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22 Dreams Review From The New Zealand Herald!

Paul Weller
22 Dreams
Rating: * * * * *

As he hits his 50th year with eight solo albums already under his belt, as well as a further dozen in his time as the frontman of The Jam and Style Council, Paul Weller could be excused for taking it easy.

After all, he'll forever remembered as the guy who swung from the anger of Eton Rifles to the languor of Long Hot Summer within a few confusing years.

His solo albums - save for Wild Wood and Stanley Road - have become increasingly interchangeable. Solid efforts but hard to take to heart, even if you're a long-time follower of Britrock's modfather.

But then along comes 22 Dreams.

If the only surprise with past Weller solo albums was which one of him was going to turn up first or most - folkWeller, soulWeller, or rockWeller - then this one confounds expectations. They all front up but so do a couple of other Wellerfellas, on a free-ranging double-album of multiple genres and personalities.

But somehow - though sheer energy and some robust songs interspersed among the experimental bits- this holds up.

After the strident folk-rock opener Light Nights, Weller is off on his own magical mystery tour.

Soon he's channeling Marvin Gaye on Empty Ring, talking to the man upstairs on the spoken- word God, and getting melancholy on the keyboard on the Costelloesque ballad Invisible.

The indulgence this all craves is offset by a momentum frequently given a nudge by the rock sparks of the title track, as well as Push it Along and the Oasis-assisted Echoes Around the Sun.

It's a long perplexing album from a guy seemingly tired of his own predictability. But it's still a dream run.

Russell Baillie
New Zealand Herald

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For thirty years, John Weller managed the career of his son Paul, through the salad days and success of The Jam in the Seventies and early Eighties, the ups and downs of The Style Council and Paul’s re-emergence as a solo artist in the Nineties. Theirs was a unique father-son relationship in the music industry, built on John’s unwavering belief in Paul’s talent and shared values like hard work and pragmatism. John could be blunt, and once refused to have lunch in a record company’s executive dining room, remarking to the managing director: “I didn’t come here to eat, I came to do business.” But his bark was worse than his bite. John’s success was all the more remarkable since he started in his forties after years working in factories, on building sites and driving a taxi. When The Jam signed to Polydor in February 1977, for a £6,000 advance and a six per cent royalty rate, John admitted he didn’t have a bank account and asked for cash instead of a cheque. A&R man Chris Parry duly w...