
