A Sense of Doubt blog post #1966 - New Paul Weller album is out!
Today is a very simple post to declare that Paul Weller's new album is out and arrives in the mail today!
Here's some videos and songs, the full albums, and a few reviews with snipped excerpts.
Happy Paul Weller Day!
ON SUNSET - full album
Paul Weller: On Sunset review – a mellower modfather
When you think of Paul Weller, you do not picture him on Hollywood’s notorious Sunset Strip. Baked either by the sun or lurid neon, a tourist hell trading on successive eras of American nightlife notoriety – 40s gangsters, 80s hair metallers – it is not the sort of locale where anyone, let alone a scion of precision-cut, post-mod cultural rectitude, should find inspiration.
And yet his 15th solo album, On Sunset, finds the now 62-year-old Weller taking in the avenue on a visit to his son. The years dissolve around him. The Jam played the Whiskey a Go Go in 1977 – punk-enervated modernists sorely disappointed to find a California hippie pall clinging to the area.
But on Sunset, “the sun was higher than it ever was before,” this son of Surrey reminisces. Soon, a jazz flute kicks in; heady 60s female vocal harmonies and classy vintage string arrangements light up the song’s dazzled take on the passage of time. “The world I knew has all gone by,” Weller notes, without rancour.
Paul Weller Dazzles with the Psychedelic and Soulful 'On Sunset'29 Jun 2020
More albums continued in this vein – Wake Up the Nation, Sonik Kicks, Saturns Pattern, and A Kind Revolution were all indicators that Weller was growing increasingly restless and wanted to create music that challenged preconceived notions. 2018's True Meanings was a bit of a concession to his earlier, more conventional songwriting style, but it was draped in pastoral folk and lush orchestrations. Paul Weller was moving forward and inviting us along for the ride.
On Sunset is a continuation of this way of thinking; it could almost be seen as a doubling down. One would have to go back to 22 Dreams to hear Weller let go of his inhibitions to this degree. But what makes this new studio album – Weller's 15th – so much better is that the experimental nature of the songs seems more focused, and he hits way more often than he misses. As great as 22 Dreams is, some judicious edits would have made it a better, tighter album.
On Sunset closes with "Rockets", which recalls the more acoustic-based folk sound of his 1993 album Wild Wood, but is enveloped in a spacey sci-fi vibe befitting the song's title. It also brings to mind some of the more psych-pop moments of one of Weller's heroes, the late David Bowie. In a sense, Weller could be seen as a natural heir to Bowie – he's experimented successfully with a variety of musical genres, has enormous cachet with both fans and critics, and has only grown more interesting and innovative over time. On Sunset proves that although Paul Weller is more than 40 years into his musical career, he sounds as fresh and inspired as ever.
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2007.06 - 10:10
- Days ago = 1830 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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