THE MAKING OF...
“Supplement: 66”
Like a good chef, Weller isn’t letting any offcuts from his 66 album go to waste. They’re just “too good not to use”
by Paul Weller
AT one point, Paul Weller had more than 20 tracks for his latest album, 66. After toying with releasing a double LP, he instead decided to trim it back to 12, with four additional songs headed towards a deluxe edition. Clearly unable – or unwilling – to put the rest to one side, he has decided to share another four numbers from those sessions – “That’s What She Said”, “Change What You Can”, “Earth In Our Feet” and “So Quietly” – as a separate release, the “Supplement: 66” EP, which is released later this month.
These cover typically adventurous musical terrain, from the Latin beats of the opener to the gorgeous final number, a folk duet with Kathryn Williams that also features the “last plonk” of a much-loved musician who, it seems, is retiring from session work. With 66 his 17th solo album, why is Weller so prolific at this stage of his life? “I’m a late developer, mate,” he grins.
Puff daddy:
Weller is focusing on a new EP and then some “unfinished business”
NICOLE NODLAND; ROBERTO RICCIUTI/REDFERNS; CHRIS JACKSON/GETTY IMAGES FOR VINTAGE AT GOODWOOD
It has been another busy year for Weller, who ends 2024 with an American tour – his first for seven years – a tour of the UK and then a benefit concert for Palestine. Weller might have mellowed with age, but politics is still an issue he feels strongly about. “I can’t believe everybody isn’t up in arms,” he says. “Anyone who has a voice of any kind has to speak up and say something. It’s not being brave, it’s just being real.”
It looks as if 2025 will be just as busy. Weller has started work on a number of projects – which you’ll be sure to read about in the pages of Uncut before too long. What we can reveal now, however, is that Weller intends to tour On Sunset, the beautiful 2020 album that he was unable to perform live because of Covid. Although Weller famously doesn’t like to look back, here he is making an exception.