Paul Weller - Stanley Road

YOURZ

For those readers astute enough to notice this is the second Paul Weller album we're reviewing, well there is a reason.  Basically, we ran out of artists to review and decided we would pick five albums each from our collection that we would have liked to review.  Stanley Road is the first of these.

Way back in January this year, when we reviewed Mr Weller's Wildwood, I said I thought I'd find it hard that he could make a better album than it but I was prepared to be wrong.  Well, now is the time to admit it, I guess.  This album, with tracks like The Changing Man (a big live favourite), Woodcutter's Son, Pink On White Walls and the title track, is a modern classic.

But it is elevated to something more with track four, You Do Something To Me.  But I will let Mine wax about this track.  It, and the rest of the album, is so damn good, in the hands of anyone lesser, this would have been the peak, and possibly the end, of a career.  Thankfully, it only served to lift Paul to the status he now deserves.

Suffice to say...

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

This album is the only Paul Weller album you need if you're buying a solo Weller album.  It contains You Do Something To Me which is one of my favourite songs of all time, one I can listen to over and over again.  It's packed with great songs, and it's an album I'd be certain to replace if the collection ever went south.

But why is it so good?  It's the Modfather at his very best, singing with those husky-yet-strong tones that reduce me to jelly.  It's varied in mood, yet cohesive in tone.  It's a damn good album, and one of those I'd ask you - why don't you own it?  You won't regret it.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information go to: http://www.paulweller.com/

October Wrapup

MINE

Scraping through the remnants of our collection has both of us wondering - will we make it to the end of the year without repeating any artists?  Well, I figure we can get through at least November on our own.  Maybe December will be all compilations - goodness knows we have enough littering our shelves.

This month is Spring in Sydney - time to get some sun on our faces and mess about in the garden.  Time to see Paul Weller - who was fabulous again.  Time to look at the end in sight of this year-long journey that, I can't help but say, has been alternately exciting and draining, thrilling and wearying.

What will we do next?  Delve into the vinyl?  Move over to DVDs?  Get the iPod to select a random song to review?  Any ideas?

YOURZ

I'm a happy chappy.  We've just booted another winter away and the days are officially longer thanks to Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time.  Mine has got the veggie garden flourishing again (for a girl who always said she had a brown thumb, the garden is doing very well).  I can't wait for the days when the weather is warm and the smell of BBQs hangs in the air when I'm walking home from work.

As Mine said, we got to see Paul Weller live, making it the second time for me.  He was every bit as good as the first time, if not better.  It was a top night.  Next up is tickets to see Gorillaz in December.  I can't wait!  And the line-up for Big Day Out 2011 includes Deftones, The Black Keys and Iggy & The Stooges.  Heck, I couldn't see all three as side shows for the price of a ticket, so we might just have to gets ourselves along to one of the shows.

This month, we've decided to give our freebie to our friend know as Cape D'Avenger.  We have a little inside knowledge so are hoping he will enjoy The Eels.  So if you're reading this, Cape D'Avenger, while we know where you live, we don't know your exact address, so send us an email with it and we'll send you a padded bag of musical goodness.

Not long to go now, folks...

The Jam - All The Choice Cuts

MINE

And now we've covered it all.  In my total obsession with the Modfather we have now come full circle, from solo to Style Council to The Jam.  Which got me wondering, why he's been such a presence in my life?  There's no doubt he's a consummate songwriter, a great singer, and his looks have only improved with the years.

The Jam were one of many angry young bands that I listened to in that part of my life when I was rather a serious young insect.  Yes, I was growing up in suburban Canberra (the horror) and reading Camus and Simone de Beauvoir and wearing the Mod uniform of skinny jeans and pointy shoes and white shirts with skinny ties under grey or black blazers.  Oh, the pretentiousness of it all!

In those days we didn't dream of making it big in New York - everyone wanted to go to London.  And the Jam were (for all their Woking roots) oh so London.  It may seem trite but their sound evokes the smell of London for me, along with the greyness and damp I always seem to encounter whenever I go there.  And that soundscape heralding Down in the Tube Station at Midnight just puts me there.

I'm looking forward to seeing him again this month.  If the show's anything like last time, we're in for a real treat.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

The Jam are more important to me than just about any other of their contemporaries, with the possible exception being Elvis Costello & The Attractions and The Clash.  I was introduced to them through my friendship with a funny little English bloke called Paul.

At my first posting as a young RAAF airman, we became friends, bonding over a common love of alternative music.  I introduced a lot of Australian artists to him and he returned the favour by introducing me to some of the best the British had to offer, including the afore-mentioned artists.  I'm unsure of where Paul ended up as we lost contact many years ago, but if he, by freaky coincidence, is reading this, I'd like to say "thanks, mate."

I had two of their albums on cassette, Sound Affects and The Gift.  I also had their first greatest hits compilation, Snap.  I played these three cassettes until they snapped from wear but I've never replaced them. Listening to this collection has me thinking I should because, while it is a greatest hits, it does miss some of my favourite tracks from their albums.

And I still get a kick from tracks like In The City, Going Underground and Start!, which sound as raw and vital as they've ever done.  We'll be seeing Weller live in the next month or so and while I'm hoping he might play one of these, I know we're probably going to end up hearing Eton Rifles and Town Called Malice. Not that this is a bad thing...

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information go to: http://www.thejamfan.net/

The Style Council - The Singular Adventures of the Style Council

MINE

Aaaagh... I've already used my Style Council story in the Paul Weller review... what to do?  OK, OK, just put the CD on, maybe something will come to me.  Ah!  Of course.

Paul Weller has written two of my top-three love songs of all time.  George Harrison has the honour of taking the number one spot, with Something (on the Beatles' Abbey Road album, if you need to find it).  But it's closely followed by two of the Modfather's own - You Do Something To Me from his solo album Stanley Road, and this compilation's opening number: You're the Best Thing.

I can't imagine my life without this CD as it delivers hit after hit after hit... and I can really only find two songs that haven't stood the test of time for me.  So I just skip over It Didn't Matter and Waiting, and immerse myself in all the other songs.  No doubt the completists will tell me I should have all the albums, and they're probably right.  But this CD has always been a favourite of mine, and it always will be.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (and SHOUT to the top!)

YOURZ

This is the incarnation of Paul Weller I'm not hugely a fan of but then I've never been a big fan of this kind of British soul.  While I'm probably gonna earn the wrath of Mine for saying this, I think a lot of the songs on this collection have aged pretty poorly.  (Mine says: So this is Girl Music, huh?) This is not to take away from Paul Weller's song writing.  It's more about the sound of the record rather than the songs themselves.

Having said this, tracks like Walls Come Tumbling Down and Shout To The Top still sound every bit as vital as they did when first released.  And Weller's voice is just fuckin' awesome, no doubt.  But given I only knew four of the songs on this this collection, I can't really find anything more to say about it except I hope the pointy stick lands on The Jam, so we can complete the Weller triumvirate.

Given Mine's love of all things Weller, I'm not going to risk it by saying "Throw It Out", so I'll just say...

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

For more information: http://www.myspace.com/thestylecouncil

In our collection, we also have Confessions Of A Pop Group

February - Wrapup

MINE

Well that one just whizzed by - anybody would think there were less days to do everything this month.  Oh, wait...

So I guess we mostly discovered whose musical bones are broken - or who we're tone deaf for, which in my case is Radiohead, and in my husband's case is Madonna.  But the reviews keep coming and we're exposing ourselves to a whole bunch of stuff we ordinarily wouldn't be listening to.

This month I most enjoyed discovering The Grifters.  And as I have the next week off from work, I'm looking forward to revamping my gym-workout list to include some of the new music I've discovered and the songs I've rediscovered.  I'm also heading off to purchase Florence & The Machine after finally listening to some samples, and confirming to myself I can in fact still decide what music I like just by reading a review.  Age-based self-doubt, begone!

I guess what I might ask from some of you who are reading is - given you've taken note of what we own and what we like, do you any suggestions for us?  Who do you think we might enjoy getting down to?

YOURZ

February gave us the broken bone dilemma.  As Mine has mentioned, we both discovered which of our musical bones are useless beyond repair.  But isn't this again a perfect example of just how our individuality shines when it comes to any form of art?

I had a moment when the pointy stick came down on Madonna, you better believe it.  But then I remembered Mine also had to go through the same with Radiohead and I felt a little better.  These two artists are probably the most perfect example of the musical distance between Mine and YourZ (truly).  But the beauty of this month, the moments worth savouring are not the distances, but those when we're close.  I was stoked to hit on Aint My Lookout by The Grifters, an old favourite I hadn't listened to for ages.  And it returned the favour Mine gave me last month with Wild Wood by Paul Weller.

In the last Wrapup, we wrote we were giving James Hunter's The Hard Way, to my parents.  Well we're happy to report they really enjoy it, as we thought they would.  In fact, my father, bless his orthopaedic socks, has said if there is anything else like that we want to get rid of, he'd be happy to take it off our hands.  This month, we've decided to give away Billy Bragg's William Bloke to one of our favourite kindred bloggers, Chris at The Small Takeover (see his blog here).  Chris, if you're reading this, send us an email with your address, so we can send you some padded baggy goodness (and we'll also try and contact you direct).

When we started this project, we wanted to do it without the influence of friends or family.  We wanted to make a good start, suss out the problems and sort out exactly how we were going to run this blog without the burden of other opinions.  And believe me, some of our friends and family have very large opinions, so this was important to us.

But the thin veil of anonymity became even thinner this month.  It was lifted rather easily by an ex-girlfriend who, through another blog, discovered our identity.  This has led us to deciding we're going to 'come out', so to speak, and let everyone know we're writing this blog.  I don't know what this will mean but it's exciting.

Finally, I just want to mention two very important individuals who came into our lives this month, bringing with them chaos, mess and so much joy, our world is all the more richer for having them.  Here's to Dusty and Strummer, our wonderful new kittens.

Aztec Camera - Love

MINE

It's completely impossible for me to be objective about this album, as it's been a mainstay of my life since I first heard it in 1988.  As I've mentioned before, this period was when I took a deep breath, left my first husband (YourZ sez: I'm glad of this, as bigamy is not a game I wanna play), and moved hundreds of kilometres to start a new life. 

1988 saw me introduced to a whole bunch of new things - like the concept there were people in Australia who weren't particularly excited by the Bicentennial celebrations and were instead protesting Invasion Day.  Like ecstasy - and dance parties - and the realisation I fitted into that world like nothing I'd experienced ever before.

But it also introduced me to Roddy Frame and his album Love - that now strikes me as being almost easy-listening.  I'm sure it's one of those acquired-taste things that "you had to be there" for, but I still love the lyrics from Somewhere In My Heart - "From Westwood to Hollywood/ There's one thing that's understood/ Is that you can't buy time/ But you can sell your soul/ And the closest thing to heaven is to rock and roll."

It's a vignette of a time long past and it may have a certain "Eau de Fromage" after all these years.  But I vacillate between wondering if I was ever really that young, and wondering how 20 years can have passed from a moment I recall as clearly as if it were yesterday.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

  

YOURZ

As Mine says, this disc has a high cheese quotient.  To me, this kind of British soul (in this case coming from Scotland) has never been appealing.  Okay, the one possible exception is Paul Weller, but even then, I wasn't a fan of his soul music either.  Besides, Paul is in a completely different league, as far as I'm concerned.

The only song on this disc that sparked any recognition in me is Somewhere In My Heart.  I kind of remember it being on various music shows and the radio when it was released.  But it left absolutely no impression on me whatsoever.  To be honest, the whole sound of this record reminds me of a lot of what was bad about 80s pop music.

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT

For more information: http://www.myspace.com/azteccamera

Paul Weller - Wild Wood

YOURZ

I have always been a fan of The Jam.  The Style Council, not so much.  I mean, I do have an extremely rare edition of The Beat Surrender single (which I won't part with so don't bother asking) but apart from this, I wasn't into the band.

Having said this, Mr Weller's voice is so distinctive, I couldn't help but like what he did when I heard it. Yet somehow, I missed a lot of his output in the intervening years. Thankfully, Mine didn't.  I firmly believe she would leave me at the drop of a hat if Paul wanted her.  Makes me grateful he lives on the other side of the world and doesn't like flying.

I had the distinct pleasure of seeing him perform live last year (probably my gig of the year, truth be told).  What a showman he is and what a band he has supporting him.  The passion he evokes was evidenced by the audience reaction and in the cross-section of ages at the concert.  He really is a multi-generational artist.  I know there were parents and children at the show, equally as entranced by him.

Part of me feels remiss that I've spent so many years not listening to him, particularly now I've become familiar with this album.  For instance, I can't get the song Wildwood out of my head.  It's a superbly understated piece of brilliant guitar rock and almost brings me to tears with every listen.  Then there's Sunflower, a song whose title I thought would imply some sort of hippy ode but instead turns out to be anything but.  The ageless sound of Can You Heal Us (Holyman) and the turned upside-down reprise are simply wonderful as is All The Pictures On The Wall.  If you've not experienced any of Mr Weller's output and you consider yourself a fan of good music, then I can't recommend this album highly enough.

I'm now off to listen to Stanley Road.  I don't believe it can be any better than this but I'm prepared to be wrong.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

My hero, my inspiration, the musician I've most closely followed through my life, and hasn't he kept his looks??!! (He's another one on my list). This was his second solo album after the Style Council split, but I've been a fan since The Jam. Yes, I was a mod (She's a mod, she's a mod, yeah, yeah yeah) and my love for the Modfather continues.

Here's the deal. In 1985 I was living in Bendigo, a small town inland from Melbourne, Australia, with my first husband. I was unemployed and broke, and the Style Council were playing in Melbourne on my birthday. I hinted like anything that all I really wanted for my birthday was to see them, and that weekend we packed up the car for what my then-husband said would be "a weekend waterskiing with his friends". "Ha ha" I thought, "this is just to make the special occasion even more special". But then we took another road, and - guess what? We spent the weekend waterskiing.

Furious, I promised myself I'd catch the Style Council the next time they toured. They broke up. Then I learned Mr Weller isn't fond of flying, and I had to wait 26 years to see him. To ensure I fully enjoyed the experience I saw him twice - once in Sydney (with YourZ), where we live now, and then flying more than 700 kilometres (about 450 miles) to see him in Brisbane by myself. Scored the set list from that concert, which now has pride of place on our fridge. However, I'm not the only person I know who flew silly distances for him. My ex, who I introduced to PW many years ago, flew more than 4,000 kilometres (about 2,500 miles) from Broome to Adelaide for the same experience.

So trying to give my opinion on Wild Wood is a bit difficult. I think it's a great album - not as good as Stanley Road, which is one of my favourite albums of all time. In my opinion, it's better than his latest, 22 Dreams, which I'm not as keen on as he is. I felt it was a bit MOR, to be frank. But I can listen to Wild Wood any day, in any mood, especially for Sunflower and Wild Wood. In fact the worst Paul Weller album will always be better than some of the best albums from other artists, because his voice sings in my heart, and it always will.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.paulweller.com/

In our collection, we also have Stanley Road, 22 Dreams, Days Of Speed, Heliocentric, Heavy Soul and Paul Weller