It’s always exciting, interesting and daunting to try and review a new Paul Weller album. Next to Paul McCartney, he’s been my hero, greatest influence and the one artist who I will always give the time of day to. Over his 47-year career, he’s delivered exciting, sometimes groundbreaking, adventurous works with The Jam, The Style Council and solo. And its always made me sit up and take notice.
He’s now 66 years old and has celebrated/acknowledged this by simply titling his latest offering 66. Over the course of his now-33 year solo career, he’s released 17 studio albums – some of which are beyond description in terms of forward-moving, powerful and brilliant; others have been “good” – he’s never offered a genuinely bad solo effort. At times, he’s been head-turning in the sense of going into musical terrain he either hadn’t visited previously or working with influences you would never expect/imagine him to (case and point, the back-to-back stunners, Sonik Kicks and Saturns Pattern). I would frame 66 as one of his warmer, emotional presentations than the more intense Fat Pop Vol 1. or funkiness of On Sunset. It’s, for me, an album of some introspection, re-evaluation and observation of the world around him at this moment of his life. I’m sure I’m probably reading too much into it, but how many other artists of his caliber have remotely tried to remain relevant and thoughtful as they moved into their senior years? Or were even able to deliver in general? Paul Weller is still as great on record as he is live (and I will be seeing him in September when his U.S. tour is in New York).
I plumped for the “deluxe edition” of 66, which comes housed as a two-CD set in a hardcover package, designed by the legendary Peter Blake, who (of course) designed the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Weller’s own Stanley Road. The second disc contains bonus tracks/potential B-sides, but the main focus here is the actual album.
Of the standout tracks, “Jumble Queen” is an easy favorite – a rocking track featuring a beefy horn section that puts the emphasis in the right places (and is impossibly catchy); “My Best Friend’s Coat” is a lush, somewhat melancholic piece that (to me) yearns of perspective and emotion; “I Woke Up” is a sweetly warm, acoustic-based piece that fits Weller’s mastery of pastoral sounds (an oft-used phrase of his work over the past few years), completely enriched with strings and an embracing melody – certainly a miniature cinematic track. “Flying Fish” is an electronic-framed pop masterpiece (this definitely would have fit perfectly on the previous album (the aforementioned Fat Pop Vol. 1) with its near ’70’s danceable feel; “A Glimpse Of You” is a simply beautiful Brian Wilson-esque style arrangement and “Burn Out” suits the spot as this album’s closing track – slow and enveloping, it once again showcases Weller’s skills as a master of lyrical consequence; it connects all the songs together as a consistent whole.