To have reached the age of 57 as a touring rock star is no mean feat. To do so while still releasing records that push forwards into new musical territory and away from fan expectations is incredibly rare. But then Paul Weller has always been a breed apart. His musical (and sartorial) adventures across the Jam, the Style Council and into his 25-year solo career have taken him to the top of the charts, in and out of countless well-cut suits and to Glastonbury on three previous occasions, which means three previous incarnations: 1985 with the Style Council (he wore white trousers in a mud bath), 1994 (having found his solo sound with Wild Wood), and 2007 (a year after abandoning that sound and starting again).
Now he’s back again with the new album Saturn’s Pattern, a new focus on propulsive, expanded and angular musical ideas, and as his recent Radio 2 In Concert proved, a particularly fine haircut. Enjoy it while you can, he’ll be off somewhere else before you know it.
To have reached the age of 57 as a touring rock star is no mean feat. To do so while still releasing records that push forwards into new musical territory and away from fan expectations is incredibly rare. But then Paul Weller has always been a breed apart. His musical (and sartorial) adventures across the Jam, the Style Council and into his 25-year solo career have taken him to the top of the charts, in and out of countless well-cut suits and to Glastonbury on three previous occasions, which means three previous incarnations: 1985 with the Style Council (he wore white trousers in a mud bath), 1994 (having found his solo sound with Wild Wood), and 2007 (a year after abandoning that sound and starting again).
Now he’s back again with the new album Saturn’s Pattern, a new focus on propulsive, expanded and angular musical ideas, and as his recent Radio 2 In Concert proved, a particularly fine haircut. Enjoy it while you can, he’ll be off somewhere else before you know it.
