Paul Weller
Wild Wood (Go! Discs 828 435)

If the Paul Weller album was your first space flight, then Wild Wood is your jump to hyperspace. Taking the R&B feel of the previous album, Wild Wood wraps it in an old Traffic album sleeve. Weller's excellent backing band makes their impact felt, as Style Council alumnus Steve White turns in one of the best rock drum performances of the '90s. Less is more, and with some breakbeat-styled fills that make hip hop samplers wet their pants, Wild Wood is the shit, putting the "classic" back in Classic Rock.

With a clever picking pattern, "Sunflower" shows that there's more to the Weller sound than just R&B; the electric guitars arrive, and Steve White propels things to a new level. Just like that, the grand piano signals that Weller's R&B heart is still beating, and "Can You Heal Us (Holy Man)" steps up and lets you feel the healing. The last two minutes are pure R&B joy. The title track tips its cap to the Neil Young riff inside us all. A nifty mini instrumental steers you over to "All the Pictures on the Wall" where it's White again, gliding cleverly under Weller's acoustic guitar. A thoughtful number.

It'd been a while since the Jam, but Paul Weller might still have been wondering "Has My Fire Really Gone Out?" to which we of course find the answer is no! The press and the pundits can't bury this guy. You've automatically got to like a rock song called "Country," even if it is downbeat, and kind of sounds like an outtake from an apocryphal Jam "White Album." Nice job. Weller drifts through another short instrumental as he transitions to the uptempo rockers, and sure enough…it's the Steve White show again! "5th Season" is a kick ass 70s influenced rocker, much better than Steve Winwood could have concocted even in his Traffic days, although I'd kill to hear Weller play "Glad/Freedom Rider" anyday. "The Weaver" keeps the Weller beat rocking in grand style.

Another brief sound portrait sets the stage for the mellow exit suite of Wild Wood "Foot of the Mountain" is as sincere as a Paul Weller song gets, and a pretty spellbinding and powerful statement at that. Keeping his acoustic on his lap, Paul scoots over to "Shadow of the Sun" which could camouflage itself on the playlist of any 70s hits station worldwide. And you know what's cool? Remember that awesome tag out from the end of "Can You Heal Us (Holy Man)?" It's continued here!!! It's like finding out there's a sequel you never knew about to one of your favorite movies. Like, Encino Man 2 or something! Weller bids a fond farewell to the listener on "Moon on Your Pyjamas," which is a nice quieter wrap-up after the grand musical adventure epic that is Wild Wood.

It's amazing how a lot of the 70s sounds that are perceived to be so dated sound so fresh here in this 90s context. I firmly consider Wild Wood to be Weller's career benchmark which his subsequent releases have yet to eclipse. Wild Wood is definitely one of my Top 10 albums of the 90s. If you're still listening to Nevermind, you stupid ass, you must first buy a clue, and then buy Wild Wood to shake your motherfuckin' groove thing already.

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Review by Casey Blick