Wake Up the Nation

Today’s entry is regarding Wake up the Nation by Paul Weller. I have casually known about Paul Weller through reading about him or hearing music from his former band The Jam. The Jam was a punk/mod band in the late 1970’s (they deviated from the punks in how they dressed, which was mostly in suits) that was bigger in the UK than they were anywhere else. After Weller left, he formed The Style Council, a band that leaned more towards R&B than anything else. Weller ultimately has become a successful solo artist.

Weller received a Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2005 BRIT Awards ceremony for his contributions to popular music. Weller’s influence on other artists is pretty profound when you hear his music. Amongst his admirers include Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, and Blur. Wake up the Nation was released this year and has received critical praise from many sources.

#132 – Paul Weller, Wake up the Nation (Metascore = 86)

Upon first impression of this album, Wake up the Nation has that mod sound to it. “Moonshine” opens with distorted guitars, jamming piano, thumping bass, and driving drums. The title track is his mission to get the people off their butts and out into the streets.  “No Tears to Cry” turns to soul ala Tom Jones, though not as gimmicky. Right off the bat Weller is showing his flexibility in moving within styles.

“In Amsterdam” musically sounds like it would be perfectly fine as Muzak on an elevator (at least the elevator ride would be more interesting). “Find the Torch, Burn the Planes” sounds similar to “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” by the Beatles though maybe lyrically more interesting (I love the Beatles, but “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” is lyrically not interesting). “Aim High” is probably my favorite song from the set; it’s all soul, with falsetto, horns, organs, and a great drumbeat. “7 & 3 Is the Strikers Name” is a provocative song; at first I thought it was an anti-war song, and it very well may be, but at the same time lyrics like “she loves me tender, she loves me strong, we’re star-crossed lovers and we sing this song” mean something differently to me.

I enjoyed the straight-ahead rock sound of the record and some of the variability in styles that were reflected in the record. However, that variation sometimes felt to be a detriment to the record overall. The record felt inconsistent in that way. The lyrics were sometimes good, sometimes not, but I don’t know whether that was intentional or not.