I'm leaving the CD shelves for a while, and concentrating on the CDs in drawers in the office, which for some reason, never made it downstairs.
There seemed to be a time when every boot fair stall had a Paul Weller album for pennies, and that's probably where I picked this up, and I don't remember ever playing it.
Other than going back to The Jam stuff, I haven't paid much attention to Weller in the past couple of decades. I remember being disappointed with a 1990s album (can't remember which) and returning it to the friend who lent it me saying "I preferred him when he was 21 and angry".
This 2001 album is a collection of live acoustic performances from that year, just Weller and his guitar, and I don't know whether it's familiarity or a difference in quality, but the older songs stand head and shoulders above the (in 2001) newer ones. From Jam days there's That's Entertainment, and Town Called Malice, still sounding fantastic, as well as a limp version of English Rose, which has me wondering whether it only works as a quiet oasis of calm within All Mod Cons.
There's also a couple of Style Council songs, Down In The Seine and Headstart For Happiness, the former aging better than the latter.
But while the solo stuff is a decent enough listen, there's nothing really to make me sit up and get excited. Brand New Start, Clues, Above The Clouds are decent enough songs, and the guitar riff in Amongst Butterflies keeps it interesting, while Wild Wood is nice.
It's a good listen, without really getting the juices going. An occasional treat.
3* - live and acoustic, with The Jam singles standing out. Worth a listen.
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