Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 10/10/05
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The recent signs hadn't been good. After the half-arsed plod and barely realised ideas of 2002's "Illumination" album - a record so stodgy even Kelly Jones felt compelled to make a guest appearance - Paul Weller seemed to confirm our worst fears and suspicions that, by seeking solace in the last refuge of the creatively redundant, aka the covers album, he had indeed morphed into the punk generation's own Eric Clapton.

And yet Weller's been here before. When the chips are down, the man simply refuses to roll over and die; he re-groups, re-assesses, takes stock of what it was that made him get out of bed in the morning in the first place and comes out fighting. So it is with "All Is Now", perhaps The Modfather's most satisfying collection of material since 1993's "Wild Wood".

"From The Floorboards Up" served notice of his creative re-birth. Lean and energised without carrying any excess flab, it demanded attention - if not a little incredulity with the realisation that Weller sounded urgent once again - whilst getting your ass on the floor. Likewise its follow-up, the splendid "Come On/Let's Go" and it's impossible not to be persuaded of Weller's sincerity when he demands, "Sing you little f*ckers/Sing it like you got no choice" with a conviction that's been missing from his work for what seems like an age.

The rest of "All Is Now" may lack the immediacy of those singles, but repeated listens reveal a collection of meditative and contemplative slow-burners that stand up proudly against the best of Weller's long career. The jazzy, trebly chords of "Blink And You'll Miss It" compliment Weller's mood of someone finding peace within themselves and it's a theme that he runs with on the lolloping strum of "Paper Smile".

Elsewhere, Weller's folk tendencies are successfully satiated with a nod to Nick Drake on the heart-strung "The Start Of Forever" and a hitherto unknown hippy leaning as displayed on the sprightly and Zeppelinesque "All On A Misty Morning" and there's a wonderful feeling to be had as Weller sings with a considered restraint instead of his customary bark.

Of course, "All Is Now" isn't without its flaws. "Here's The Good News" is the kind of ghastly stomp you'd imagine an inebriated Weller belting-out on the pub Joanna after closing time and when he gets all theological on our ass with "Pan", those unflattering Clapton comparisons begin to surface again.

However, it seems, as with a decade ago, a new generation of Britpoppers have re-ignited Weller's creative fire as he once again he takes his place amongst rock's elder statesmen. As "All Is Now" proves, now is all.

    by James Marshall