I must admit that I'd grown a
bit tired of Paul Weller. I
still enjoyed the odd single,
but the albums had ceased to
engage me and the live shows
I caught in the mid 1990s and
early 2000s were....dull.
Despite the fact that I
fitted age-wise into the
bracket myself, I came to look upon
his oeuvre as Dad-rock - the
ultimate insult!
So I was sceptical, to say
the least, when I read the
early reviews for '22 Dreams'
in 2008 which were, almost
uniformally ecstatic.
Eventually, as the praise
kept coming, I checked the
album out. The reviews were
on the button. It wasn't so
much as a return to form, as
an artistic rebirth which has
continued with 2010s 'Wake Up
the Nation' and the fantastic
new album,'Sonik Kicks'.
Suddenly all bets are off and
no musical style is out of
bounds. I loved The Jam, but at the moment I'd argue
that Paul Weller is on the
form of his life.
Today he's 54 - Happy
Birthday Paul, I'm sorry I
ever doubted you!
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6 comments:
Haven't checked out Sonik Kicks as I, too, have become tired of PW, even though I've kept buying his albums out some kind of odd loyalty and then being not particularly excited by them. Will now explore further. I agree that '22 Dreams' was a fresh start. Haven't seen him live since the halcyon days (no, I'm not being sarcastic) of The Style Council, who I think get an undeserved bad press these days.
Nothing wrong with Style Council Singing Bear, certainly in their early years, although they lost me (& themselves?) towards the end.
I meant to mention in the post that some great new hand-held live footage of Weller has emerged, performing 'In the City' & 'Art School' a couple of weeks ago in New York on the site of the old CBGBs - well worth checking out.
Will certainly be looking for that footage.
Every now and again he'll creep up from behind and scare the b'Jesus out of you; From The Floorboards Up, Butterfly Collector (w/Noel) and Wishing On A Star, to name but a couple of recently recorded incidents. Ignore him at your peril.
Fear not! He's well & truly regained my attention.
Loved The Jam, Style Council had there momenst...lost track a bit after that....Wild Wood was great, always kept an eye on him and thought 22 Dreams had some good moments...had not listened to anything of the new one will definately catch up....have not written him of for sure.
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