Track Listing

1. Heavy Soul
2. Peacock Suit
3. Up In Suzes' Room
4. Brushed
5. Driving Nowhere
6. I Should Have Been There To Inspire You
7. Heavy Soul
8. Friday Street
9. Science / Brushed - Paul Weller, Brendan Lynch, Martyn 'Max' Heyes
10. Golden Sands
11. As You Lean Into The Light
12. Mermaids - Brendan Lynch, Martyn 'Max' Heyes, Paul Weller

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16428 in Music
• Released on: 2000-12-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 41 minutes

CD Description
During his time with The Style Council, and indeed throughout his solo career, Paul Weller has struggled to reconcile his attraction to '60s soul music with the modernity expectedof a pop icon of his stature. More often than not, he's chosen to dive straight into the past. With HEAVY SOUL, he manages to strike a perfect balance--or maybe it's just that theretro swing of the pop pendulum has made his anachronisms au courant.
With a booming rhythm section and thick guitarattack bolstering his vocals, Weller sounds better, if a little raspier, than ever. Guitarist Steve Cradock of English R&B aspirants Ocean Colour Scene aids Weller in his mission to mine the music of the late 60's and early 70's. Brendan Lynch's matter-of-fact production makes HEAVY SOUL sound fresh almost in spite of itself.

Customer Reviews

Troubled Fourth Album from Weller
To follow the multi-platinum success of the Stanley Road album, Weller strips back the production and takes his groove ridden angst to another new place. No compromise for chart action here.

It's rumoured he was wrestling with personal demons while making the album and with the angry guitar slashes and impassioned vocals of the opening eponymous track and the rocking single "Peacock Suit", you can feel it. They really bristle with energy and vibes.

In much the same way as his towering stage presence, a lot of Weller's recorded work has an astonishing physicality. His songs seem to squirm and push at the edges with real dynamic force.

However the standout Track on Heavy Soul is "Up In Suze's Room", a smokey, hazy accoustic lope of a song which sees the protagonist getting wasted with his new love and loving it. Achingly fabulous.

By this artist's impeccably high standards though, there are a couple of songs which don't really come across to the listener: "Heavy Soul II" is infuriatingly faded in as a stand alone instrumental. "Brushed" has a great voodoo groove and more of that sinewy dynamism but is never as exciting as the first four bars promise. "As You Lean Into The Light" lacks the warmth of Weller's usual sincerity and he sounds detatched and maudlin.

Still, a fascinating album by this finest of singer songwriters and a worthy companion to this year's standout "Heliocentric" collection.

Played over and over again
....and I just can't get bored with it. An exellent album from Paul Weller. As usual an eclectic range of excellent songs from a very underrated performer. This man has got soul. He can get you rocking along with him one moment and then touch you with the sincerity of a wonderful ballad. He displays how he is influenced by many types of music - rock, soul, dub reggae,mod. Buy and enjoy for years.

Patchy!
Heavy Soul was recorded almost entirely live and it has some superb songs on it, most notably "Heavy Soul" "Peacock Suit" and "Friday Street"
I find it quite a harsh album to listen to though, it seems to lack sentiment and conviction at times. "Driving Nowhere" isnt even a B-Side and "Golden Sands" is pretty pathetic.
For a studio album it really feels unfinished, with a bit more spit and polish it could have been a right good one, but were left with an average album from an exceptional songwriter.