22 Dreams

Paul Weller revisits Australia for his fourth tour down under and sells out the Sydney Opera House over three consecutive nights during the height of Sydney’s summer.   Fan-site photos show Weller basking in the hot sun and gazing out onto Sydney Harbour.   I went to Paul Weller’s second “middle” show on Sunday 29 th Jan, and one of his first utterances as his band took the stage was “last night was a great fucking night, I hope we can match that”.   Summing up from the electricity and excitement generated by the band and audience he certainly did, and on the next night too if all accounts are to be believed. Weller and his band of mod-looking musicians played a blinding set that lasted for well over two hours, drawing from songs from his fine latest release ‘ A Kind Revolution’ along with a number of old Jam and Style Council songs and his well-known solo songs from his mid-nineties solo period, and beyond.   That’s forty years worth of consistently great...

Paul Weller, live at the Metro, Sydney, Oct 2010 1986 was the year my love of a certain songwriter-musician flew into high gear.  I was 16 years old in May 1986 when my sister bought me Paolo Hewitt's The Jam: a beat concerto .  I was immediately captivated with this biography: the photos, the story, the easy-to-read though poetic and incisive style of writing, and ultimately, Paul Weller.  I became a huge Jam fan, totally obsessed, and in varying degrees I remain so to this day. Here was a man who seemed to grow up with similar experiences to I and who looked so good and wrote such magnificent songs, who had such power and force of expression, and an acutely good musical ear.  Paul Weller, along with John Lennon, was my man. I never dreamt I would see Paul Weller perform live.  By 1986 the Jam were dead and the Style Council were moving into making album statements away from live performance; it had been the Council's tour of Australia in 1985 that awake...

Those who are fans of Paul Weller would know that his father and manager of some 30 years, John Weller, passed away earlier this year. He was 77, or 78. Paul Weller has gone on to say that his dad was the best drinking buddy anyone could ever have. But it's quite obvious he was more than just a drinking buddy, and much more than a maverick rock manager even. The man was just plain extraordinary. There he was, uneducated, a worker, a former boxer, turned into one of Britain's most successful and enduring rock managers, charting and following the path his son led as one of Britain's most loved performers and songwriters. People will associate the immensely musical and talented Paul Weller as the star with his incredible body of recorded work, his awesome live shows and his perpetual suave mod looks and fashion sense. Yet John Weller had that extra-special something, you just have to watch and listen to him talk on videos to see that. He appeared to possess a most con...

"...they are different to you and me, the songwriters. Normal rules do not apply. Theirs is another kind of existence, one that moves to a different drum beat. Their moods fluctuate, swiftly. One minute an angel, the next the meanest person alive. They feel themselves special. They are at the centre of the universe, and all because they write three-minute pop songs. Their arrogance is staggering, their humility a sham. They see and feel in different ways." - Paolo Hewitt, 2006. I've just finished reading a biography about Paul Weller, The Changing Man (2006) , written by his former friend and biographer, Paolo Hewitt. Paolo Hewitt is a London-based music writer who originated from Woking where he and Paul Weller had met as teenagers. Weller was Hewitt's best friend from 1980 up until 2006, where Hewitt admits to the termination of their long-standing friendship. For Weller fans, Hewitt would be best known for his lucidly-written biography of Weller's ...

Why do I love Paul Weller so much?? Well here's but one stirling example.. Performing Broken Stones Broken Stones performed on the Jools Holland show in 1995. The song appears on 1995's Stanley Road , perhaps the album that is most indicative of Weller at the apogee of his powers (although the man has hit many peaks with great albums scattered throughout 30 years of record-making). Weller's Broken Stones is up there with any of his finest songs. This is classic songwriting that mixes toe-tappin' soul with Otis Redding vocal stylings. Weller looks great, plays the piano great, sings great, is utterly fluid and in the groove with his music. Great hair, great jacket, fantastic cravat!! You're the prince, Paul!

[to be published in the Songsmith ] We couldn’t believe it!! Paul Weller was returning to Australia, his second visit since he toured the Style Council here in ‘85. He did 3 shows at the Enmore theatre in Sydney, 19-21 August, touring most other states as well. I never did see the Council concert back in ’85 and was determined not to miss this! And unlike, say, the Council concert where all songs performed were strictly ‘Council’ tunes, this concert opened up Weller’s backlog all the way back to his early days with the Jam. The crowd roared ceaselessly, and it was easily one of the best concerts I’d ever attended. The only catch was, it felt like it had gone on for 5-minutes (he played for at least 2 and a half hours), I really need to be there for at least a good 72 hours to take in the passion, the heavenly performance and songs, all of which are incredibly dear to me. The lion’s share of the concert was dedicated to performing songs from Weller’s new release 22 Dreams . This ...

i bought a couple of albums on the weekend and they were serious purchases too one is Paul Weller's new album 22 dreams and the other.. Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue a remastered remixed repackaged rebookleted re theworks double CD pack for the new millennia with bonus tracks added for extra tantalisemint and a cd-rom pdf-file hidden somewhere in the swirly silver grooves the bonus cd included in the pacific ocean blue toolkit is of the unfinished Bambu album ...unfinished of course because Dennis was exhorting himself on gigantean amounts of coke & booze may he rest in peace his was a gifted soul a beach boy surfer and kick-arse rock'n'roll drummer and arguably as gifted a composer as big brother bri interestingly enough as i listen to these albums slowly carving rivers through my musical grey matter they're actually quite alike in performance and style Weller's album, 2008 Dennis Wilson's, 1977 it's very organic music full of soul and flavour ...