Paul Weller

Review: It would be very easy, given his legendary status and rabid fanbase, for Paul Weller to rest on his laurels, but what's made this modern-day renaissance mod's recent records so compelling has been their sonic restlessness and his desire to hunt out new stylistic forays, and this is a lineage that 'Saturn's Pattern' carries on in style. Certainly, there's a classicist edge to his work here on songs like the fuzz-driven single 'No Time' and Beatles influences rise through the raunch throughout, yet elsewhere futuristic synths and art-rock flourishes abound, rendering this album a testimony to a questing spirit that still sounds fresh after nearly forty years of making music.

Review: Something of a deity to many, Paul Weller has undergone more than his fair share of metamorphoses in a storied forty year career, but the quality control of his output post-2007's '22 Dreams' has surprised even some of most ardent devotees, and 'A Kind Revolution' is ample evidence that even as he approaches 60 his creative energy and questing spirit are undimmed. He's still searching for new modes of expression that belie his reputation as a soul-style traditionalist, and in a fractious and hostile era, the messages of hope are as much a balm as his increasingly mellifluous voice.

Review: Something of a deity to many, Paul Weller has undergone more than his fair share of metamorphoses in a storied forty year career, but the quality control of his output post-2007's '22 Dreams' has surprised even some of most ardent devotees, and 'A Kind Revolution' is ample evidence that even as he approaches 60 his creative energy and questing spirit are undimmed. He's still searching for new modes of expression that belie his reputation as a soul-style traditionalist, and in a fractious and hostile era, the messages of hope are as much a balm as his increasingly mellifluous voice.

Review: Something of a deity to many, Paul Weller has undergone more than his fair share of metamorphoses in a storied forty year career, but the quality control of his output post-2007's '22 Dreams' has surprised even some of most ardent devotees, and 'A Kind Revolution' is ample evidence that even as he approaches 60 his creative energy and questing spirit are undimmed. He's still searching for new modes of expression that belie his reputation as a soul-style traditionalist, and in a fractious and hostile era, the messages of hope are as much a balm as his increasingly mellifluous voice.