John William “Paul” Weller, Jr. (born 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/new wave/mod revival band The Jam. As the leader of the Jam, Paul Weller fronted the most popular British band of the punk era, influencing legions of English rockers ranging from his mod revival contemporaries to the Smiths in the ’80s and Oasis in the ’90s.
Weller’s songwriting is rooted in British culture. He is also the principal figure of the 1970s and 1980s mod revival, and is often referred to as “The Modfather.”
He had further success with the blue-eyed soul music of The Style Council (1983–89), before establishing himself as a successful solo artist in 1991. After his run in the 80’s with the Style Council, Weller’s audience gradually thinned out before he regained new momentum.
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.
Weller’s re-energized music has yielded a string of popular album releases and his latest A Kind Revolution dropped this year, 2017.
A quick listen to the pop-soul swagger of opener “Woo Se Mama” finds PP Arnold and Madeleine Bell lured into New Orleans R&B gumbo, while the standout track “The Cranes Are Back” is a punning expression of hope: in some cultures, the reappearance of these elegant birds is regarded as a positive sign. Well, maybe. But at least he’s staying observant, and engaged. That, surely, is the message of album closer “The Impossible Idea” which finds him musing about the power of ideas, the way that huge changes can be triggered by a single thought.
You remember thoughts: it’s what we had before social media.
Almost exactly 44 years on from his teenage debut with The Jam’s In The City, Paul Weller remains energetically engaged. On Sunset released in July, 2020. “This warm and experimental release suggests The Modfather’s purple patch shows no signs of fading – even the reflective stuff is innovative”- NME
And now his new 2021 album, Fat Pop, Vol. 1. releases on May 14.
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Discography
Paul Weller’s solo career spans fifteen solo studio albums, five live albums, thirty-nine singles (not including re-releases or collaborations) and three extended plays (EPs). Weller’s album chart performance has been especially strong, with four number one and five number two albums. He has also scored five top ten and nineteen top twenty singles. He has also achieved significant chart activity in Japan.
Paul Weller (1992)
Wild Wood (1993)
Stanley Road (1995)
Heavy Soul (1997)
Heliocentric (2000)
Illumination (2002)
Studio 150 (2004)
As Is Now (2005)
22 Dreams (2008)
Wake Up The Nation (2010)
Sonik Kicks (2012)
Saturn’s Pattern (2015)
A Kind Revolution (2017)
On Sunset(2020)
Fat Pop, Vol. 1(2021)
Sacramento’s K-ZAP 93.3 FM plays Paul Weller. All part of 50 years of Rock, Blues and More, 24-7 on our station’s stream at K-ZAP.ORG/LISTEN/
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