From the Floorboards Up
Anyone ’round here not realise I’m a big fan of Paul Weller? Thought not. Well, the Modfather has a new single released today and without so much as a pre-listen, it’s arrived by vintage Lambretta and straight into iTunes.
After the covers and tributes of Studio 150, From the Floorboards Up is a return to Paul Weller best played loud. It’s raw and rocky, it gets straight to the point with choppy guitar riffs and a solo which is pure Weller. If you like the angry passion of the early Jam, this might be the closest you’ll get from contemporary Weller, but with a new energy and dare I say it fun. Floorboards is terrific stuff!
Track two, Oranges and Rosewater is a little disappointing. Acoustic Weller, a beautifully contructed concoction of melodic Old England and north African rhythms, Oranges somehow fails to set the hairs on the back of your neck on end like You Do Something To Me or Wild Wood. Not that it’s a bad tune, but the bar has already been set so high.
I’m already looking forward to Weller’s next album As Is Now which is out sometime in October. If you haven’t heard Paul Weller before, what are you thinking? :)
Replies
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#1 On July 20, 2005 01:13 AM Matt Robin said:
#Mumbles # Who? Paul Weller….Paul Weller….Paul…hmmm? Just joking!
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#2 On July 20, 2005 07:24 AM Gerard McGarry said:
This won’t go down well, but I could never get into Weller. Just something about his style, doesn’t work for me. What’s the attraction?
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#3 On July 20, 2005 10:46 AM Andy Saxton said:
Fire and Skill…
Will be looking out for the new album.@Molly: You get to do the coolest things
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#4 On July 20, 2005 12:00 PM Barry Bloye said:
I grew up in Stanley Road (1986-2002), which was great!
Molly, you’re such a show-off! ;)
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#5 On July 20, 2005 12:19 PM Jack Cole said:
Now /this/ is news to wake up to, rather than all the doom and gloom I usually have to ingest with my first sip of coffee. Funny this news should come out today, too - I was just listening to my favorite Weller, Wildwood, yesterday!
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#6 On July 20, 2005 12:31 PM Wes Key said:
Its nice to read that people are still discovering Mr Weller after all these years.
I was lucky enough to have parents who owned The Jam’s snap album on vinyl. Oh, and for people in the Uk, ASDA are currently selling this album on CD for a fiver!
One of the best gigs i’ve been to was Weller at Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield.
Keep up the good work Malarkey. Thats Entertainment.
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#7 On July 20, 2005 01:20 PM James Stevens said:
Saw him live in Glasgow Green in the year 2000, alongside other great artists such as Oasis, Primal Scream, Foo Fighters, Beck, Stereophonics.
I have to say Mr Weller bored me rigid - such a dull live performance and a bunch of average songs. The only ones of his I like are sunflower, and Changing Man (isn’t that a rip-off of a track by some prog-rock band??? the riff is exactly the same)(Ed says: Blasphemy! I’m all for freedom of speech, but this is just blasphemy!)
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#8 On July 20, 2005 09:44 PM Neil Ford said:
Heard it on the radio at work today. Pretty catchy.
It was quite funny, all the men of a certain age started having a gentle pogo to themselves, beer bellys and man boobs a swingin’.
Put me in mind of the staff night out when I pogoed my boss off the dance floor, he being 12 stone, me being 18stone.
An unscheduled lesson in physics for him, some humble pie for me.
Ahh, dignity - how I have abused you. -
#9 On July 21, 2005 01:58 PM Matt Wilcox said:
"Anyone ’round here not realise I’m a big fan of Paul Weller?"
*gingerly raises hand*
Not heard any Paul Weller stuff myself, so I can’t comment on his greatness, or lack therof.
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#10 On July 22, 2005 08:19 AM Malarkey said:
Right chaps. With the news that one of my former employees finds Weller boring, and a new one has never heard of him, I’m off to France.
I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Ed the editor and his array of guest authors while I’m gone. See you in a few weeks.