Paul Weller
Paul Weller found his voice early, bellowing rock 'n' roll
covers in working men's clubs as a teenager during The
Jam's
nascent years.
By the time he was in his 20's his husky bark was
arguably the most recognisable voice of the post-punk era.
Following the demise of The Jam, Weller remodelled himself as a
silky soul chanteur with The
Style Council, but only
as he hit his 40s did he proclaim he was happy with his voice - by
then textured enough to convey tenderness and rage in the same
phrase.
Having failed to disband The Style Council on time (a mistake,
by his own admission), Paul Weller seemed to be at a point where
his greatest songs were in the far distance, tangled up in The Jam
and the politicised rush of Our Favourite Shop.
He
seemed to have become an anachronism, a man in a silver suit
grumbling about "making music for people my own age".
After three years without a record deal following the demise
of The Style Council, his eponymous 1992 solo debut album
marked the relocation of his missing mojo.
Here was a man
seemingly rejuvenated, recovered from his cod-soul illness and
newly hooked on The Small Faces, Nick
Drake, and Crosby, Stills
And Nash.
 He seemed to have crash-landed back in the six months following
The Jam's Tales From The Riverbank - folkier,
wiser and desperate to re-establish himself as a songwriter.
Wild Wood (1993) saw it fine-tuned to reconnect
with a mass audience. Then 1995's hugely successful Stanley
Road - released at the peak of the Britpop heatwave - marked
the point where he ceased to be just a peculiarly prolific pop
star and became nothing short of a pan-generational guru.
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