There was a time in the early eighties when Paul Weller was the poet laureate of British rock, giving three minute state of the nation addresses in, The Jam, a band birthed in new wave but experimenting in a variety of sixties pop blends. In recent years though Weller has kept himself in the game his social comment and cultural critique has not been so frequent or biting. Until now! If his last album 22 Dreams reminded the critics that he was still musically potent Wake Up The Nation reveals a man turning fifty this month who has not been so convicted or crucial since that aforementioned 80s period when Sound Effects and The Gift were simply vital; a kind of vital that the vacuous Oasis would never even touch the coats tails of!
Weller decided that there would be no acoustic instruments this album around and that they would work on riffs and experimentation. Reviews have spoken of the avant garde influences and there are without doubt fascinating quirks and twists, shocks and surprises, built around strong guitars and free flowing piano flourishes. It is urgent and in your face and yet not without gentle side. The radio play No Tears To Cry is actually a dead ringer for the Walker Brothers.
The most talked about lyric is from the title track - "Get your face out the Facebook/and turn off the phone/What with the death of the postbox/nowhere feels home." Some have called it the mutterings of a grumpy old man which makes you ask are prophets now dismissed grumpy old men! Weller at 50 is still young enough to understand the conditioning of the media age but old enough to remember when that media didn’t bland out the energy of youth to “shake up the station.”
Though State Of The Nation is more sonically urgent and passionate than lyrically, there is still a sense of playing our part in the bettering of the world. The opening Moonshine says, “My faith has been surely fired/I’m schooled in the test of time” which suggests he’s ready to “sing like you already own it/our birth and right is to show it” on Find The Torch Burn The Plan.
Sounds like a "must get." Certainly seeing him play so aggressively on Jonathan Ross, it reminded me of him spitting out "Some people might say my life is in a RUTTTTTT!" Was he energised or what?
Posted by: Napoleoninrags | 30/04/2010 at 04:46 PM