22 Dreams (2008)

By the time we get to 2008, well, a lot of time has passed since In The City in 1977. I really, really like 22 Dreams. Songs like "Have You Made Up Your Mind" and "Black River" - in fact, all 21 of these songs - highlight the rasp in Weller's voice, which I find interesting... I've listened to a lot of Weller albums now, and this is the first one where I'm not hearing a song where I didn't wish he'd toughen up the lyrics. These are all strong songs, and musically, there is a lot of tonal and dynamic separation between softer songs like "Empty Ring" or "Invisible", but Weller digs deep for the vocals. I have a feeling he probably wears his voice down touring, and that makes a difference when he goes into the studio. In any case, great album. Musically on point.

"Invisible" is perhaps the song I've been waiting for, with the same vulnerability and emotive content as "Life From a Window" or "Liza Radley", tempered by maturity.

There was a time
You thought every hair on my body was alive
And so it was
Now you can't even see
They're graying in time

As Is Now (2005)

There's a really good mini-movie about this period and album with interviews with Paul and the two Steve's. Paul had hit a bit of a writing block, so he recorded an album of covers, Studio 150, and then came back with this fantastic album. "From The Floorboards Up" is the perfect single he hadn't really produced since "Changingman", and not for lack of trying. I love Paul's introspective songs, but an album needs a single.

I believe this is the last album to primarily feature Steve White on drums, and although this is a solo album, featuring Paul on the cover, it feels like a cohesive band playing, from beginning to end. This really feels like a Style Council album, if you ask me; it doesn't break new ground, per se, but it finishes what he started with "Long Hot Summer" with "Roll Along Summer". Lots of good songs here, and I have added "Savages", "Floorboards Up" and "Come On/Let's Go" to my playlist.

Studio 150 (2004)

Pure blue-eyed northern soul. Beyond the Nolan Porter cover of "If I Could Only Be Sure", this is just all of Paul's influences, prominently worn on his sleeve. There's a live recording. It's really good.

Favourite track? I'm a sucker for Gordon Lightfoot, so "Early Morning Rain" works for me, but the Sister Sledge cover is also great.

Illumination (2002)

There is an instrumental at the end of the first side of Illumination called "Spring (At Last)", which is everything I want from Paul Weller, honestly, and after that, the second side really got to me. His voice, at it's best, is inspirational. I guess I gave this little thought until hearing it with no words, just a kind of chant, in "Spring (At Last)". This is by no means a gospel album, but like a lot of Wild Wood, there is a sentiment here that we should find ways to get out of our secluded anonymous city lives and find a new place and a new day where we can share our hopes and dreams, and it's quite beautiful.

So dance little dancer
Like you've never danced before
It's just a moment
We're going through
This is the new dance that we do
So sing little brother
And turn on everyone
Lift our spirits high
To a place we need to find

Overall, I feel like this album deserves a few more listens. "Push Button, Automatic" could just be the best song the Kinks never recorded. I love it. Speaking of brothers, I didn't realize that Steve White, Weller's drummer for all of these albums, is the older brother of Alan White, who was playing drums in Oasis, which probably explains why Noel Gallagher keeps showing up on Paul's solo albums.

Heliocentric (2000)

There is no drinking. After you're dead.

Abso-bloody-brilliant.

I had not previously listened to Heliocentric, and I have just loved every minute of it. It's frenetic and biting, and politely angry in a way that I had missed since Paul Weller's early days with the Jam. Songs like "Picking Up Sticks" come off like a cross between "Pleasant Valley Sunday" and some besotted Tom Waits boogaloo. I've listened to a lot of Paul Weller recordings up to this point, and I don't think I've enjoyed one this much since Setting Sons. The sound here is very raw in places, and in other places it's just plain weird. The drums are simply astonishingly good, and the whole band is shining. In many places, this reminds me of Curtis Mayfield's band, or even a band like Stereolab. This may not be Wild Wood, but it is impressively dense.

Naturally, this is one of his albums which is often panned.

Heavy Soul (1997)

I've got nothing. I've got a picture.

Honestly, I'll come back to this, leave it as a placeholder... but I listened to Heavy Soul and it left me with very little. Perhaps I was distracted. The things I wanted more of in Paul's first couple albums, songs that have more room to breathe and longer jam sessions, well, Stanley Road delivered on those and I loved it, and Heavy Soul brings them as well, and maybe now it's too much breathing room. I'll come back to this after Heliocentric. Anyway, this wraps up the 90s and the brit-pop era.

Stanley Road (1995)

Listening to Stanley Road after a few years is like running into an old friend - a bit awkward at first, but before long, the experience takes you back to the day you first met. And that's the point. The first two albums brought Paul Weller back to his roots, but with Stanley Road, he plants both feet on those roots and then builds something incredibly powerful from them. Whereas Wild Wood is a very personal album, Stanley Road leads off with "Changingman", a declaration that everything you hear is intended to be transformational.

And then, "Porcelain God" digs deep.

How disappointed I was
To turn out after all
Just a porcelain God
That shatters when it falls, yeah
When it falls, yeah, yeah

I shake it off and start again
Don't lose control, I tell myself
Life can take many things away
Some people will try and take it all
They'll pick off pieces as they watch you crawl

Early Jam songs like "Life From a Window" have given me a lot to think about, sure, but the maturity and wisdom in these lines, and above all, the self-awareness... really leaves you with something to chew on. Stanley Road has real substance. And the growl in Paul's voice in the Dr. John song "I Walk On Gilded Splinters"? It's what keeps me coming back.

Mick's back (in the final track).

Oh, and some Gallagher guy is playing guitar (Weller played guitar and added vocals to "Champagne Supernova" in return), Steve Winwood plays organ on a couple songs; Steve Cradock and Steve White. Lots of Steves.

Overall, with the possible exception of Setting Sons, this is the first album where, to be quite honest, I love each song more than the last.

Correction: "Wings of Speed", the track with Mick Talbot playing piano? Not my favourite. "Whirlpools' End" is a massive 7-minute extravaganza, and Stanley Road could have ended there. Still, I love this album a lot.