Paul Weller - Paul Weller: Deluxe Edition

A one-man jam

Paul Weller’s resurrection started with this debut album from 1992. His adventures with The Style Council had hit a dead end, so he soaked up some Acid Jazz vibes while nurturing a fondness for late 60s rock to accompany his ongoing love affair with black American music. Out of that fecund period, Weller wrote songs which displayed a youthful vigour and musical vitality he has rarely bettered. Funky rock singles Into Tomorrow and Uh Huh Oh Yeah felt like clarion calls. Round & Round was a Style Council update; the Marvin Gaye-like Above The Clouds felt like one.

The rousing Bull-Rush deserves special mention but the best was kept till last, from the confessional tones of Bitterness Rising to Weller’s own I Am The Resurrection in Kosmos. The bonus disc here is a revelation. Contemporaneous B-sides are mostly wrapped up on Disc One, leaving the second free for demos, acoustic versions and a couple of hitherto unheard songs. There’s an intimate, acoustic cover of Gaye’s Abraham, Martin & John. More fascinating is The Bitter Truth, opening like My Sweet Lord before taking a peak into Weller’s psyche, angst-ridden and self-critical. Two decades on, Paul Weller remains a quiet classic – and this expanded edition pays it proper tribute.

Universal | tbc

Reviewed by John Reed
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