I'm going to try and reactivate the blog after a long break and (on the good advice of one of my three followers - my brother Brian) just stick to music, movies and books from now on. So here we go with my take on an album released in 2000 by Paul Weller;- 'Heliocentric'
Despite having loved The Jam as a teenager (I still enjoy casually telling Weller fans under the age of 40 that I saw them live 4 times between May 1979 - my first ever gig - and February 1981), and admired (loved may be too strong a word) The Style Council as a twenty something finding my way in the world, I'm not really sure why I chose to simply ignore the majority of Paul Weller's solo career (certainly his output following the `Britpop Years' and his 1998 greatest hits anyway) until now, when a recent chance encounter with his 'As Is Now' album made me decide to binge out on his back catalogue.
Perhaps it makes some sense that now I have at least some of the characteristics of what the cynical media might term a `typical Weller fan' (a 45 year old Dad who wears inexpensive Lambretta and Ben Sherman clothing to go and do the Tesco shop on a Saturday morning and could, if pushed, recite most of the script of `Quadrophenia' from memory) I should now start catching up with his 21st Century output too.
And so to `Heliocentric' his fifth solo studio album, originally released in 2000. Of all the Weller albums I have been listening to whilst playing catch up over the past few months, Heliocentric has been the most surprising in that (despite many negative reviews I have read, both recent and from the time of its release) it has completely knocked me for six and is, in a word, superb.
Perhaps ten years ago (with `Britpop' as we knew it in the 1990s pretty much dead and buried) this album may have sounded a bit old hat, I don't know, I didn't hear it then, so I can only really go on my reaction to it now, at the start of the summer 2010 and I absolutely love it.
Heliocentric certainly demands a few plays, all the way through and all in one go, before it really starts to weave its magic on the listener. Often slated by detractors as being similarly paced and `plodding' this could not be further from the truth; every song on the album is unique, carefully constructed and beautifully performed.
Other reviewers have said that the songs get better and better as the album progresses; this is also a view I share, although I personally do not think there is one even vaguely weak track amongst them all. If you want what could be classed as `typical' Weller then the opener; `He's The Keeper' will not disappoint. It's a slow paced rock song very much in the late Small Faces style delivered with emotion and punch. It is also a tribute to former Small Face and latter day Face Ronnie Lane. `Frightened' is a Lennon styled ballad with an excellent, vulnerable lyric, which is followed by Weller's often maligned ode to his daughter; `Sweet Pea' which is cute and harmless, bringing to mind Don Partridge's 1968 one-man-band anthem `Rosie'. Next up is `A Whale's Tale' a raucous and oddball sing a long dealing with (I think) themes of victimisation. All in all a great start, but things really kick into gear with `Back In The Fire' a stirring and slightly sinister Blur-esque trip hop in which Weller rants (in his much loved Woking accent, not the American singing voice he has adopted more in recent years) about being `handcuffed to some wanker' with genuine bile as of old
The sublime string arrangements are one of this albums secret weapons, perhaps none more so than on the huge ballad `Dust And Rocks'. Then comes the incredible `There Is No Drinking After You're Dead' - musically much faster paced and aggresive, but with a slow drawling vocal very reminiscent of Cream at their most psychedelic. Razor sharp and bristling with energy - it even manages to go a bit exotic with an eastern themed string break in the middle. `With Time And Temperance' is another reflection on Weller's (then) recent marriage breakdown. Another superb melody that leads to a haunting and trippy outro. I don't know why, but this song (to me at least) sounds a great deal like some long lost Jam single from mid 1981 which can only be a good thing. OK so we are getting on to the end of the album now with `Picking Up Sticks' - a truly incredible piece of funky West Coast psychedelia with a ridiculously catchy keyboard riff throughout and a short `drum solo' during the instrumental work out at the end. I love drum solos anyway so I'm happy (Perhaps Weller could recruit Ginger Baker for a future tour, then allow him a full on 15 minute `Toad' solo whilst he nips off to change his mohair suit!) So that just leaves the closing ballad `Love-Less' which is very soulful (in a kind of `What's Going On' way) and builds to such a gorgeous `goose bumps' crescendo of an ending that leaves you with an exhilarated `how the hell do I follow that?' feeling.
You follow it by simply starting it all again from the beginning as I have been doing, pausing only to eat, work and sleep, for about four weeks now.
I kid you not; this album is incredible and without doubt one of the best of Weller's entire career. Listen to it now with the warm Summer months ahead - it's a perfect soundtrack to sunny days and warm balmy evenings. Alternatively, play it in the middle of Winter and its sunny vibe will save you a packet on heating bills. Brilliant stuff. (9/10)
