NEW ALBUMS JUNE 2021 TAKE 289

Fat Pop (Volume 1) POLYDOR

The Modfather celebrates his long love of pop’s power. 

By Pete Paphides

“What you need is to see it’s OK to be yourself/And that with belief the world will do the rest”

 THE UNCUT GUIDE TO THIS MONTH’S KEY RELEASES

ALBUM OF THE MONTH 9/10

1 ST VINCENT (P20)

2 TONY JOE WHITE (P26)

3 SONS OF KEMET (P30)

4 DOROTHEA PAAS (P32)

SANDRA VIJANDI

NOW into his seventh decade, Paul Weller has resisted any and all invitations to write his  memoir. At the last count  six biographies bearing his name have been published, but ever the modernist, Weller views his creative past rather like a motorist might look in the rear-view mirror – foot on the pedal, in constant forward motion.

However, for anyone seeking a set text to lead us to the existential essence of Wellerworld, there is one book that will get you further than the others. Published in 2007, Suburban 100 saw Weller select his favourite lyrics spanning his time with The Jam, plus The Style Council and his solo years. Included almost as footnotes at the bottom of every lyric were quotes from Weller himself, shedding light on the inspirations, circumstances and intentions that helped give life to modern standards “That’s Entertainment”, “Shout To The Top” and “Wild Wood”.

Let’s look at what Weller has to say about The Jam’s second No 1 single “Start!”: “I was thinking about the power of music and the power of a pop song, how two or three minutes could say so much to so many. And what’s it always meant to me. I was stripping words back to the bare minimum at the time, just getting to the point. Pop music, for want of a better term, is the only art form that can communicate directly and emotionally on that level.”

It almost certainly wouldn’t have occurred to Weller as he alighted upon the title of his new album that 40 years had elapsed since “Start!”; a proper modernist doesn’t dwell too long on these things. But the rest of us are not bound by those rules. And so it’s oddly touching to see the title track on his 16th solo album worshipping at the same thematic altar as its distant predecessor, albeit with a lolloping funk gate, the occasional smoke plume of woodwind and garnish of G-funk keyboard, with space between those constituent parts for Weller to navigate a familiar line of inquiry: “Who raised the game when the game was poor/And sent our heads in search of more/Made you question all you’d learnt before?/Ah, Fat – Pop!”