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Days of Speed

Paul Weller - Days of Speed Audio CD

A fair review of the Paul Weller "Days of Speed" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Paul Weller reviews here, or go back to the Paul Weller tabs.

Band: Paul Weller
Title: Days of Speed
Rating:

Release Date: 2002-07-02
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Brand New Start 2: The Loved 3: Out Of The Sinking 4: Clues 5: English Rose 6: Above The Clouds 7: You Do Something To Me 8: Amongst Butterflies 9: Science 10: Back In The Fire 11: Down In The Seine 12: That's Entertainment 13: Love-Less 14: There's No Drinking After You're Dead 15: Everything Has A Price To Pay 16: Wild Wood 17: Headstart For Happiness 18: Town Called Malice

Does Something To Me
This album showcases a mature artist at the pinnacle of his craft. Tracks 1-9 (minus English Rose, which, though better than the original, still has an incongruous, hermetic Victorian feel) are an ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE, a clinic of live solo acoustic guitar. The show begins as a mildly melancholy/romantic introspective confessional. This aspect of Weller's personality is not surprising. We've known it in him all along, even from The Jam days and heartbreaking songs like "Life From a Window. " Hiding first behind punk attitude, then behind Euro/sophisticate in the Style Council, Weller finally abandons all pretense here as a solo act. This is the man entire, his voice pulsing with the electric immediacy of a raw nerve. Admittedly, Weller represents a style of songwriting which is charmingly passe; he could never write, say, a Dave Matthews song. If popular music had not taken a left turn somewhere a few miles back, it would sound a lot like Paul Weller. How he continues to wring fresh material out of the same Motown, R&B, funk, etc. influences is a credit to his well-secreted work ethic. Tellingly, the liner notes of his Studio 150 album charge modern song writers as being "just plain lazy. That's the truth. "
As an opener, "Brand New Start" draws you in in a way that no cliched "big opening number" could. You can picture an ocean of lighters swaying in the darkness for "Loved. " Weller sings with absolute assurance. Far from being "wooden" (as the pretentious review above charges), Weller is too cool for school. Not a single unnecessary note is to be found. "Clues" benefits from not having the "rocking flute solo," or the overwrought Ginger Baker tom tom fills of the studio version. It has much more mystery than the original. Who would have thought that "Out of the Sinking" could sound so good with half the chords of the original? Yet it does. It's muscular and cocky, a song with shoulders and a fist. As a performer myself I can tell you that people love this version without ever having heard it before.
"Above the Clouds" sounds like a Marvin Gaye song. The audience sing-along is a nice touch. This version of "You Do Something To Me" breaks my heart at the dissonant chord over the line "hanging on the wire. " "Amongst Butterflies" actually sounds like children chasing funky butterflies in the summer. The funk is turned up on "Science"; how do you write a funk song about science? Yet the Modfather pulls it off.
"That's Entertainment" is a bitter but delicious little song, an indictment of stupidity, complacency and modern suburbia. "Wild Wood" is dead wood in my opinion, an overrated clunker. But if you want feel the pure joy of life and love captured in one three-minute masterpiece, it's "Headstart for Happiness. " This may be the greatest song he has ever written. "Town Called Malice" rounds out the album.
It is an f___ing crime that this man is not more famous in America. It's no hyperbole for me to say that one of my great privileges in life is to be able to listen to this man's music. He is a rare example of talent that has not dried up. Compare him with Bob Dylan, who should have bowed out in 1974. You get the feeling that Weller's restless soul is moving on a trajectory well past the scope of a normal life. He won't live to see his best work. Days of Speed, indeed--he's moving fast toward something that's always just out of reach: commercial success in America, the bottom of the creative well--whatever it is, Godspeed Paul Weller. Oh, and the cover is very cool.

Less is More!
, this cd says let's forget all about that and see how much of an artistic statement one guy can make onstage with a guitar, his voice and songs that he wrote himself. I listen to tons of music from a lot of different genres, but this cd stands out as one of the best! In this era where so many acts rely on an entourage of dancers, costume changes, lighting/special effects, drum machines, attitude, sampling, overdubs, videos, stylists, etc. Paul Weller succeeds here with a brilliant blend of new & old material and demonstrates what it means to live up to the challenge of being "unplugged. " I suspect that the number of performers capable of pulling this off is much less than some people might think. Paul Weller- if you're reading this, try this approach again! A live acoustic set of new material along with some classics of your own or other people's would be wonderful! .

EVERETT"S NOT TRUE
CHANGE IS WELLERS STRENGTH WHETHER IT WAS SPEEDFUELLED PUNK TO HORN INFUSED SOUL TO STINTS WITH HOUSE MUSIC(A FOR EFFORT-DESPITE FAILING) ONTO HIS ACOUSTIC HEAVY SOLO CAREER. THE ABOVE EDITORIAL REVIEW BY EVERETT TRUE ( A BRIT TRANSPLANT WHO WROTE FOR LOCAL MAG THE STRANGER HERE IN SEATTLE) IS SLANTED TOWARDS A YEARNING FOR THE GOOD OL JAM DAYS(AND THEY WERE GOOD) BUT FOR THOSE LIVING IN THE FUTURE THIS ACOUSTIC MORE MATURE WELLER IS JUST FINE WITH US. I SAW THIS SHOW IN LA AND WAS IMPRESSED AT THE STRIPPED DOWN RAWNESS OF BOTH HIS VOICE AND PLAYING AND IT WAS NICE TO HEAR THE SIMPLE STRUCTURE AND PURITY OF THE ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS- IN FACT IT WAS BETTER THAN HIS FULL BAND PERFORMANCES WHICH ARE ALWAYS GOOD BECAUSE IT WAS WELLER WITHOUT ALL THE FUSS. THE lOVED IS STELLAR-AS ARE SONGS LIKE YOU DO SOMETHING TO ME WHICH I NEVER REALLY LIKED IN STUDIO FORM BUT HERE THEYRE GREAT. THE WHOLE ALBUM MAKES FOR GOOD LISTENING AND EVERY ONE IVE PLAYED IT FOR WHO HADNT HEARD OF WELLER(AND THERE ARE MANY HERE IN THE STATES) ALL WENT OUT AND BOUGHT THIS AND OTHER ALBUMS FROM THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER. MOST LIVE ACOUSTIC OR LIVE ALBUMS IN GENERAL ARE NOT WORTH HAVING BUT THIS MAKES FOR A EVENING OF GREAT TUNES- AND THATS THE KEY HERE-ALL THE SONGS ARE SOLID AND WELLER IS A CLASS ABOVE MANY OF THE FLY BY NIGHT BANDS THAT TRUE HAS PRAISED IN THE PAST. SURE ITS HARD TO HEAR TOWN CALLED MALICE WITHOUT THE GREAT HORNS AND MOTOWN BEAT BUT IVE HEARD THAT A MILLION TIMES BEFORE. ITS A FRESH START TO HEAR IT IN THIS FORMAT-ALL IN ALL WELLERS ON A ROLL STARTING WITH HELIOCENTRIC TO DAYS OF SPEED AND ONTO TO ILLUMINATION. HE LOST ME IN THE MID 90S BUT ONCE AGAIN IS WINNING ME BACK WITH ALBUMS LIKE THIS.

Just fine.
And songs such as "Amongst Butterflies," "Out Of The Sinking," and "Headstart for Happiness" get a lift from the one-one-one contact Weller has with the audiences while he's playing. I don't find this "heavy going" at all! On the contrary, "English Rose" sounds far more tender than it did when Paul Weller sang it in his Jam days. These versions are at least as good as the studio versions, in some cases better. Even if you're more a fan of his studio albums, this album gives proof positive that Paul Weller, stripped down to one guitar and voice, can deliver the goods. Which he does in spades.

How can anyone say "wooden voice?"
This album proves it. How dare you! This man is THE man at the moment with one of the best voices in popular music. And although I want to continue to rant about Weller I do realize it's somewhat a silly thing to do. I mean, c'mon, how can you argue when Pink and 50 cent top the charts and Weller gets practically no mention or airplay.

You can see a complete list of all Paul Weller discography, or go back to the Paul Weller tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.