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Wild Wood (1993, 51.19) ***½/TT |
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| Sunflower Can You Heal Us (Holy Man) Wild Wood Instrumental (pt 1) All the Pictures on The Wall Has My Fire Really Gone Out? Country Instrumental Two |
5th Season The Weaver Instrumental (pt 2) Foot of the Mountain Shadow of the Sun Holy Man (Reprise) Moon on Your Pyjamas |
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CDS (1993) ***½/TT½ Wild Wood Ends of the Earth |
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CDS (1993) ***/T½ The Weaver This is No Time Another New Day Ohio (live) |
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CDS (1994) ***/T½ Hung Up Foot of the Mountain (live) The Loved Kosmos (Lynch Mob Bonus Beats) |
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Live Wood (1994, 64.01) ***½/TT |
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| Bull Rush/Magic Bus This is No Time All the Pictures on the Wall Remember How We Started/Dominoes Above the Clouds Wild Wood Shadow of the Sun (Can You Heal Us) Holy Man/War |
5th Season Into Tomorrow Foot of the Mountain Sunflower Has My Fire Really Gone Out? |
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CDS (1994) ***/T Out of the Sinking Sexy Sadie Sunflower (Lynch Mob Dub) |
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Stanley Road (1995, 52.07) ***½/TT |
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| The Changingman Porcelain Gods I Walk on Gilded Splinters You Do Something to Me Woodcutter's Son Time Passes... Stanley Road Broken Stones |
Out of the Sinking Pink on White Walls Whirlpool's End Wings of Speed |
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CDS (1998) ***/T½ Brand New Start Right Underneath it The Riverbank |
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CDS (1999) ***/TT Wild Wood Wild Wood (The Sheared Wood Remix) Science With the Psychonauts (a Lynch Mob Remix) |
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Heliocentric (2000, 48.12) ***/TTT |
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| He's the Keeper Frightened Sweet Pea, My Sweet Pea A Whale's Tale Back in the Fire Dust and Rocks There's No Drinking, After You're Dead With Time & Temperance |
Picking Up Sticks Love-Less |
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CDS (2000) ***½/TTT He's the Keeper Helioscentric Bang-Bang |
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CDS (2000) ***/TT Sweet Pea, My Sweet Pea Back in the Fire (BBC session) There's No Drinking, After You're Dead (Noonday Underground Remix) |
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Illumination (2002, 47.41) ***/TTT |
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| Going Places Bullet for Everyone Leafy Mysteries It's Written in the Stars Who Brings Joy Now the Night is Here Spring (at Last) One x One |
Bag Man All Good Books Call Me No. 5 Standing Out in the Universe Illumination |
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Fly on the Wall: B-Sides & Rarities (2003, recorded 1991-2001, 153.19) ***/TTT |
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| Here's a New Thing That Spiritual Feeling Into Tomorrow Arrival Time Fly on the Wall Always There to Fool You All Year Round Ends of the Earth This is No Time Another New Day |
Foot of the Mountain (live) Wild Wood (remix) Kosmos (remix) The Loved Steam It's a New Day Baby A Year Late Eye of the Storm Shoot the Dove As You Lean Into the Light |
So You Want to Be a Dancer Everything Has a Price to Pay Right Underneath it Helioscentric There's No Drinking, After You're Dead (remix) The Riverbank Science With the Psychonauts (remix) Feelin' Alright Ohio (live) |
Black Sheep Boy Sexy Sadie I Shall Be Released I'd Rather Go Blind My Whole World is Falling Down Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City Waiting on an Angel Bang-Bang Instant Karma Don't Let Me Down |
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Studio 150 (2004, 45.19) **½/½ |
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| If I Could Only Be Sure Wishing on a Star Don't Make Promises The Bottle Black is the Colour Close to You Early Morning Rain One Way Road |
Hercules Thinking of You All Along the Watchtower Birds |
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As is Now (2005, 53.24) ***½/TT |
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| Blink and You'll Miss it Paper Smile Come on/Let's Go Here's the Good News The State of Forever Pan All on a Misty Morning From the Floor Boards Up |
I Wanna Make it Alright Savages Fly Little Bird Roll Along Summer Bring Back the Funk (pts 1 & 2) The Pebble and the Boy |
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22 Dreams (2008, 69.10) ***½/TTT |
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| Light Nights 22 Dreams All I Wanna Do (is Be With You) Have You Made Up Your Mind Empty Ring Invisible Song for Alice Cold Moments |
The Dark Pages of September Lead to the New Leaves of Spring Black River Why Walk When You Can Run Push it Along A Dream Reprise Echoes Round the Sun |
One Bright Star Lullaby für Kinder Where'er Ye Go God 111 Sea Spray Night Lights |
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Wake Up the Nation (2010, 39.53) ***/T½ |
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| Moonshine Wake Up the Nation No Tears to Cry Fast Car/Slow Traffic Andromeda In Amsterdam She Speaks Find the Torch, Burn the Plans |
Aim High Trees Grasp and Still Connect Whatever Next 7 & 3 is the Strikers Name Up the Dosage Pieces of a Dream Two Fat Ladies |
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Sonik Kicks (2012, 43.25) ***/T |
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| Green The Attic Kling I Klang Sleep of the Serene By the Waters That Dangerous Age Study in Blue Dragonfly |
When Your Garden's Overgrown Around the Lake Twilight Drifters Paperchase Be Happy Children |
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Saturns Pattern (2015, 43.34) ***½/TWhite SkySaturns Pattern Going My Way Long Time Pick it Up I'm Where I Should Be Phoenix In the Car... These City Streets |
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A Kind Revolution (2017, 42.54) ***/½ |
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| Woo Sé Mama Nova Long Long Road She Moves With the Fayre The Cranes Are Back Hopper New York One Tear |
Satellite Kid The Impossible Idea |
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True Meanings (2018, 54.54) ***/T |
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| The Soul Searchers Glide Mayfly Gravity Old Castles What Would He Say? Aspects Bowie |
Wishing Well Come Along Books Movin on May Love Travel With You White Horses |
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On Sunset (2020, 47.59) ***/TT |
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| Mirror Ball Baptiste Old Father Tyme Village More On Sunset Equanimity Walkin' |
Earth Beat Rockets |
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Fat Pop (Volume 1) (2021, 38.56/110.52) ***/T½ |
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| Cosmic Fringes True Fat Pop Shades of Blue Glad Times Cobweb/Connections Testify That Pleasure |
Failed Moving Canvas In Better Times Still Glides the Stream [Deluxe ed. adds: On Sunset (live) Old Father Tyme (live) Moving Canvas (live) |
Failed (live) Village (live) More (live) Testify (live) Still Glides the Stream (live) Rockets (live) Mayfly (live) Round the Floor |
Serafina Crowboy Into the Sea Pure Sound Fat Mix] |
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66 (2024, 41.57/62.19) ***/T |
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| Ship of Fools Flying Fish Jumble Queen Nothing My Best Friend's Coat Rise Up Singing I Woke Up A Glimpse of You |
Sleepy Hollow In Full Flight Soul Wandering Burn Out [Various editions add: That's What She Said Wheel of Fortune In a Silent World |
Now is Here Gotta Get on] |
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Current availability:
Mellotrons used:
I've just read an article on Paul Weller which commented on his 'twenty-five years in the biz', which knocked me back slightly; it's easy to forget just how long someone's been around, especially when you can remember their first flush of success. After The Jam and the Style Council, Weller reinvented himself for the second time at the turn of the '90s as a rootsy singer-songwriter, sounding like nothing more or less than an early-'70s 'Whistle Test' regular (Traffic et al.), complete with a 'back to the country' ethos circa '72. His debut, Paul Weller, was extremely low-key, but by the time Wild Wood came out, the press had sat up and begun to take notice, amusingly coining the phrase 'dadrock' to describe Weller's retro-rock, probably to his considerable chagrin, although I suppose he may wear it as a badge of pride. Can't say I could imagine my dad listening to this sort of stuff; must be a generation thing...
Anyway, Wild Wood's a well-written, well-produced album, if not entirely to my personal taste. Mostly quite laid-back, Weller's taken care over the vocal melodies and the instrumentation, recruiting Brendan Lynch and Helen Turner to help him out with the keyboard parts, although he plays many of them (including most of the Mellotron) himself. The Mellotron use is as low-key as the rest of the album, to be honest, with some very background strings on Sunflower and Can You Heal Us (Holy Man) and a subtle flute melody on Wild Wood itself. The one Mellotron-heavy (-ish) track is the album's 'epic', the seven-minute Shadow Of The Sun, Mellotron played by both Weller and Lynch, with quite overt string and flute parts. Nice. Incidentally, the Hammond work throughout is superb, reminding you of any number of long-lost turn-of-the-'70s outfits, giving the album an organic quality missing in so much music since the end of that decade.
I'm quite surprised Weller saw fit to put a live album out as his third release, but live work has always been his forté, so I presume he decided to play to his strengths. The material on Live Wood is mostly culled from his first two solo albums, recorded at various gigs between '93 and '94, with a five-piece band including Helen Turner on 'Wurlitzer, piano, organ, Mellotron, Pro-One', so top marks for the nice analogue rig. Of course, as is often the way with live albums, arrangements change, so Above The Clouds, from Paul Weller has Mellotron strings added, while Shadow Of The Sun, a Mellotron monster in the studio, is all piano here. Actually, I expected to hear it on more tracks, to be honest, but what there is is strong and upfront, rather than buried beneath studio arrangements. I've just realised what this album reminds me of, by the way: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. It's got that early-'70s 'jammin'' thing going on several tracks, with authentically retro keys and guitar tones; funny how people revert to their early influences, innit?
1995 brought the critically-acclaimed Stanley Road, named for the Woking street in which Weller grew up. Aficionados rate it as highly as Wild Wood; it's certainly in the same vein, although as a non-fan, I can't really attest to the quality of the songs. As far as its Mellotron content goes, it was played by Weller and Helen Turner this time, with decidedly audible strings on three tracks, Out Of The Sinking, Whirlpool's End and best of all, the title track, with a great string melody. The other couple of credited tracks are very background, to be honest and one excellent effort doth not really a Mellotron album make.
Weller's fourth solo studio outing was the uncharacteristic Heavy Soul, which bears at least slight comparison with Oasis' Be Here Now, with a similar tendency to meander through a rather substandard set of songs without actually going anywhere much. Also, it seems Weller hit the 'Mellotron Wall' with this record, keeping it in mothballs for the sessions. However, it was back to business as usual on Heliocentric, with little real change on the music front and a decent chunk of (uncredited) Mellotron, apparently played by the man himself and Steve Cradock, the latter particularly on He's The Keeper. I'm afraid I can't warm to this any more than to the rest of his catalogue, but it seems to do what it does perfectly well, so I'll leave my comments on its content at that. As far as the Mellotron goes, it's the usual flutes and strings across the board, really. Few of the parts stand out particularly, although the string part (along with real strings, by the sound of it) in There's No Drinking, After You're Dead works well, as do the string chords in Picking Up Sticks, on two of the album's few uptempo songs.
2002's Illumination starts off sounding as if Weller's forsaken the Mellotron, until it suddenly appears on track 6, Now The Night Is Here, with One X One being particularly heavy on it, with strings, flutes and choir smothering the whole thing. Excellent! Loads more on Standing Out In The Universe, too. The music? It's Weller. More acoustic than some of his albums, probably less so than others. Shit, I'm running out of things to say here... 2003's self-explanatory Fly on the Wall: B-Sides & Rarities does exactly what it says on the tin. Over the previous decade, Weller had released a whole slew of singles and EPs and while the odd remix seems to have been missed, this triple-disc set (why? They'd fit on two) mops up most of the stragglers, with a few compilation tracks and outtakes added to tempt the completist. I'm all in favour of artists making their entire oeuvre available, so top marks to the Modfather for releasing this, although it does, sadly, highlight what a stunning bore the man's become in his later years. Track after track after track of mid-paced, early-'70s (un)inspired waffle, with insipid versions of other people's songs (Lennon's Instant Karma and vicious Beatles Maharishi put-down Sexy Sadie, Bobby "Blue" Bland's Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City, done vastly better by, er, Whitesnake), thoroughly faceless originals and dull live versions of dull studio tracks. A massive yawn-fest, but essential for those into the man's style.
Its one real saving grace is the collation of several Weller Mellotron tracks, otherwise lost on b-sides, with strings on Wild Wood flip Ends Of The Earth and The Weaver EP track This Is No Time, flutes and strings on one of Hung Up's b's, The Loved and the aforementioned Sexy Sadie, originally found on '94's Out Of The Sinking. There's a couple of tracks from an otherwise Mellotron-free period of Weller's career, with strings on Right Underneath It and The Riverbank, both on the back of the non-album Brand New Start, which may or may not have a few seconds of strings itself and a Portishead remix of Wild Wood on the back of a reissue of the song itself, which sounds like, er, Portishead plays Weller. With Mellotron. Heliocentric's He's The Keeper is Weller's only 'across the board' Mellotron single, with another two Mellotron tracks on the virtual flip: a vague string part, mixed in with something else, on the heavily electronic Helioscentric and regular strings on Bang-Bang, one of the album's better cuts, while the 'Noonday Underground' remix of the same album's There's No Drinking, After You're Dead features some seriously full-on strings. The collection's final Mellotron track is a string part on Instant Karma, an Uncut mag freebie track, making this quite a Mellotron album, in its own, quiet way.
The following year's Studio 150 is the kind of record artists tend to make when they've run out of inspiration: a covers collection. And indeed, inspiration is in pretty short supply here; in short, we're talking 'mostly soul covers', Weller tackling Rose Royce (Wishing On A Star), Gil Scott-Heron (The Bottle) and Dionne Warwick/The Carpenters (!) (Close To You), with most of the other tracks having a soul feel, even when they're by Gordon Lightfoot (Early Morning Rain) or Dylan (the ubiquitous All Along The Watchtower). The occasional ray of light peeks out from the turgid gloom of most of the album, notably the lovely American folk song Black Is The Colour, also tackled by The Twilight Singers, but we're talking slim pickings here, folks. Very little Mellotron (the album was recorded in Holland, so I don't know whether Paul took his own machine over or hired one in), with a brief, high strings part at the end of Watchtower. 2005's As is Now, featuring a nattily-suited Paul on the sleeve, is typical Weller, throwing all his usual influences into the pot. Best tracks? Maybe the jamming Bring Back The Funk and closing ballad (with real strings), The Pebble And The Boy, making for one of the most listenable Weller albums in years. Mellotron (from yer man) on three tracks, with some beautifully clear 8-choir and flutes on Pan, high-in-the-mix flutes on Savages and a strings part on Roll Along Summer.
2008's lengthy 22 Dreams has been regarded as something of a comeback by Weller-watchers, although that shouldn't be a great surprise after the passable As is Now. It's an eclectic, diverse collection of songs, little like any previous Weller album and all the better for it, says I. Mellotron from several players, presumably including the man himself, uncredited, as he seems to prefer these days. Assuming it's him, Weller adds strings and very obvious cellos on All I Wanna Do (Is Be With You), strings on Have You Made Up Your Mind and, unusually (uniquely?) for him, background choirs on Song For Alice, plus string swells on Cold Moments and a flute part on closer Night Lights. Although the strings on the Noel Gallagher co-write, Echoes Round The Sun, sound real, both Gallagher and Oasis' Gem Archer play Mellotron on the track, so maybe they're doing some shifty Mancunian pitch-shift thing? Maybe it's a combination of real and Mellotronic strings? Who knows. Anyway, one more Mellotron track: 111 is Weller's Mellotronic crowning glory, with flutes, cellos and choppy strings from regular collaborator Steve Cradock and little else. Superb. The album is overlong and the CD version only has 21 tracks, making a mockery of the title; the 22nd is an 'iTunes bonus track - bloody rip-off - of a probably fairly inessential live version of Echoes Round The Sun. However, this is actually a satisfying listen, even for a non-fan, crapping on that awful covers album from a great height.
2010's Wake Up the Nation is a more 'normal' Weller release, squeezing sixteen tracks onto a 'vinyl length' album, so don't come here expecting any jammed-out epics. The album's notable for the thawing of relations with Weller's old Jam compadre Bruce Foxton (although Rick Buckler's notable by his absence); is this a 'new, more relaxed' Weller? Not going by the musical evidence: short, snappy, '60s-influenced efforts like opener Moonshine, Grasp And Still Connect, the loungey In Amsterdam or closer Two Fat Ladies. Presumably Weller on Mellotron again, with a high flute line on the title track, barely recognisable flutes on Trees and strings (alongside real recorder) on Whatever Next, making this one of Weller's lesser Mellotronic efforts. The title of 2012's Sonik Kicks gives Weller's latest game away slightly, both it and track three, Kling I Klang, referencing krautrock. That isn't to say that he's suddenly gone all Neu! on us, merely that he's incorporated ideas from that era, not least the staccato synth that opens the album, the drones on Kling I Klang and the synth-laden, twenty-second Twilight. Better tracks include the odd Kling I Klang and the humorous That Dangerous Age, but the bulk of the album's exactly what you'd expect from Weller, with a few extra analogue synth parts. I presume it's yer man on Mellotron, with flute and string parts on Study In Blue and distant flutes on When Your Garden's Overgrown, although most of the album's strings are real.
2015's Saturns Pattern (quick! Nurse! An apostrophe!) is, essentially, a distillate of everything Weller's done over the two preceding decades, the end result resembling nothing so much as an early '70s Traffic album. Best tracks? The second-half cluster of the slightly trippy Pick It Up, the trippier I'm Where I Should Be, the insistent In The Car... and the lengthy, meditative These City Streets, although I'm less convinced by the more urgent material at the beginning of the record. Not an awful lot of Mellotron: Andy Crofts plays about two strident brass notes on the title track, while Weller adds another two (uncredited) flute notes to Going My Way and some drifting strings and flutes to These City Streets. 2017's A Kind Revolution starts off in classic Weller 'heavy soul' mode, dipping in and out of the style throughout, better tracks including funky opener Woo Sé Mama, Satellite Kid and closer The Impossible Idea, with its hovering-on-the-edge-of-familiarity melody line. Weller plays occasional pitchbent Mellotron strings on She Moves With The Fayre (nothing to do with the traditional song), a duet with Robert Wyatt. The following year's True Meanings is a considerably quieter album than its immediate predecessor, which is both good and bad; quietly beautiful songs such as Glide, Aspects, Wishing Well and closer White Horses are in danger of becoming lost in the overall syrupy vibe. Three Mellotron tracks: Weller plays a handful of flute notes on What Would He Say? and vibes, alongside real strings, on Wishing Well, while Weller and Rod Argent add flutes and cellos to White Horses.
2020's On Sunset is quite unlike anything else in the Weller catalogue, an obvious Traffic influence making itself apparent across its ten, often lengthy tracks. Always wanted to hear the Modfather jam it out? Fill your boots. The trouble is, some of the longer tracks are rather too long, leading to a situation where the album's in good need of a haircut, presumably Paul's mod one. Better tracks? Possibly odd opener Mirror Ball, which sounds like it could've been written in the '40s, the soulful Baptiste, the jazzy Equanimity and Apple/Spotify bonus I'll Think Of Something. It's also noticeable just how far Weller's voice has deteriorated over the years; time to lay off the fags, Paul... Amongst the cast of thousands who contributed, The Style Council's Mick Talbot plays Hammond on three tracks, while none other than Slade's Jim Lea plays a violin solo on Equanimity; great to hear him making music again, even if relatively inconspicuously. Weller plays loads of Mellotron, for once, with strings on Mirror Ball, vibes on Old Father Tyme and the title track, strings and vibes on Village and choirs on closer Rockets, although I've no idea what he does on More and Equanimity, while Andy Crofts plays upfront strings on Baptiste (also heard on the Apple/Spotify bonus instrumental version) and Walkin'.
Wasting no time in the midst of a pandemic, Weller stuck Fat Pop (Volume 1) out a mere year later, an album in direct contrast to On Sunset, far more mainstream pop/rock, Weller style, at its best on opener Cosmic Fringes' electro moves, the funky Moving Canvas and gorgeous closer Still Glides The Stream. Three Wellertron tracks on the basic edition, with nothing obvious on True, flutes on Glad Times and chordal strings on That Pleasure. In addition, no fewer than four of the six studio tracks tacked on the end of the deluxe edition feature the M4000, with nothing obvious on Round The Floor, flute lines on Crowboy (with Charles Rees) and Pure Sound and all sorts of stuff, not least cellos, on the sixteen-minute Fat Mix (with Rees and Jan Kybert), which seems to be what its title suggests: an audio compilation of excerpts from the album, some edits more obvious than others. What little footage I can find from Weller's online special, Mid-Sömmer Musik, seem to show a digital machine, the audio evidence on several tracks backing that up.
2024's 66 (referring to Weller's age) features a Peter "Sgt. Pepper" Blake sleeve, while its contents largely channel a Gamble & Huff Philly soul vibe, notably on Flying Fish, I Woke Up and A Glimpse Of You, amongst others. Top tracks? Probably Nothing, its laid-back feel enhanced by some beautiful Moog work from Steve Brown and the punchy, brass-driven Soul Wandering. Weller on Mellotron, with high-end strings on Flying Fish, arranged to fake a string section, Stylistics-style, a short flute solo on Nothing (although the strings are Solina), nothing obvious on basic album closer Burn Out (strings doubling the real ones?) and more of those orchestrally-arranged strings on bonus effort Now Is Here.
If you like Paul Weller, you'll already know these albums and if you don't, I'd have trouble recommending him over many far better singer-songwriters (the sublime Richard Thompson springs to mind), but, as always, it's all a matter of opinion. You'll find advocates of all of these, even Heavy Soul, so I expect the general consensus is that they're all pretty good. Few of them really cut the mustard on the Mellotron front on their own (22 Dreams possibly excepted), though a compilation of the best tracks would work well. Weller still regularly tours with a Mellotron, which I heartily applaud, although I'm told that despite (allegedly) owning Steve Hackett's old Novatron, he usually hires one in. Mind you, do you blame him?
