Paul Weller 'Hit Parade' album

The wait is over. Three years on from Illumination and a year since his highly acclaimed covers album, Studio 150, you have in your hands 14 new songs from Paul Weller, simply titled As Is Now. The good news doesn’t end there. Fired up by both his break from writing and the resurgence in British guitar bands, any of whom were inspired to pick up a guitar in the first place by Paul, As Is Now is quite simply a milestone record, a dazzling return to the form which made Wildwood and Stanley Road central texts to Britpop a decade ago. “I felt that I needed a break from writing songs, but I didn’t want to do a covers record until I felt the time was right,” he explains. “But doing 150 gave me the space to not worry about it for a while. And then suddenly a whole load of songs came along at once…” Work on As Is Now started, as customary, with Paul working on demos at his own personal studio, Black Barn. However, following his rapturously received spring tour, which culminated in an emotional string of gigs at the Hammersmith Apollo, Paul decided to bring the band into the studio immediately to capture their intensity and explosive energy on tape.

“It was the best thing to do because we were still buzzing off the tour and we knew the basic outlines of the songs already because we’d been messing around with them at sound-checks. I really wanted to get that feeling of energy and excitement of cutting it live onto the record…”

Re-united with the production team responsible for the stripped-back sound of Studio 150 (Jan “Stan” Kybert and engineer Joeri Saal Wisseloord), the
results are startling. Working straight eight-hour days over a labour-intensive fortnight at Oasis’ Wheeler End Studio, the band (as ever: Steve Cradock,
guitar; Steve White, drums; Damon Minchella, bass) conjured up a rare alchemy, alternating between a kinetic fury unseen since Paul’s days with The Jam (epic first single “From The Floorboards Up”), bucolic astro-folk (“On A Misty Morning”) and heartbreaking late-night piano excursions (‘The Pebble And The Boy’), which nod to The Style Council’s deeply under-rated “Confessions Of A Pop Group.”

But that’s not all. You can dive into the pure punk power-pop of “Come On / Let’s Go,” slow-dance to the majestic ballad, “I Wanna Make It Alright” or wallow in the guitar crescendos of the Hendrix-esque opener, “Blink And You’ll Miss It,” which itself splinters into the powerhouse stomp of “Paper Smile,” arguably the most “scouse-rock” tune ever created outside Merseyside. “Bring Back the Funk (pts. 1 & 2),” meanwhile, sees the band all turn in career-best performances, led by a songwriter who happily admits to being inspired by everything from Debussy to Coltrane to Parliament to – yes — the Small Faces.

“People think I listen to the Small Faces all day every day” he smiles.
“But they’re wrong. That’s only between ten and midday...”

The result, for the first time, is a record that reflects all the facets of Paul’s career while still sounding completely instinctive and, crucially, bang up to date.

“I didn’t really think about what the songs were sounding like, it’s just the way they came out. There’s a lot of love in this record. ‘Floorboards’ stemmed
from something me and Steve (White) talk about — that when you play live on a good night the music doesn’t come from the band, but from the energy of the crowd. It’s that power you’re always looking to tap into to...”

Pushing the limits has always been the musical credo for Paul Weller. From his time with The Jam — still, for many the most inspirational group of the last 30 years — through the pop genius of The Style Council to his ever-evolving solo career, he has always remained true to the modernist ideal of keeping one step ahead of the throng. Now, with an entire new generation of bands inspired by his music, mindset and — let’s face it — wardrobe, trust Paul to come up with what the man himself considers to be his best work to date.

And that title?

“I was in Rome with my girlfriend and I went to see an exhibition of ‘60s British artists. A print by Eduardo Paolozzi caught my eye called ‘As Is When’
(1965). I just liked the simplicity of it. I just tweaked the title a bit. For me it’s an acknowledgement of living in the moment, and enjoying what’s there
in front of you...”

Which brings us back to where we came in: 14 brand new songs from the greatest British songwriter of his generation. Crank it up loud. Mr. Weller, we’ll see you in the speakers.

—Paul Moody, London, June 05

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Paul Weller - Hit Parade