Wellers new album

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StanInBlack
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Re: Wellers new album

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wanderlust wrote:Quite like the new album, he seems much a happier bloke these days as well. Weller's albums since Stanley road have ben a bit hit or miss containing a few good songs here and there but this one is pretty consistent. I think nostalgic people think he is suddenly going to do an album of 60s mod covers or re-record old Jam numbers but his solo carer has always been about doing new things and moving forward. Also attracting new fans who know nothing about his Jam days is handy for him as he hardly revisits any Jam songs in his live set.
I like his 'Heliocentric' album from 2000 quite a fair amount, come to think of it. There's one or two clunkers on the first half, I guess, but the second half is great. I particularly love the string arrangments and the production. Sadly, it was the last album he made with Brendan Lynch, who produced the first five solo albums.

I get tired of reading people saying he should reform The Jam, because what they don't understand is that it's far, far too late for that to happen. They'd probably be able to play the songs very well, but the barrier is Weller's voice, which has changed immensely since the early '80s. His voice suits the material he's doing now, but would sound out of place on The Jam stuff these days. Besides, I don't think he sees the point in doing something he doesn't need to do. He clearly doesn't need to reform The Jam. If there's any time he probably would have needed to do that, it would have been in the wilderness years in between The Style Council splitting up and his first solo album, and he completely refused to reform The Jam even then at his lowest point career-wise, so I can't see it ever happening now. Thank goodness, because I think it would be shit.
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StanInBlack
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Re: Wellers new album

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Well, it would seem that his 16th(!) solo album dropped yesterday (his 27th album overall if we're counting both The Jam and The Style Council stuff) and what a great record it is. It's barely been a year since his last album - On Sunset (which I found to be a bit of a grower, and reached number one in the UK album chart!) - and the man shows no sign of slowing down. Clearly, getting his own studio and consciously making an effort to move into new (for him) musical areas has completely revitalised him, and the run of records going all the way back to 2008's 22 Dreams have all been fantastic. As with the Manic Street Preachers who also dropped a fantastic new single recently, it's amazing how - just when it feels like he's painting himself into a corner - he suddenly finds new ways to keep things fresh and engaging. What a talent. I've also noticed that he's been plugging the new material on Jonathan Ross recently and he's been getting the usual amount of airplay - not bad for a guy who released his first record all the way back in 1977! :smile:

(Yeahyeahyeah, I know some of you don't like Weller and have repeatedly said it over and over again on here - I don't need to hear it again, thanks in advance!)
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Re: Wellers new album

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By far not the best work he's done. Not really enthusiastic after the first listening. There are a few bands and musicians where it doesn't matter how good or bad their albums are, they just get regulary good or very good reviews in the media. Paul Weller is one of them, also Paul Mc Cartney, Rolling Stones,...
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Re: Wellers new album

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I'm on my 4th listen to it already and I love it. If you'd told me in 1995 that he would be opening a record with a short, sharp synthpop influenced track (which seems to have the chord progression from "Bitching" thrown in for good measure), I would have dismissed it as being highly unlikely. Then it follows all sorts of stylistic detours, with - by Weller's own admission - Cypress Hill influenced basslines etc. The guy has still got it, and in spades. He deserves the good reviews.
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Re: Wellers new album

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Here we go: https://youtu.be/uCQaEudrbUI
Wish The Stranglers would have come with such studio videos, it would have been possible before Covid19 and Dave's passing 😥
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Re: Wellers new album

Post by Yanders »

Listened to it last night along with #TimsTwitterListeningParty.

It has the right feel to it for the summer after a year of lock down. Weller came across as not a big a twat as you'd expect on Twitter, too.
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Re: Wellers new album

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Weller's internet/social media presence is quite good for someone who claims to not to be into the internet - even so, he seems to realise how important it is these days and seems to have got a team of people that work on that side of things. Time seems to have humbled him too, while at the same time he knows how good he is.

I think he's aware that he's got less time than he used to have, so he's seizing the moment and putting out as much music as he possibly can - which is most welcome, IMO!
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