Paul Weller - 22 Dreams (2008)

There are biased reviews and then there is this one. I am a Paul Weller fan through and through. I am one of the (probably) 7 people in the United States that currently own the Style Council's box set and listen to it with regularity. I also own The Jam box set as well as many 7"s, albums, cds, import solo b-side collections as well as a VHS copy of the "Fire And Skill" tribute to the Jam featuring Ben Harper's horrendous version of "Modern World". If you aren't picking up what I'm putting down yet you might as well stop reading this review.

22 Dreams is 21 songs long.. Which is way long in my book. I was immediately turned off a bit by the lead-off track "Light Nights".. song number two "22 Dreams" didn't really help out too much either. Both of those songs seemed rushed and incomplete to me. However on song 3 he hits his patented Weller swagger. Bitter/Hopeful/Stylistic /Love/Life songs. As always he does a great job of melding the sounds of his former bands into his current work. Urgent guitar courtesy of the Jam as well as interesting keyboards and miscellany from the oft misunderstood Style Council.

It is hard to get past the fact that this album is 21 songs long.. Oh yea and the song called "God" is totally not a song and is just morespoken-word-weirdness.. So subtract the first and second song as well as "God" and your looking at a 18 song album that is great! If you are unfamiliar with Paul Weller start out with "Wild Wood" and "Heliocentric".. if you're a fan give it a go! Dude's got styles for miles and the meat of this album hits some serious high notes!

Put on your parka and listen to "All I Wanna Do (Is Be With You)" and "Have You Made Up Your Mind"..