Review of Paul Weller: Into Tomorrow

Introduction

Most Paul Weller fans will have caught this when it originally aired last November the Beeb. It`s by far the best career-spanning resume I`ve seen on Weller and his musical journey and seems to have been made with his and his family`s blessing.

Apparently inspired by the Robert Evans film `The Kid Stays in the Picture`, this feature length documentary features Weller recounting his own tale with some very relevant embellishments from ex-band mates and immediate family. In fact - some of the real atmosphere of the early days (The Jam) is best reflected by his down to earth no-nonsense father (John) who managed the band during the turbulent but successful seventies and early eighties.

You also get a very good insight into Weller himself - what makes him tick, and what motivated him - including some fairly insightful observations from his mother, Anne.

What emerges is a picture of a very serious, partially educated working class rebel who, once he tired of the bludgeon-style approach of his first band (The Jam) decides to give up at the height of his success in order to pursue subtler, more poetic means of imparting his message. Having tried to achieve that with The Jam (Beat Surrender is hardly comparable to `In the City` for example for example), you sense that he couldn`t take his new explorations far enough with the format and so he left to try out his white-boy soul with `The Style Council`. A serious music fan himself, he had moved on from his worship of `The Who` to appreciating the subtler genius of soul-men like Curtis Mayfield. My own opinion is that he fell horribly short o such aesthetic aims, though it`s hard not to admire the man for trying, particularly as he was at the very height of success with his previous formula.

Most amusing was an interview in Scandinavia with an increasingly frustrated Weller
Where he is asked questions like `Do you like eating Jam` and `Do you like tube trains`. You get a sense that this is close to the end of that particular incarnation.

In fact so keen was Weller to drop the past that when soul singer DC Lee and other musicians admitted she had never heard `The Jam`, Weller saw this as a tremendous plus point and an opportunity to move away from that sound.

Despite moving on to a broody, soulful solo career, Weller`s voice still sounds like the working class lad from Woking and you get the sense that he`s now comfortable with the idea that that his who he is. This has given him the freedom to make whatever music he chooses, mixing rock influences with soul and jazz at will.


The DVD is packed with fan-pleasing archive footage and it`s full of class interviews with those who have played a part in the man`s history. These include Brookes and Foxton of The Jam, former wife and Style Council member Dee C Lee, Steve White and Mick Talbot of The Style Council, Boy George and Noel Gallagher.

The DVD is neatly divided into chapter headings that feature Weller playing acoustic guitar and singing something relevant to each, providing further evidence of his own cooperation and approval of this film.

Paul Weller may be known now as the Modfather, which is a bit rich when you consider he wasn`t even around at the time of the Mods but was merely influenced by them, but there`s no doubting his influence on a wide range of artists today.

For me, the first two Jam albums will always be his finest hour, though Weller himself would be appalled at this idea, particularly disliking the second Jam album which he felt was rushed and formulaic. It just shows how subjective music can be!

Here are the chapter headings which give a good indication of the flow of the show:

1. Into The Mists of Time and Space
2. To Be Something
3. We Were Getting Somewhere
4. All Mod Cons
5. Stronger Writing
6. Sound Affects
7. The First Day of Spring
8. A Musical Kama Sutra
9. We`re Gonna Shout To The Top
10. Chapter and Verse
11. A Momentary Lapse
12. All My Old Haunts
13. Wild Wood
14. The Modfather
15. The Future - Into Tomorrow

Video

Naturally this all a bit variable with so much archive footage in the mix though all the material shot for this film looks very fine indeed.

Audio

There`s a choice of Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Dolby 5.1 and DTS 5.1. I watched in DTS, which was a nice full and rounded experience, though with very little separation exclusively to the rears.

Features

The extras on the disc are actually just `more of the same`. Additional pieces of interview footage that didn`t make the final cut for whatever reason. They are every bit as absorbing as the content of the documentary. You get Noel Gallagher on Paul Weller. ("I wish I was a passionate about my music as he is about his"); a chapter called `My ever changing moods` where Weller admits he`s hard to work with (with another great Gallagher quote: "To say he`s moody implies he has mood swings which he doesn`t. He`s miserable all the time"); and three chapters on the phases of his career (The Jam, The Style Council, Paul Weller).

Conclusion

Weller fans will lap this excellent rockumentary up, especially if they missed its original airing on the Beeb late last year. Across the course of its 90 minutes, it begins to paint a vivid picture of Weller and his music.

What`s particularly interesting is how a pattern begins to emerge of how Weller is very much from the tribute-band school of rock. Every incarnation of his vision seems to have been fuelled by a desire to be someone else - Steve Marriott, The Who, Curtis Mayfield, and a whole host of blues and jazz artists. It`s notable that The Jam started out life playing covers in working men`s clubs - an ethos that never left his music, even when he became a very able songwriter in his own right.

Weller has never been about breaking new ground, but rather celebrating through homage his own undeniable passion for music. It`s ironic that through a lifetime of aping others that he seems to have found a voice so distinctively his own.