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Paul Weller - 22 Dreams (2008)

Track listing:
  1. Light Nights 3:45
  2. 22 Dreams 2:48
  3. All I Wanna Do (Is Be With You) 4:36
  4. Have You Made Up Your Mind 3:15
  5. Empty Ring 3:03
  6. Invisible 4:07
  7. Song For Alice 3:38
  8. Cold Moments 5:00
  9. The Dark Pages Of September Lead To The New Leaves Of Spring 0:44
  10. Black River 3:47
  11. Why Walk When You Can Run 4:13
  12. Push It Along 2:53
  13. A Dream Reprise 1:09
  14. Echoes Round The Sun 3:08
  15. One Bright Star 2:58
  16. Lullaby Für Kinder 2:23
  17. Where'er Ye Go 2:47
  18. God 2:02
  19. 111 2:23
  20. Sea Spray 3:55
  21. Night Lights 6:07

Notes

Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

As the leader of the Jam, Paul Weller fronted the most popular British band of the punk era, influencing legions of English rockers that ranged from his mod revival contemporaries to the Smiths in the '80s and Oasis in the '90s. During the final days of the Jam, he developed a fascination with Motown and soul, which led him to form the sophisti-pop group the Style Council in 1983. As the Style Council's career progressed, Weller's interest in soul developed into an infatuation with jazz-pop and house music, which eventually led to gradual erosion of his audience -- by 1990, he couldn't get a record contract in the U.K., where he had previously been worshipped as a demigod. As a solo artist, Weller returned to soul music as an inspiration, cutting it with the progressive, hippie tendencies of Traffic. Weller's solo records were more organic and rootsier than the Style Council's, which helped him regain his popularity within Britain. By the mid-'90s, he had released three successful albums that were both critically acclaimed and massively popular in England, where contemporary bands like Ocean Colour Scene were citing him as an influence. Just as importantly, many observers, while occasionally criticizing the trad rock nature of his music, acknowledged that Weller was one of the few rock veterans who had managed to stay vital within the second decade of his career.

Weller's climb back to the top of the charts was not easy. After Polydor rejected the Style Council's fifth, house-influenced album in 1989, Weller broke up the group and lost both his record contract and his publishing deal. Over the next two years, he was in seclusion as he revamped his music. In 1991, he formed the Paul Weller Movement and released "Into Tomorrow" on his own independent label, Freedom High Records. A soulful, gritty neo-psychedelic song that represented a clear break from the Style Council, "Into Tomorrow" reached the U.K. Top 40 that spring, and he supported the single with an international tour, where he worked out the material that comprised his eponymous 1992 solo debut. Recorded with producer Brendan Lynch, Paul Weller was a joyous, soulful return to form that was recorded with several members of the Young Disciples, former Blow Monkey Dr. Robert, and Weller's then-wife, Dee C. Lee. The album debuted at number eight on the U.K. charts, and was received with positive reviews.
Wild Wood, Weller's second solo album, confirmed that the success of his solo debut was no fluke. Recorded with Ocean Colour Scene guitarist Steve Cradock, Wild Wood was a more eclectic and ambitious effort than its predecessor, and it was greeted with enthusiastic reviews, and entered the charts at number two upon its fall 1993 release. The album would win the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection the following year. Weller supported the album with an extensive tour that featured Cradock as the group's leader; the guitarist's exposure on Wild Wood helped him successfully relaunch Ocean Colour Scene in 1995. At the end of the tour, Weller released the live album Live Wood late in 1994. Preceded by "The Changingman," which became his 17th Top Ten hit, 1995's Stanley Road was his most successful album since the Jam, entering the charts at number one and eventually selling nearly a million copies in the U.K.

By this point, Weller decided to stop attempting to break the United States and canceled his North American tour. Of course, he was doing so well in the England he didn't need to set his sights outside of the U.K.. Stanley Road may have been greeted with mixed reviews, but Weller had been re-elevated to his status as an idol, with the press claiming that he was the father of the thriving Britpop movement, and artists like Noel Gallagher of Oasis singing his praises. In fact, while neither artist released a new album in 1996, Weller's and Gallagher's influence was felt throughout the British music scene, as roots-oriented, '60s bands like Ocean Colour Scene, Cast, and Kula Shaker became the most popular groups in the U.K.
Weller returned in the summer of 1997 with Heavy Soul. Modern Classics: Greatest Hits followed a year later. Heliocentric -- which at the time of its release he claimed was his final studio effort -- appeared in the spring of 2000. The live record Days of Speed followed in 2001, and he released his sixth studio album, Illumination, in 2002. The covers record Studio 150 appeared in 2004. As Is Now arrived in October of 2005 on Yep Roc. The live album Catch-Flame! followed in 2006.

Description
22 Dreams' is the ninth studio album from "The Modfather" Paul Weller. Recorded at Weller's Black Barn Studios in Surrey and produced by Simon Dine and Weller himself, the album is a mix of classic British indie rock that takes inspiration from Weller's three decades of musical output. Guest appearances come from the likes of Oasis' Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer, Ocean Colour Scene's Steve Cradock and ex-Blur guitarist Graham Coxon. The double A side single 'Have You Made Your Mind Up/Echoes Around The Sun' is included.

Review From Amozon.co.uk

I wasn't expecting the 50 year old Modfather to sound this vital again. This album is a corker.
Whoever described this album as being `a mix of classic British Indie Rock' hasn't listened to it. A look at the guest list: Noel Gallagher, Graham Coxon etc won't give you many clues either. The most consistent influence here is Weller's love of soul - the trinity of Bobby Womack, Issac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield inspire over half the songs here. Finally Weller has nailed down the sound he has been trying to record for over 30 years. A fired up British version of 60's/early 70's soul and r'n'b. A sound that you can hear trying to escape the motown-under-a-haystack production job on the Jam`s first album `In The City'. That lost its edge during much of his Style Council period. That got weighed down under that Heavy Soul in the late 90's. This time Weller has loosened up and let the music fly. And best of all his voice has never been on better form. It has never sounded more at home in the music it is singing.

There's plenty more here. Opener `Light Night' is a energetic stab of psychedelic folk not far from Steeleye Span . The tracks on the current single: the mellower `Have You Made Up Your Mind' and glorious riff driven `Echoes Round The Sun` are two of the most conventional Weller-rock songs here.
After a loose but together 14 tracks the album starts to go wonderfully off the rails. This is not a complaint. `One Bright Star' is a lovely slice of nightime Spagetti Western music. `Lullaby Fur Kinder` mixes French impressionist piano with English pastoral strings - very well. By now I am in such a good mood that I can hear Weller's voice veer into stage Irish territory for `Where Ye Go' and rather like the little peat soaked folk tune. `God' is a spoken word with music track about God. It sounds natural and heartfelt. `111' is two minutes of Krautrock. `Sea Spray' is the only track out of 21 that disappoints, short on ideas and marking time. But it comes just before the 6 wonderful blissed out psychedelic minutes of Night Lights.
After 30 years Paul Weller has come up with another classic. On this form it won't be his last.