Paul Weller - 66

 

2024 release from the No. 1-selling music legend

One of the few artists to have No. 1 albums in five consecutive decades, Paul Weller is nothing if not a music legend. Starting his career aged just 19 as the leader of punk-mod outfit The Jam, he wrote enough classic songs between 1977 and 1982 to last a lifetime.

For any other artist, this would have been a catalog to mine and milk for decades to come. Not Weller. Aged 24, he gambled everything and split The Jam, citing an unwillingness to fall into a restrictive creative rut.

This leads us to '66, the 17th solo album from the Modfather, named to reflect Weller's recent 66th birthday, which he celebrated a day after the record's release.

Righteous anger isn't much felt on '66, aside from the soul-rock stomp of 'Jumble Queen' in which he "kills(s) the hours that are in-between / I check the news for conspiracy." Instead, he delivers a mellow and reflective record, though unusually for Weller, many of the lyrics are penned by friends and fellow songwriters including Noel Gallagher, Bobby Gillespie, and Suggs. The Madness legend wrote the words for the opening track "Ship Of Fools," while Weller provides the song's gentle acoustic sway, its sparkling serenity reminiscent of Oasis' "Half The World Away," and as a result, Burt Bacharach's "This Guy's In Love With You."

Well over 40 years later, Paul Weller is still a force to be reckoned with, without a doubt one of rock 'n' roll's most innovative, foward-thinking musicians. There's a reason he christened himself The Changingman — and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Side A

1. Ship Of Fools

2. Flying Fish

3. Jumble Queen

4. Nothing

5. My Best Friend's Coat

6. Rise Up Singing

Side B

1. I Woke Up

2. A Glimpse Of You

3. Sleepy Hollow

4. In Full Flight

5. Soul Wandering

6. Burn Out

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