A Sense of Doubt blog post #1742 - True Meanings by Paul Weller - Musical Monday 1911.25
I have been listening to Paul Weller's True Meanings repeatedly lately. It's my go to album.
Paul Weller is a masterful writer, an elegant lyricist with a hard, apodictic edge, a visionary.
METACRITIC gives it an 81/100 -- universal acclaim.
I bought the Deluxe edition, which was released in a book form.
It's a beautiful album, rich and lush, spacious in a way that invites repeated listening.
The Telegraph gave it 100/100 and rightly so.
This album may already be my favorite solo work by Weller, which is difficult given my affections for Wildwood, Stanley Road, and Modern Classics. Though the last in the list is a greatest hits compilation from 1998 (just six years after launching his solo career and four albums), it is the album on which "Brand New Start" first appeared and, at least until True Meanings, it is my favorite Weller solo song.
Check out the WIKI content, especially the comparison to David Bowie.
From WIKI - Paul Weller -
Despite widespread critical recognition as a singer, lyricist, and guitarist, Weller has remained a national, rather than international, star and much of his songwriting is rooted in British culture. He is also the principal figure of the 1970s and 1980s mod revival, and is often referred to as "The Modfather".[1]
The Daily Telegraph said of Weller: "Apart from David Bowie, it's hard to think of any British solo artist who's had as varied, long-lasting and determinedly forward-looking a career."[2] The BBC described Weller in 2007 as "one of the most revered music writers and performers of the past 30 years".[3] In 2012, he was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life.[4] He has received four Brit Awards, winning the award for Best British Male twice, and the 2006 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.
I love Paul Weller; I love this album.
https://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/paul-weller-true-meanings
A pensive, introspective triumph, laden with jazz and folk settings...
Paul Weller has never liked being comfortable. He split The Jam at their arena-filling height, forced The Style Council to make a record label infuriating deep house record, and – by his own admission – split from a happy marriage with Dee C. Lee purely because “I might lose my edge”.
Perhaps the most recent iteration of this fearless/foolhardy – delete as applicable – aptitude was his decision in 2006 to completely overhaul his solo band. Out went the old, and in came the new, leading to some of his most daring, confusing, adventurous solo records yet.
‘True Meanings’ taps into this tendencies, while also resulting in some his most floral, poetic, soothing, and blissful songwriting. It’s a 14 song suite, a lush, at times orchestral folk-soul opus that pits Terry Callier against Nick Drake while emerging resolutely as the work of a punk kid from Woking. And yet it’s not all his work.
Opening cut ‘The Soul Searchers’ is, musically and lyrical, a virtual declaration of intent for the album itself, yet the words were penned by Villagers’ Conor O’Brien. It’s a sign of his openness to new ideas, to outside influences, with Weller commenting in the press note: “that’s what it’s about really, I always want to see what people can add to my ideas.”
Just reaching his 60th birthday, ‘True Meanings’ is the work of an artist who is able to bring enormous experience to the fore. The jazz-tinged lilt of ‘Old Castles’ is Pentangle meets Gil Scott-Heron, while the touching ‘What Would He Say?’ is this oddly introverted country shuffle.
The cryptic ‘Bowie’ vows to “make the best of every moment”, a vastly uplifting pearl with a pensive view of mortality. Is it the curious sight of a British music icon dipping his cap to another icon? Or advice to his son, also named Bowie? Perhaps both.
‘Wishing Well’ has a wonderfully hewn early 70s Neil Young vibe, a kind of Laurel Canyon lament transported to the Black Country. ‘Come Along’ meanwhile has a gorgeous but simple nursery rhyme feel, married to some of Weller’s most erotic lyrics yet. ‘Books’ radiates with inner peace, featuring some beautiful George Harrison style sitar-drenched wisdom.
The acoustic settings that dominate the album reach their apex on the undaunted, wonderfully ambitious ‘May Love Travel With You’, featuring the record’s most fully realised arrangement. Paul Weller’s voice dips and soars, rising almost breathlessly as horns undulate around him, a dramatic, choral, almost spiritual effect.
Curiously, the album opens and closes with the aid of other artists. The involvement of Erland Cooper on ‘White Horses’ presents a willingness by Paul Weller to step outside of himself, adopting fresh vantage points in order to re-define himself to seek out fresh areas to grow.
“White horses are taking me home,” he sings, lyrics that embody a sense of return, but only to know a place for the very first time. There’s a sense of tradition at work in ‘True Meanings’, without being slavishly traditional; continually taking chances, Paul Weller roots himself in a defiantly English soul lineage, one he himself has largely defined.
It’s a lengthy, beautiful work, and undoubtedly a late career high from one of the most important, courageous songwriters in the country.
8/10
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/paul-weller-true-meanings-review-a-return-to-form-and-focus-1.3625540
Paul Weller: True Meanings review – A return to form and focus
There have been occasions in the past 40 years of Paul Weller’s career when ambitions have outstripped results, but there’s no denying the dedication of his true-blue work ethic.
While his perceived status as God’s gift to songwriting is overstating the case (too much of Weller’s solo output runs close to Noel Gallagher’s as being conspicuously average), there have always been times when he gets it completely right.
That most of True Meanings hits the mark is due to its cohesiveness. It is Weller’s singer-songwriter album, acoustic and reflective in tone, and carefully, delicately textured.
Long-time fans will know he has always had a soft spot for evocative, bucolic tunes (Tonight at Noon from This Is the Modern World; English Rose from All Mod Cons) but on True Meanings he excels with a sequence of songs that stylistically reference traditional and contemporary folk (from Britain’s Martin Carthy to Ireland’s Conor O’Brien) while touching on moods that range from physical and earthy (Come Along) to cerebral and intimate (Gravity, May Love Travel with You, Glide).
A welcome return to form and focus.
Paul Weller returns with lushly orchestrated 14th studio album ‘True Meanings’
http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2018/07/11/paul-weller-true-meanings/
Paul Weller returns this September with his 14th solo album, a record called True Meanings that features “lush orchestration” and is being described as the “most singer-songwriter style album he has ever made.” It features guest turns by Rod Argent of the Zombies and Noel Gallagher.
Due out Sept. 14, the 14-track album was largely produced by the former Jam leader himself and will be released on CD, deluxe CD edition, double vinyl and digitally — and is available now for pre-order.
The record comes after Weller marked his 60th birthday, and finds the singer in a reflective, and collaborative, mood. The new album features more collaborators than Weller ever has worked with on a project, and includes several songs that were written by others — Connor O’Brien from Villagers and Erland Cooper from Erland & The Carnival — to melodies crafted by Weller.
In addition to Argent and Gallagher, guests include folk legends Martin Carthy and Danny Thompson, Little Barrie, Lucy Rose and Tom Doyle of the White Label project.
Below, check out the full tracklist and hear one of the album’s songs, “Aspects.”
Tracklist: Paul Weller, True Meanings
1. “The Soul Searchers”
2. “Glide”
3. “Mayfly”
4. “Gravity”
5. “Old Castles”
6. “What Would He Say?”
7. “Aspects”
8. “Bowie”
9. “Wishing Well”
10. “Come Along”
11. “Books”
12. “Movin’ On”
13. “May Love Travel With You”
14. “White Horses”
2. “Glide”
3. “Mayfly”
4. “Gravity”
5. “Old Castles”
6. “What Would He Say?”
7. “Aspects”
8. “Bowie”
9. “Wishing Well”
10. “Come Along”
11. “Books”
12. “Movin’ On”
13. “May Love Travel With You”
14. “White Horses”
A FEW MORE LINKS
https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/paul-weller-on-course-to-leave-eminem-in-a-jam-on-the-uk-albums-chart-37325140.html
https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/paul-weller-true-meanings-2-107690/
Solo discography[edit]
Studio albums
- Paul Weller (1992)
- Wild Wood (1993)
- Stanley Road (1995)
- Heavy Soul (1997)
- Heliocentric (2000)
- Illumination (2002)
- Studio 150 (2004)
- As Is Now (2005)
- 22 Dreams (2008)
- Wake Up the Nation (2010)
- Sonik Kicks (2012)
- Saturns Pattern (2015)
- A Kind Revolution (2017)[36]
- True Meanings (2018)
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1911.25 - 10:10
- Days ago = 1605 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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