Paul Weller's people confirmed today that Weller has indeed begun the healing process with original The Jam band mate Bruce Foxton. Paul, who has not worked with Foxton since their band The Jam called it quits in 1982, had Bruce guest on a track for the brand new release which was being recorded at Black Barn Studios in Surrey with producer and co-writer Simon Dine (Adventures In Stereo, Noonday Underground). And while Weller has been co-writing and collaborating with Dine since 2002's "Illumination", Foxton was just last year still playing the songs of his former band in his group "From The Jam", and has been requesting a white flag from Paul for quite some time. We can only guess that this rekindling of a very old and rifted friendship must have come as quite a relief to the pair.
With Foxton stepping in to record as a guest he is limited to only one track on the album, "Fast Car Slow Traffic", although Weller happily notes: “It’s a real London tune. It’s a pretty full on. We played this on the last tour and people were really mad for it. It was really interesting to hear Bruce (Foxton) playing on it. You can instantly tell it’s him.” Other guests on the album included amazing 60s UK hit-parade drummer Clem Cattini, as well as My Bloody Valentines' Kevin Shields, and Bev Bevan from The Move/ELO. Along with [now] regular drummer Stevie Pilgrim (who replaced long-time drummer Steve White *sob* for "22 Dreams") and guitarist "Little Barrie" Cadogan (Morrissey, Saint Etienne, Primal Scream), the pickup group has embarked on what has become a fourteen track album that is set to be released on April 12th, 2010. And of course, the timing for a release in 2010 is perfect as this will also be Paul's tenth studio album.
The first single for the album, a silk-screened and limited edition seven-inch record only release titled "7 + 3 Is Strikers Name", was also the first video output released--and has been the first support release to sell out as well most likely in part due to Weller's collaboration with Shields. Heavy feedback IS nearly mandatory with Shields--but the track is mostly fast and furious for even Weller, with a pounding rhythm and keys played in a tone set against lyrics meant to convey his lyrical distemper with current Royal politics and the lack of change since...? Well, if you haven't picked yours up already, bidding may slow down, but as a warning for completists: the new single is already quickly being auctioned and sold for upwards of 70GBP on places like eBay.
Track Listing for "Wake Up the Nation" according to Paul from (www.paulweller.com):
1. Moonshine - “Bev Bevan (The Move/ELO) plays drums on this one.
Simon and I are big psychedelic music fans, so it was a real buzz. I
was back to being a ten year old Move fan again.”
2. Wake Up The Nation - “It’s
political with a small ‘p’. There’s a line in there about the death of
the post box. It’s about how technology brings advantages but it also
depersonalises things.”
3. No Tears To Cry - ‘‘It’s s a
definite nod to the Walker Brothers and those epic ballads. I thought
it would fitting to get the man who played on a lot of those records to
play on it. He’s seventy odd, but Clem (Cattini) came down and did it
in literally two takes. He’s that good.”
4. Fast Car Slow Traffic - “It’s
a real London tune. It’s a pretty full on. We played this on the last
tour and people were really mad for it. It was really interesting to
hear Bruce (Foxton) playing on it. You can instantly tell it’s him.”
5. Grasp and Still Connect - “It’s
about how technology is meant to get us greater levels of
communication, but I’m not convinced. It’s silly things like not
talking to a conductor when you get on the bus - you buy a ticket from
a machine. We’re forgetting how to talk to each other.”
6. She Speaks - “I’ve
never really done anything like it before. It’s based on a poem I wrote
about a year ago. Lyrically, it’s about the sea as a metaphor for life.
Sometimes, however, you just have to plunge in and get on with it.”
7. Find The Torch Burn The Plans - “Thematically,
it ties in with the title track. We’ve got to reclaim our heritage and
our culture. Claim it back from the fucking politicians and the
establishment. Charles (engineer) played drums. My daughter and her
mate sang on it too.”
8. Aim High - “Stevie Pilgrim is on
drums on this one. It was initially one phrase repeated over and over.
I hit that falsetto voice, which was nice because I haven’t used it for
a long time. Once I had the melody I wrote the words really quickly.”
9. Trees - “The
words were inspired by going to see my dad just before he died. Simon
liked them and he had the idea for five different musical parts to
interpret them. My cousin Mark played guitar on it.”
10. Andromeda - “It’s
about someone leaving a dying planet. I love the image of the last
verse: “My mood gets lifted with the gravity’s pull/Looks like I’m
smiling but I’m dying too.” It’s just about us mirroring our
surroundings.”
11. Whatever Next - “It’s an instrumental.
The album is made up of fairly short tracks but they’ve got a lot of
information packed into them, so it’s nice to catch your breath for a
minute, then get on with it.”
12. 7 + 3 Is The Strikers Name - “Kevin
Shields plays on this one. He came down to the studio with a big bag of
effects pedals and we took it from there. There’s a dig at the royal
family in the lyrics – that whole invisible establishment is still in
power, nothing’s changed.”
13. Pieces of A Dream - “We’d
played it on the last tour and I was really surprised at how well it
went down. People seem to really fucking love it. Stevie Pilgrim is on
drums.”
14. 2 Fat Ladies - “I played bass and Little
Barrie played guitar. It’s got a nice raw sound to it. What are the
lyrics about? Hard to say. I was making them up as I went along! I
think it’s a case of people taking what they want from it. What seems
meaningless to one person can mean everything to someone else.”
Annnnd....for all you soulies out there, also to be released on January 25th, 2010: Keb Darge & Paul Weller present Lost & Found Real R&B and Soul CD - a collection of rare tracks selected by legendary Scottish Northern Soul and Funk DJ Keb Darge collaborating with Paul Weller. Read more by clicking here: http://paulwellernews.blogspot.com
Paul Weller - band site
So many things to say "hurrah" about in this post, I don't know where to start . . .
Posted by: Erin | January 20, 2010 at 12:28 PM
I know! So many things! New soul comp with Paul's fave bits, new album, Bruce Foxton back in the circle of trust, Clem Cattini (omg), Kevin Shields (omg) and what? Bevvy Bevan! Nice! His kids appear on the album; making me think of 'moon on your pajamas'-era stuff. wild wood sweetness...
Posted by: Carly | January 20, 2010 at 07:47 PM
Sounds interesting. No word of healing, though, regarding drummer Rick Buckler?
Posted by: frankenslade | January 21, 2010 at 10:37 AM