Paul Weller

Paul Weller - Modern Classics: The Greatest Hits - 1998 - Island

Paul Weller's status as the most resilient survivor from Britpunk's class of `76 was challenged by his last album of original songs. Whether Weller's fire had really gone out or he'd merely succumbed to midlife doldrums, a refresher was urgently required. Weller can afford to wear his influences on his sleeve because, as this new collection attests, the man remains, ultimately, his own best and truest guide. Modern Classics showcases a songwriter whose singular voice endures; it's grown quieter perhaps, but no less vital or honest. Born in 1958 and raised in Woking, Paul Weller formed The Jam at 14, who were influenced by The Beatles, Amen Corner and The Small Faces. In 1976 (Weller was 18) after hearing The Who's 'My Generation' and seeing The Sex Pistols play London's Lyceum, Weller found the direction he was looking for and established the blueprint for what would be Britain's biggest band for the next five years. From the release of their debut album 'In The City' through the seminal 'Down In The Tube Station' and 'That's Entertainment' and the classic straight-in-at-number one singles 'Going Underground', 'A Town Called Malice' and 'Beat Surrender', The Jam were a huge critical and commercial success. Weller penned a succession of songs, brilliantly reflecting his audiences experiences, until in 1982, convinced he'd taken the group as far as he could, he split The Jam to form The Style Council. Radically different to The Jam, The Style Council, incorporated touches of funk & soul. While his first solo album had firmly established Paul Weller as a potent solo artist, the second album, 1994's 'Wild Wood', was to see him hailed as one of the finest British songwriters of the last three decades. 1995 found Paul Weller riding high on a heady mix of popularity and critical acclaim leading up to the release of 'Stanley Road'. 'Stanley Road' managed to even outstrip 'Wild Wood' in its critical acclaim. Having risen from the wreckage of The Style Council to regain his status as an important figure in British music, Weller closes the first chapter of his solo career with this greatest hits set. It's a perfect encapsulation of the harder side of Weller, gritty vocals, water-tight backing and some lovely guitar flourishes. The years have seem Mr Well his temper and look at the world without the blinkers of his adolescent youth. Included on this album we find the softer Weller with haunting guitar solo and the gentle shuffle of ballads. This album reaffirms that Weller can still churn out the nuggets as well as he did in the halcyon days of The Jam. The onset of middle-age has meant he's settled effortlessly into the role of Mod Father of British guitar music. While the tracks may not be invested with the freneticism of yore but they still have the passion and commitment he's invested in everything he's turned his hand to. As ultimately impossible as it might be for Weller to ever top his tenure with the Jam in terms of watershed artistic achievement or cultish notoriety, you've got to hand it to the guy for trying, or more accurately, for not trying. Weller's never attempted to replicate the sound and fury of that celebrated group who, along with the likes of the Clash and Sex Pistols, ignited a musical revolution in the U.K. that (for a while at least) swept the established dinosaurs of rock to the margins of relevance. Weller can afford to wear his influences on his sleeve because, as this new collection attests, the man remains, ultimately, his own best and truest guide. Modern Classics showcases a songwriter whose singular voice endures; it's grown quieter perhaps, but no less vital or honest. Some twenty years after the Jam boldly announced a new era of "the Modern World," an older, wiser, but seemingly no less satisfied Weller continues to take stock of it. He's still grappling and searching for ways to live in a world that perhaps hasn't turned out to be so terribly different from the old one. Changing Man Weller delivers on hos own terms sometimes he gets it right somtines he doesn’t. This is Weller at his best – from ***** The Changing Man, 30 Mar 2010 By & © P. Frizelle (England) © 1996-2013, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B00000FDNW/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt/279-3825979-0571455?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

It's easy to gripe that '90s pop has become pasteurized and fake, but proto-mod Weller has spent the decade crafting simple, heartfelt, old-fashioned rock-soul that stands apart from the bogus phenomenettes foisted upon the market... - Rating: A - Entertainment Weekly

Wrapping up his contractual commitment to Go! Records, Paul Weller delivered Modern Classics: Greatest Hits, his first compilation of solo material, late in 1998. Modern Classics plays it safe, collecting all of his singles and adding a fine new song, "Brand New Start," which may not at first seem live up to its title, but eventually reveals itself to be a weightier ballad variation of the trad rock of Heavy Soul. Regrettably, the album is not sequenced in chronological order, but there was a consistency to Weller's solo work that makes the compilation hold together well. And while it certainly confirms that his solo work is easily his most conservative music to date, it also proves that it wasn't slight -- these singles are uniformly solid, whether it's the driving "Into Tomorrow," the rugged soul-pop of "Uh-Huh Oh-Yeh," the passionate "Sunflower," the ersatz ELO tribute "The Changingman," or ballads like "Broken Stones" and "Mermaids." Like Snap! and The Singular Adventures of the Style Council, Modern Classics is a testament to Weller's strength as a singles artist and a terrifically enjoyable listen in its own right. [The U.K. edition of Modern Classics included a bonus live disc, culled from various shows, which was every bit as good as Live Wood.] Stephen © Thomas Erlewine © 2013 Rovi Corp | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/album/modern-classics-the-greatest-hits-mw0000046224

The main Greatest Hits album collects many of Paul Weller’s best songs from his four solo albums released between 1992 and '97. This double cd issue includes a Bonus 13 track live disc recorded at Victoria Park, Hackney, London on August 8th, 1998. Listen to Paul’s wonderful “22 Dreams” album, and The Jam’s brilliant “All Mod Cons” album [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size (2 x CD’s) = 285 Mb]

TRACKS

CD ONE

1 Out Of The Sinking
2 Peacock Suit
3 Sunflower
4 The Weaver
5 Wild Wood
6 Above The Clouds
7 Uh-Huh Oh-Yeh
8 Brushed
9 The Changingman
10 Friday Street
11 You Do Something To Me
12 Brand New Start
13 Hung Up
14 Mermaids
15 Broken Stones
16 Into Tomorrow

All tracks composed by Paul Weller except "Brushed" by Paul Weller, Steve White, Mark Nelson, Brendan Lynch: "The Changingman" by Paul Weller & Brendan Lynch

MUSICIANS

Paul Weller (guitar, bass, piano, electric piano, Wurlitzer piano, organ, Mellotron, Moog & Mini-Moog synthesizers, novatron, percussion, vocals)
Steve Cradock, Dr. Robert (guitar, bass, background vocals)
Yolanda Charles (bass)
Mark Nelson (bass, sitar)
Brendan Lynch (Mellotron, Mini-Moog synthesizer, accordion, cyremin)
Mick Talbot (Fender Rhodes)
Helen Turner (organ, novatron)
Max Beasley (organ)
Steve White (drums, percussion)
Jacko Peake (saxophone, flute)
The Wired Strings (strings)
Chris Bangs (various instruments)
Carleen Anderson (vocals)
Simon Fowler (background vocals)

CD TWO [Live Classics]

1 Into Tomorrow
2 Peacock Suit
3 Friday Street
4 Mermaids
5 Out Of The Sinking
6 Heavy Soul
7 Wild Wood
8 Up In Suzes' Room
9 Can You Heal Us (Holy Man)
10 The Changingman
11 Porcelain Gods
12 Sunflower
13 Broken Stones

All tracks composed by Paul Weller except "The Changingman" by Paul Weller & Brendan Lynch

BIO

As the leader of the Jam, Paul Weller fronted the most popular British band of the punk era, influencing legions of English rockers ranging from his mod revival contemporaries to the Smiths in the '80s and Oasis in the '90s. During the final days of the Jam, he developed a fascination with Motown and soul, which led him to form the sophisti-pop group the Style Council in 1983. As the Style Council's career progressed, Weller's interest in soul developed into an infatuation with jazz-pop and house music, which eventually led to gradual erosion of his audience -- by 1990, he couldn't get a record contract in the U.K., where he had previously been worshiped as a demigod. As a solo artist, Weller returned to soul music as an inspiration, cutting it with the progressive, hippie tendencies of Traffic. Weller's solo records were more organic and rootsier than the Style Council's, which helped him regain his popularity within Britain. By the mid-'90s, he had released three successful albums that were both critically acclaimed and massively popular in England, where contemporary bands like Ocean Colour Scene were citing him as an influence. Just as importantly, many observers, while occasionally criticizing the trad rock nature of his music, acknowledged that Weller was one of the few rock veterans who had managed to stay vital within the second decade of his career. Weller's climb back to the top of the charts was not easy. After Polydor rejected the Style Council's fifth, house-influenced album in 1989, Weller broke up the group and lost both his record contract and his publishing deal. Over the next two years, he was in seclusion as he revamped his music. In 1991, he formed the Paul Weller Movement and released "Into Tomorrow" on his own independent label, Freedom High Records. A soulful, gritty neo-psychedelic song that represented a clear break from the Style Council, "Into Tomorrow" reached the U.K. Top 40 that spring, and he supported the single with an international tour, where he worked out the material that comprised his eponymous 1992 solo debut. Recorded with producer Brendan Lynch, Paul Weller was a joyous, soulful return to form that was recorded with several members of the Young Disciples, former Blow Monkey Dr. Robert, and Weller's then-wife, Dee C. Lee. The album debuted at number eight on the U.K. charts, and was received with positive reviews. Wild Wood, Weller's second solo album, confirmed that the success of his solo debut was no fluke. Recorded with Ocean Colour Scene guitarist Steve Cradock, Wild Wood was a more eclectic and ambitious effort than its predecessor, and it was greeted with enthusiastic reviews, entering the charts at number two upon its fall 1993 release. The album would win the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection the following year. Weller supported the album with an extensive tour that featured Cradock as the group's leader; the guitarist's exposure on Wild Wood helped him successfully relaunch Ocean Colour Scene in 1995. At the end of the tour, Weller released the live album Live Wood late in 1994. Preceded by "The Changingman," which became his 17th Top Ten hit, 1995's Stanley Road was his most successful album since the Jam, entering the charts at number one and eventually selling nearly a million copies in the U.K. By this point, Weller decided to stop attempting to break into the United States market and canceled his North American tour. Of course, he was doing so well in the England that he didn't need to set his sights outside of the U.K. Stanley Road may have been greeted with mixed reviews, but Weller had been re-elevated to his status as an idol, with the press claiming that he was the father of the thriving Brit-pop movement, and artists like Noel Gallagher of Oasis singing his praises. In fact, while neither artist released a new album in 1996, Weller's and Gallagher's influence was felt throughout the British music scene, as '60s roots-oriented bands like Ocean Colour Scene, Cast, and Kula Shaker became the most popular groups in the U.K. Weller returned in the summer of 1997 with Heavy Soul. Modern Classics: Greatest Hits followed a year later. Heliocentric -- which at the time of its release he claimed was his final studio effort -- appeared in the spring of 2000. The live record Days of Speed followed in 2001, and he released his sixth studio album, Illumination, in 2002. A collection of covers called Studio 150 appeared in 2004, followed by an all-new studio release, As Is Now, in October of 2005 on Yep Roc. Released in 2006, Catch-Flame! Live at the Alexandra Palace preceded Yep Roc’s mammoth Hit Parade box set. It was followed in 2008 by 22 Dreams, a two-disc studio epic that managed to touch on all of Weller’s myriad influences. His tenth solo album, Wake Up The Nation, was released in 2010 and it proved another success, earning a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize. Weller's next album, Sonik Kicks, arrived in the spring of 2012. © Stephen Thomas Erlewine © 2013 Rovi Corp | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/paul-weller-mn0000029791/biography