![]() “Brand New Toy” (released last year on a hits compilation) had a music-hall feel with Weller playing piano and, because it accented his London accent, it made his kinship to the Kinks even more pronounced. The night’s musical peak happened toward the end of the regular set, with a trio of songs that got zero US airplay. It takes a true fan to fully absorb Weller’s solo albums-eleven regular ones plus various compilations and a covers album-so his live shows do the service of separating the gems and Saturday’s set managed to hit on nearly every album. Plus a token rocker, “White Sky” (also Saturday’s opener), which proved he can still do the classic Brit-pop thing whenever he pleases. The current album, Saturns Pattern finds him comfortable in his stage of life-there are songs called “Phoenix” and “I’m Where I Should Be”-but there’s intrigue there as well, with its spacey harmonies and spooky tapeloops. (If Weller has a recurring lyrical theme, it’s the imperative of living life fully). As a songwriter he’s traded the sweeping social commentary for more personal reflection, but was already going that direction on the Jam’s best album, 1980’s Sound Affects. His music is still steeped in British soul and his stage manner still projects cool confidence not for nothing have the UK zines dubbed him ‘The Modfather.’ The Jam’s frenetic energy may be in shorter supply, but he’ll still let rip with the occasional big guitar solo. With most of his contemporaries doing reunion tours or playing decades-old albums, Weller is one of the few claiming his right to be a still-evolving artist.įortunately, what he’s evolved into isn’t much different from what he’s been all along. ![]() Not a thing from any earlier until the third encore, when he dusted off the Style Council’s “My Ever Changing Moods” and the Jam’s closest thing to a US hit, “Town Called Malice.” Otherwise the set bucked the notion that older rockers have to do nostalgia. Saturday at the Paradise, Paul Weller played a set that stretched all the way back to the beginning….of the solo career that he launched in 1992. Aging rocker Paul Weller - he can still do the classic Brit-pop thing whenever he pleases.
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