New Paul Weller album "True Meanings" due in September 2018

Anyone know if this is getting a physical release in the U.S.? A month before release and still Amazon only has the digital files for preorder.

 

Starting to see it in a few places for pre-order. Barnes & Noble has been the cheapest so far. Vinyl still over $40 though. Don't understand that.

paul weller

 

Yeah, bizarre how amazon.us only lists the digital. My local indie's website lists both the "deluxe" cd and the vinyl (but oddly not the regular cd), but their vinyl is also >$40...

 

Here we go: http://a.co/9YWRTC3

 

Thanks! Still about $10 cheaper ordering from Amazon UK. Suppose it'll be worth the extra money no to have to wait for the UK package. All I can say is, that vinyl better be awesome at that price.

 

Review from UNCUT magazine, on sale today.

 

Love that album. One of my favourites. I have a Canadian copy from release date and I recall it being received very well at the time.

 

Great looking cover, very cool looking Paul proudly wearing his age and displaying his great style. The first two tracks have been very nice and an instant buy for me. I really enjoyed the last two albums and the soundtrack which I recommend. Looking forward to getting my copy of True Meanings and listening to it on the stereo. Not always a big fan of albums being stretched out over two vinyl records, to me it breaks up the listening experience.

 

Paul’s the greatest! He just is.

 

Depends on the album length. Anything over 48 minutes justifies a 2LP set.

 

Not liking the song 'Aspects' at all. It goes absolutely nowhere and I'm already bored sick of it after just one play. Hope the rest of the album is better.

 

They can go three sides as well. I do believe it's best to put about 20 min per-side not a lot more. When you get down to 10-12 min per-side I feel it's too short.

 

True, no reason for four sides when three would work out just fine.

Johnny Winter and Rahsaan Rolland Kirk have stone classic albums on 3 LP sides.

Todd Rundgren has tried other options, 1) cramming 55min on single LP, and on other album, including a 33.3rpm single to cover the last couple of cuts.

The CD format was a godsend for these types of long running albums.

 

I agree CDs were great for longer running albums. One thing that I enjoyed about CDs at first were the longer running times. Unfortunately some artist felt a need to fill that time and albums became too long and sometimes took away from the listening experience. Arguably filler was added and in away I think it resulted in may people getting away from the complete album experience and turning to just listening to select tracks. Of course the iPod is ultimately responsible for it.

 

The 50 minute album was imo perfect - at least for the truly talented and inspired artist. There were some outstanding albums out late 80s and very early 90s that justified that. Out came the 100 min. Blank TDK or Mazell, etc. cassette, loved those and the albums before it all went to junk (which we won't get into here in this thread).

 

I remember how genuinely confusing it was in 1982 when an album called "Three Sides Live" came out. Or maybe I was just too young.

Did you say Prince? One of the prime examples for an artist that certainly didn't benefit from the new potentially playing time. And he still managed to plan double and triple releases.

 

I'm a big PW fan but I think he's become a bit of a production line quantity over quality.

 

Just saw this and thought it was funny...



And the quotes slagging Clapton and Sting are especially ironic, given this new super mellow album of his.

 

Except there's a difference between doing an album of acoustic songs and whatever the hell it is Clapton has been doing since the mid-'70s, and I think his comment about James Blunt is a pretty accurate description of how I feel about listening to anything Sting has done, ever.

They're only scratching the surface with those quotes, though. One of my all-time favorites is when he was reviewing the singles in an issue of NME and when he got to Depeche Mode's "Everything Counts," said he'd heard more melody coming out of his road manager's ass. I think it's the same issue in which he described The Cars as "S*** music for c****s."

 

He is coming out with albums at a quick pace at today's standards when some artists have greater than five years between releases or just don't do new music but tour endlessly. His creative output is at a pace similar to what artists would keep in the 70s. I personally applaud his continued efforts to make new music and his work with other artists.
His last few albums have been great, even the sound track Jawbonne was very creative. I would have agreed to your statement more when Sonic Kicks and Wake Up The Nation came out as it felt like he was relying on Simon Dine a lot. However there are some very good songs on both albums.

 

It's such a shame the CDs of his last several albums are so loud and compressed. Perhaps a future reissue campaign could remedy this.

 

Exactly -- plus the pace of his output hasn't really changed at all over the course of his solo career. He's generally released an album every two to three years, with only a few exceptions - Paul Weller / Wild Wood released a year apart; Studio 150 / As Is Now a year apart. The first two rank among his best; the latter pair are a mixed bag (although I personally enjoy As Is Now), so releasing this new album a year after the rather excellent A Kind Revolution hardly seems like cause for alarm, especially for "big" PW fans.

 

Many on here seem to think he peeked as an artist with his solo stuff - which interests me.

While loving Wild Wood and Stanley Road, I think he peaked with The Jam - Side one of Sound Affects is one of the greatest side ones that I've ever heard. Looking forward to his new one of course...

 

Solo, definitely. As much as I love The Jam's albums, he did reach high levels with albums such as 22 Dreams, Saturn Patterns and Sonik Kicks.

 

He certainly sings better now.