Archive Review: Paul Weller’s Stanley Road (1995)

I seem to be having a literal, classic love/hate relationship with Paul Weller. As the leading force behind the Jam, one of the British Isles’ finest musical imports ever, I adored just about every mod rocking note he and his mates cranked out. Some cuts, like “The Bitterest Pill” or “Down In the Tube Station At Midnight” are enduring classics, the legacy of a band that sadly never made much of an impression stateside.

Weller broke-up the Jam in order to prevent them from falling prey to the “aging boxer syndrome,” preferring the U.K. hitmakers to retire from the charts with their crowns intact than to hang around to hit bottom. His next musical project, the Style Council, cranked out a handful of soulful, R & B tinged British chart-toppers before sliding into what can only be called insipid lounge jazz, not even suitable musical fare for your local Ramada Inn. It was here that the hate part of the relationship began to grow.

Wild Wood, Weller’s “solo” debut partially redeemed his music-making reputation in these eyes, but the recently-released Stanley Road flirts again with brilliance. Weller’s vocals sound more soulful and passionate than they have in years, resembling a vintage, early 1970s-era Joe Cocker. The songs to be found on Stanley Road are a pleasant enough lot, ranging from straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll to R & B inflected, Ray Charles-ish ravers. Weller seems to have returned to his musical roots, and he’s done well by it. Cuts like “Porcelain Gods,” “Woodcutter’s Son,” or “Broken Stones” show the hand of the maturing artist, and may easily represent Weller’s strongest songwriting efforts to date. Stanley Road may or may not connect with an increasingly anglophobic U.S. record-buying public, but it’s a solid album nonetheless, Weller a complex artist who obviously still has a trick or two remaining hidden up his creative sleeve. (Go! Discs, released May 1995)

Review originally published by Review & Discussion of Rock ‘n’ Roll (R.A.D!) zine...