Paul Weller - 'Illumination' (Independiente)
4/5
By: Toby L
If you were to chance upon some of the press that this, Paul Weller's latest LP, 'Illumination', has been receiving from the critics, then it's a safe bet that talks of a 'career-reversal', a 'return-to-form', blah, blah, blah, are the order of the day with the former Jam/Style Council major. Well, we're not going to go against such allegations either - for, blatantly, this is the Modfather's freshest work for what seems an age.
Goodness, too - who knows how such a feat could occur so long into a solo-career of all those peaks and troughs; maybe through revisiting his past in recent live, retrospective album, 'Days Of Speed', the ole man Weller has realised that his strengths lay within the rousing crowd-pleasers, as opposed to the questionable sincerity of mildly tame bluesy matter.
Suitable to its title, the content of 'Illumination' makes for a flourishing sequence of song-writing that's neither turgidly stale nor skyscrapingly innovative, and - as such - results in just over a dozen, warm tunes that prefer harking to the classic end of 'timeless'. So, in Paulie's re-ventured world where song is treated as imperative, proceedings kick off with the wildly optimistic 'Going Places', advance towards the irresistible melody of 'Leafy Mysteries', before hitting an early-album highlight in the latest single and soulfully-infuenced, 'It's Written In The Stars'. The effect is sparkling for the listener.
Where the substance proves more stripped-down also - say, the acoustic 'Who Brings Joy', or string-laden 'Now The Night Is Here' - reassuringly, none of the impact is lost, instead mirroring the other end of the scale where Weller's past embraces with balladry can prove scintillating (remember 'You Do Something To Me', after all?). And, despite the guitar-structure dominance generally throughout, such is the invigorating and uplifting nature of this LP that when he throws in a genre-defying instrumental with former 'Roses guitarist Aziz Ibrahim ('Spring (At Last)'), it works, fittingly setting you up for the soothing, inevitable two-thirds/Oasis collaboration, 'One X One', and defiantly beautiful country-hovering 'Bag Man'.
Proof that heads-down self-righteousness can often lead to mixed outcomes, Weller's musical-catalogue to date may well be a slippery path that meanders down various avenues, some admittedly alluring than others, but when creations such as this are spawned, it's impossible to refute justifiable praise. But, for all those that still don't believe, remember, with 'Illumination', the proof is in the pudding.
Artists in this article: Paul Weller
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