paul weller

[CRAZY-HORSE]

PAUL WELLER "22 dreams" 2008.

not content to rest on his laurels and reminisce about the old days Weller keeps changing,chopping and reinventing himself. here we have it, Paul Weller turns 50 in 2008 and he releases his most ambigious/ambitious album ever.

its been three years since Weller's last 'real' studio album, and one year since the covers album. let it be said, that like doing a covers album the other idea that has been floating around for a long while,since 1984s 'cafe bleu' in fact, is the idea of double album, and with this one, this one this is what we get...by accident no less.Weller and band headed into the studio with no demos or ideas 'to see where it would take me', and what we have is a respectable double album,as with all double albums(apart from 'the wall') is a concept that could have been edited down to a classic single album. the only down side here is Weller's persistance to include more lame instrumentals,six in fact, and fifteen good tracks. the instrumental tracks do break up the album nicely though but im not a fan of instrumentals as a whole.
'echoes round the sun' is a psychadelic track which came about from an instrumental track Noel Gallagher had and asked Weller to put lyrics to it. 'god' is a spoken word piece,unneccessary to the whole album,whereby God is talking to someone???
elsewhere theres solid rock/soul songs, ballads and an ever increasing amount of folk songs,which Weller seems to embrace and do very smartly. probably the most haunting/disturbing song on the album is "where'er you go", a track describing the horrors of watching a loved one die of dementia,you'll get it if you've seen someone go that way, and Weller nails it perfectly, in this case he is singing about his father's decline with the disease. Weller wanted to released a fistful of singles from this one but decided on three double a'side singles:
echoes round the sun b/w have you made up your mind #19UK
all i wanna do b/w push it along #28UK
22 dreams b/w push it along #59UK
the album reached #1 in the UK and became his biggest selling album since 'stanley road'.
if you get a chance to see the vinyl album cover,it is a work of art which loses all effect on cd sized cover, the cover is of an english country garden which wraps around the gatefold sleeve...fantastic!

worst track: pick an instrumental
best tracks invisible & where'er you go

tracks:

1. light nights**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGqDn00As0c live
2. 22 dreams***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR-CjqBuL8s live
3. all i wanna do(is be wih you)***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIN_s6XRHsc live
4. have you made up your mind***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=civFHU3HC...re=related live
5. empty ring***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLZOUVGUX...re=related audio
6. invisible***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSfU7jg5GJw live
7. song for alice*
8. cold moments**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnr04SebSSQ live
9. the dark pages of september lead to the new leaves of spring*
10.black river**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2UJPGWkUKw live
11.why walk when you can run**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYdH41T7LDw live
12.push it along***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2HyBZUNybU live
13.a dream-reprise*
14.echoes round the sun*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zim0o1X4cn0 live
15.one bright star**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McIYMGMXziE live
16.lullaby fur kinder*
17.where'er you go***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIVKmW2GW...re=related live
18.God*
19.111*
20.seaspray**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaYEyAfYhQ8 live
21.night lights*

3s=8
2s=5
3s=8

rating with the instrumentals 1.9
rating without the instrumentals 2.3

to be continued,next..."wake up the nation"2010.