Paul Weller ‘As Is Now’ (V2)

Time must feel very cyclical for Paul Weller. As with the Britpop era of the mid-90s, there is once again a revival in guitar music, with a whole new generation of bands attempting to be The Jam. Just as before Weller is still around, with a new album, ‘As Is Now’, firmly hitched to the bandwagon he helped built in the first place.

The opening song ‘Blink and You’ll Miss It’ makes this point explicit. With a tight riff and spiky vocals, it’s his own contemporary take on his old sound, and easily outclasses most of the current crop of pretenders. But it’s not quite indicative of the general tone of the album, which is probably summed up best by ‘Here’s the Good News’. A jaunty grandma’s blues number, it’s like one of Paul Macartney’s late Beatles efforts and sounds like nothing more than a bunch of talented yet sated musicians having a good time.

‘As Is Now’ shows definite signs of Weller’s age, though not in any sense of a degradation of his talent, more a refocusing of his ambitions and aims. Lyrically he’s very conscious of the passing of time and how you need to make the most of it (‘Paper Smile’) and there’s a burgeoning spirituality on ‘Pan’. Musically he branches out with some nice jazz rhythms on ‘I Wanna Make It Alright’, while ‘The Start of Forever’ sees him have a stab at being the indie Burt Bacharach that Noel Gallagher dearly wishes to be.

‘As Is Now’ sees Weller continue his prolific late period that begun in 1993 with ‘Wild Wood’. Aside from the pallid workout of ‘Bring Back the Funk’ there’s a strong collection of songs here, nothing essential, but nothing to be avoided either. It may not have today’s The Jam imitators chucking their copy of ‘All Mod Cons’ off their turntables, but it should please most Weller fans.

words: Colm Larkin

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