st231

MUSIC FEATURE

visit jbhifi.com.au/stack

PAUL WELLER WILD WOOD (1993)

With hundreds of tracks from which to construct the perfect setlist, Paul Weller’s upcoming Australian-exclusive Sydney Opera House shows – on 9, 10, and 12 Feb 2024 – are bound to be unmissable!

In 1989, when he was aged 31, the sartorially sublime superstar Paul Weller – formerly ofThe Jam andThe Style Council – found himself without a band or record deal for the first time since he was 17. Wild, right? Fast forward five years and this true master of reinvention was stepping into his full power as a solo artist with the release of Wild Wood , which came out 30 years ago this month. To celebrate, why not pick up a limited edition reissue on sexy green vinyl? Learn more about the Modfather’s career defining second solo LP below.

ToThe Manor born Recorded at The Manor – Richard Branson’s studio in the Oxfordshire village of Shipton

Have you ever had it blue Another Wild Wood highlight, All the Pictures on the Wall chronicles the breakdown of Weller’s relationship with singer/The Style Council member Dee C. Lee. The couple married in 1987 and divorced in 1998, but Weller has acknowledged all was not well between them (“I was not happy in my marriage; I thought we’d lost whatever it was”) while he was working on his second solo album, which prompted him to pen this magnificent falling out-of-love song.

also co-produced Weller’s self-titled debut solo album, released the previous year

DYK?

Dr. Robert of The Blow Monkeys, Weller’s mate since the ‘80s, plays guitar on Wild Wood .

– has recalled that the album track Has My Fire Really Gone

on-Cherwell – Wild Wood took an unexpectedly mellow detour into pastoral sonic terrain, also drawing inspiration from the Surrey countryside of Weller’s childhood. Woodwind in the wild

Fact: Weller rocks the best barnet in the biz to this day.

Out? was written shortly after Weller read a harsh ‘where did it all go wrong?’-style article

about himself. But the Modfather remembers it differently, and stated during a recent interview: “It was me just taking the p-ss, really. Because I was written off, especially from the late-Style Council onwards. And on that first album, there were some shocking reviews. Y’know, saying, ‘He’s over… he’s finished.’ I was like, ‘Really? We’ll f---ing see about that.’ That always puts the fight in me, which is a good thing.”

Traffic is often cited as a reference point for Wild Wood, and although Weller has agreed that the Birmingham band was “definitely an influence”, he also cheekily added, “I mean, people were probably saying that because it had a flute on it!” “Really? We’ll f---ing see about that” Wild Wood ’s co-producer Brendan Lynch – who

The vinyl reissue of Wild Wood by Paul Weller is out now via Universal.

In 2004, Franz Ferdinand didn't just release a song, they detonated a musical grenade. Take Me Out was the Scottish act's second ever single, and sent post-punk fans into reverie with its angular, unflappable, dance rock feel (including a bold tempo change mid-song). Frontman and songwriter Alex Kapranos said the track was inspired by 2001 Jude Law starring war drama Enemy at the Gates . "It felt like a very good metaphor for the kind of romantic situations that we sometimes find ourselves in," Kapranos said in an interview last year. The self-titled debut from which the song comes won the then four-piece the 2004 Mercury Music Prize, and was nominated for Best Alternative Album at the Grammy Awards.

o

m

n

t

s

h

i

Y 20

h

T

O

E

G

A

A

R

S

Franz Ferdinand in the Terry Gilliam-esque semi animated clip for Take Me Out (2004)

JANUARY 2024

jbhifi.com.au

8