Paul Weller: Heavy Soul - 1997

 

After the jazzy folk rock of his 1993 debut album, the rusticity of Wild Wood and the solid, rocking Stanley Road, Paul Weller went even heavier, to coin a phrase, with this 1997 album. The title summed it up perfectly, it was indeed Heavy Soul, full of deep bass lines and industrial strength drums. It is, in fact, one of my favourite Weller albums. 

Guitars are to the fore on the clunky, powerful opener, Heavy Soul, Pt. 1 and Peacock Suit has an absolutely killer riffy opening and a catchy, upbeat feel throughout. It is a great choice for a single and remains a live set staple to this day. This track has some great drum sounds - drummer Steve White is impressive throughout the album - confident, inventive and powerful.

The acoustically-driven, psychedelic Up In Suze's Room is a chilled out, soulful number with some appealing reverberating sounds behind the chorus and some lovely bass lines. Brushed is an intense, dense, grungy rocker, while Driving Nowhere again features some lilting bass sounds and another instantly catchy refrain. I Should Have Been There To Inspire You is both soully and uplifting at the same time. It utilises some melodica at the end, an instrument usually used in dub reggae. 

Weller’s vocals on this album are as good as they have ever been here and there is a real power to the sound, mixed with a rich warmth, it is one of the finest sounding Weller albums, for me. For some, however, it was seen as an album that didn’t really go anywhere and it did not have the broader appeal that Stanley Road did, which was a shame, because I think it is excellent from beginning to end. Indeed, I prefer it to its predecessor. 

The instrumental jam of Heavy Soul, Pt. 2 leads into the vibrant Friday Street, while the intoxicating Science brings the pace down with its rhythmic, Gil Scott-Heron-influenced bassy groove and tuneful appeal. 

The lovely, jazzy and funky groover, Golden Sands, has airs of Stanley Road’s rock tunes about it, and the gorgeous As You Lean Into The Light harks back to the wistful and bucolic Wild Wood. The commercial-ish Mermaids was a single and garnered quite a lot of radio play, but this was not a commercial album. It was soulful but intense. Not to be messed with.

Non-album tracks

The non-album tracks featured Brendan Lynch's studio experimentation of Eye Of The Storm, an instrumental enhanced by some swirling guitar and pounding drums; a cover of Bobby Bland's insistent Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City, which suits Weller's robust delivery down to the ground; Shoot The Dove, a piano-driven ballad in slow, reflective style of Hung Up; a lively psychedelic-funky-dance-ish instrumental in So You Want To Be A Dancer (I am not a huge fan of dance stuff, but I like this - great bass and guitar sounds); The Riverbank, a dreamy re-working of The Jam's Tales From The Riverbank and finally Brand New Start, a wistful, acoustically-driven piece of typical Weller fare. It was a piece of infectious rootsy folky blues that exemplified just where Weller was at in 1997-98.

As You Lean Into The Light also appeared in two versions. Its alternative one is done in stark, acoustic format, with no drums or bass.

Also worthy of mention are some songs from the otherwise fallow year of 1998. Right Underneath It is a tough, mid-pace Weller rock number once again very much in the style if his material from the time. It would not have been out of place on Stanley Road.

Now came some covers. Bang Bang is a beguiling cover of Cher’s hit song, Weller does it really well, backed by a sublime bass line. John Lennon’s Instant Karma also suits Weller perfectly. The same applies to The Beatles’ Don’t Let Me Down, so much so that it almost sounds like a Weller original.