PRESENTS THAT SWEET SWEET MUSIC

Description

Soul music has always been in Paul Weller’s blood from his earliest covers of Martha & the Vandellas’ 1963 classic ‘Heatwave’ by the Jam. Along with other forms of music, soul found its way into Paul’s record collection, feeding his ears and illuminating his own songwriting. We don’t need to recap a musical career in search of discovery, from the Jam to the Style Council, then flowering into one of the most productive and revered careers of any British solo artist. Paul has written anthems, standards and a repertoire which has always grown out of his own feelings. Though Paul has spoken about his love of soul music, he has been until now just too busy to sit down and curate a collection of his favourite tunes and put it in the racks. Ace Records are honoured and delighted to at last release this Paul Weller curated collection which he has aptly titled ‘That Sweet Sweet Music’. This 2 LP and CD box set pulls back the curtain on 26 tracks that are some of Paul’s favourite soul records, most of which are nestled on vinyl in his own collection. He still remembers paying £70 for his copy of Jon Lucien’s 1971 7” ‘Search For The Inner Self’ in a Leicester record shop in the 90s. Some of these tracks are soul classics such as James Carr’s 1966 ‘Pouring Water On A Drowning Man’ and Brother to Brother’s brilliant 1974 cover of Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson’s ‘In The Bottle’. Others are wonderfully obscure gems like the A side of Blackrock’s only single from 1971 ‘Blackrock Yeah, Yeah’, ‘Life Walked Out’ from the same year by The Mist or Syl Johnson’s ‘Black Balloons’ taken from his 1970 album ‘Is It Because I’m Black?’. There are plenty of great vocal names here such as Darrell Banks, Spinners, Joe Simon, O.C. Smith, the Dells and Betty Davis. While the core of the album is vocal soul, the music branches out with Paul selecting a wicked instrumental B side of the Isley Brothers’ 1962 ‘Twist & Shout’ and the funky jazz of the Headhunters’ ‘God Made Me Funky’, the A side of their first 7 inch from 1975. Paul has not only written an introduction, but the way he has curated the music allows each side of the vinyl and the CD to flow like a river taking the listener on a journey through some of his favourite music. It truly is a Sweet Sweet collection.