Someone told me this story about Paul Weller. Apparently he heard the Velvet Underground for the first time just a couple of years ago and that was only because his daughter Leah, astounded at his ignorance, had forced him into it. For someone so completely dominated by the past that came as a bit of a shock. But then following Weller could easily be compared to crawling through rock history at a snails pace.

   My theory is that he’s so incredibly easily influenced by such a finite part of the sixties (Small Faces, Steve Marriott, Steve Marriott, Small Faces) that he can’t help but bang that old shit down before trying to flog it off as something new and daring. And your average music fans, infatuated by Wellers own past with The Jam in particular, lap it all up like the good little sheep they are as if he’s a super hip dude setting sail on uncharted waters which of course is total bollocks. Paul Wellers never done anything that hasn’t been done before, and in most cases done a whole lot better. Unfortunately most of the songs here prove the point. Once you get past the acoustic Humble Pie like Wildwood era, quite frankly it all tends to blur together. But that’s Paul Weller for you, a serial copyist to the bitter end.

01 INTO TOMORROW / Single A Side May 1991

02 ABOVE THE CLOUDS / Paul Weller September 1992

03 BITTERNESS RISING / Paul Weller September 1992

04 ALL THE PICTURES ON THE WALL / Wild Wood September 1993

05 HAS MY FIRE REALLY GONE OUT? / Wild Wood September 1993

06 COUNTRY / Wild Wood September 1993

07 BLACK SHEEP BOY / Volume Nine Magazine March 1994

08 IT’S A NEW DAY BABY / The Changing Man EP April 1995

09 WOODCUTTERS SON / Stanley Road May 1995

10 TIME PASSES / Stanley Road May 1995

11 OUT OF THE SINKING / Stanley Road May 1995

12 I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE / Heavy Soul June 1997

13 MERMAIDS / Heavy Soul June 1997

14 SWEET PEA, MY SWEET PEA / Heliocentric April 2000

15 GOING PLACES / Illumination September 2002

16 A BULLET FOR EVERYONE / Illumination September 2002

17 EARLY MORNING RAIN / Studio 150 September 2004

18 ALL ON A MISTY MORNING / As Is Now October 2005

19 SMALL PERSONAL FORTUNE / Wild Blue Yonder EP November 2006

20 ARE YOU TRYING TO BE LONELY? / Single A Side September 2007

21 LIGHT NIGHTS / 22 Dreams June 2008

22 ECHOES ROUND THE SUN / 22 Dreams June 2008