Paul Weller
66
POLYDOR
Up until lockdown’s Fat Pop, each Paul Weller album post-2008 possessed a distinct tang. But like its predecessor, 66 prefers to build on tested patterns, from Flying Fish’s slick ’70s disco to the celestial soul-electronica of In Full Flight.
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READ MORE: Every Paul Weller Album Ranked!
Up front is the delightful folk strum of Ship Of Fools – lyrics by Suggs – and Jumble Queen, a head-banging Mod-rocker co-write with Noel Gallagher, auguring an unsettling mid-LP suite that sounds like late-era Style Council for ever more uncertain times, the Gallic waltz of My Best Friend’s Coat chief among them. There are missteps in the over-emoted Sleepy Hollow and I Woke Up, but otherwise earworm melodies abound, most strikingly in A Glimpse Of You and eco-lamenting Burn Out. There’s a sense throughout of Weller, the inveterate seeker, grasping for something tantalisingly out of reach – and, in doing so, creating a record of recurrent intrigue and frequent sublimity.
Track listing:
Ship of Fools
Flying Fish
Jumble Queen
Nothing
My Best Friend’s Coat
Rise Up SingingI
Woke Up
A Glimpse of You
Sleepy Hollow
In Full Flight
Soul Wandering
Burn Out
66 is out now on Polydor
Listen/Buy: Spotify | Apple Music |Amazon | Rough Trade | HMV
Read about the making of 66 in MOJO's exclusive cover interview with Paul Weller. More information and to order a copy HERE.
