Paul Weller @ Ancienne Belgique
Blog
Written by BrusselsLife Team -
01 Feb 2010, 00:00
(Updated: 13 Dec 2012, 07:59)
Recorded over the course of a year at Black Barn Studio's in Woking, 22 Dreams will do more than that. A kaleidoscopic tour de force incorporating rock, funk, soul, free jazz, krautrock, classical, spoken word, electronica and all stops in between, it's a seventy minute (m)odysssey delivered with a verve and ambition to shame musicians half his edge.
For those who've followed Paul's unparalleled thirty year journey through British pop, 22 Dreams should come as no surprise. Having split up The Jam at the height of their powers in 1982, he spent the rest of the eighties challenging pop convention with The Style Council (including an attempt to turn a reluctant audience on to Acid House in 1989).
In the nineties, he pioneered a new form of psychedelic folk-rock -accurately described by Robert Wyatt as "new furniture seasoned from old wood" -which reinstalled him as the pre-eminent songwriter of his generation. Nonetheless, following the top five success of As Is Now and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Brits in 2007, he could have been forgiven for resting on his laurels. But then, that's never been Paul's way.
Featuring an illustrious roll-call of guest musicians including Noel Gallagher and Gem from Oasis (on the staggering Weller/Gallagher composition 'Echoes Around The Sun' ), Graham Coxon ('Black River'), Little Barrie ("22 Dreams") and folk guitarist John McCrusker ('Light Nights'), 22 Dreams also reflects a personal milestone in Paul's life.
In career terms, 22 Dreams is as bold, brave and exhilarating as those other classic albums released when Paul was at a creative crossroads -All Mod Cons, Confessions Of A Pop Group and Wildwood. Not that the ever-modest Paul would talk it up.
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