264) Paul Weller

I can’t deny that by the end of The Style Council I had stopped listening and their record company had had enough refusing to release their final album.When I heard that Paul Weller had gone solo I thought well that won’t work he will reform The Jam when he realises no one will be interested in his solo career.  It may shock people to know I’m useless at gambling.Jonathan Ross did a chat show on Channel 4, and I was sitting having my tea when he introduced Weller with his debut solo single Into Tomorrow, I couldn’t find the remote so left it on. There was a guitar riff and a bit of urgency that had been missing from late period Style Council, it was, and is, an excellent wee song.

The follow us Uh Huh Oh Yeh! was even better a loose rocker that coasts along with a saxophone solo and great drum from Steve White, Weller sounded the most relaxed he had been in years.

Round & Round hits on a groove from the start and although he is rarely seen without a cigarette on the go his vocals have improved, see the beautifully played and sung Above the Clouds and I enjoy the flutes and drums of Clues (Steve White seems freed by the ending of The Style Council as well). 

The Strange Museum he is at his most laid back before he hits a groove on Bitterness Rising and we end on Kosmos where we have lovely backing vocals from DC Lee and the wonderful Carleen Anderson (I’d forgotten about the classic Young Disciples song Apparently Nothin’)

Weller needed this, and it worked. I’m not sure he was ever so relaxed on record again.

 7/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: Uh Huh Oh Yeh!