Paul Weller ['Modern Classics' The Greatest Hits]
Ever since Paul Weller left The Jam, he's been making music that seems a far cry from what can be considered the Punk Rock of that outfit, The Style Council was a wrong step in my opinion, but his solo career is a lot more consistent, there's a certain degree of Soul in Paul Weller, i really like these songs, but i never feel that each studio album is sufficient as a package, each one seems too weak on its own, so a Greatest Hits package is the ideal solution.
Paul Weller was born in England in 1958, this compilation was released in 1998, and drawn from his first 4 studio albums [it's probably a good time for an updated Greatest Hits package], i do like the photography that comes with this album, even though the front cover is not very clear, but the lettering is actually really good, crammed together at the top, the picture brings a certain lazy summer day feeling to it all.
On this listen i was impressed with most of the songs, and tracks 1-3, 5-9, 13-14 & 16 were great, if i had to pick an ultimate highlight, it would be track 9 'The Changingman', it has a nice bubbly guitar driven intro, with a hard beat to it, and when Weller comes in, his voice sounds gruff and angry [0:16], the second half of the first verse has a really nice bass guitar undercurrent to it [0:34], heightening the rhythm of it all, it's the chorus that has the gist of the message in the lyrics [0:42],
I'm the changingman
Built on shifting sands
I'm the changingman
Waiting for the bang
As i light a bitter fuse
it almost sounds like he's got a gripe with happiness, is it real?, or is he just a cynical guy?, and everything ends up in a controversy of definitions, it has a nice little lead guitar solo [1:59-2:15], and right afterwards a sort of lyrical bridge [2:15], a lot more percussive, the whole song has a nice intensity to it as it continues, right at the end it has a false ending [3:18], but a beat comes in and a new fade out ending comes in, a nice little touch at the end, it's been good to analyse Paul Weller today.
Here's Paul Weller singing The Changingman on YouTube.
