Paul Weller- The Paul Weller Creation and Continuum Discussion

It was an early "Wild Wood" and "Red Balloon", the one I'm thinking of was an appearance on "Love Doctor" on KROQ in LA in '92.

I'm pretty ignorant of US radio stations but there seems to be quite a few from WFNX & FUV rings a bell - could we mislabel that in the UK as WFUV??

 

No WFUV is its proper name actually. FUV is the popular abbreviation for it. Sometimes we drop the W from the beginning of radio stations on the East Coast when talking about them. People usually call WBAB(an AOR radio station) on Long Island BAB, the late lamented new wave station WLIR was called LIR etc so on.

 

Thanks. Talking about NY radio stations, I emailed WOUR a few years back, out of curiosity, to see if they still had a copy of the 78 Jam show they recorded in their archives...... never did get a reply

 

Yeah, they're in upstate NY actually, it's almost like a different world up there! That part of New York State is more like the American Midwest in some way. A friend of mine went to school up in Syracuse and it was classic rock country for sure! I would be shocked if they kept a Jam show in their archives BUT hey you never know.....

 

The first Weller single.......

The Paul Weller Movement: Into Tomorrow

Released on Freedom High Records May 91

Highest position on the British Charts 36

FHP1

7 inch single

A Into Tomorrow
B Here's A New Thing


FHPT 1/FHPCD 1

12 inch and CD

A1 Into Tomorrow 3:45
A2 Here's A New Thing 3:18
B1 That Spiritual Feeling 7:31
B2 Into Tomorrow (Original 8 Track Demo) 3:13


FHPMC 1

Cassette version

1 Into Tomorrow 3:45
2 Here's A New Thing 3:18


Go Discs CD 1992 US

CDP 824

Into Tomorrow 3:06
Producer - Brendan Lynch , Paul Weller
Written-By - P. Weller*
2 Into Tomorrow (Demo Version) 3:08
Producer - Paul Weller
Written-By - P. Weller*
3 Feelin' Alright 3:59
Producer - Brendan Lynch , Paul Weller
Written-By - D. Mason*
4 Ohio 3:50
Written-By - N. Young*
5 Don't Let Me Down 4:49
Written-By - J. Lennon/P. McCartney




After the tour Weller headed into the Solid Bond Studios in early 1991. One of the tunes being worked on was Here's A New Thing ,which brought TSC and Jam producer Pete Wilson back into the fold. New Thing was initially going to be the first single. Weller enlisted the Irakere brass section to play on the tune. That Spiritual Feeling was also floating around from the Style Council days.While collaborating on a synthesis of samples and beats both producer Brendan Lynch and Weller had created a structure for the tune Into Tomorrow. Jimmy Miller, legendary Stones and Traffic producer ,was brought into the fold to produce Into Tomorrow. However, Wellie wanted Mr Jimmy to do final overdubs and mixes. It really didn't work . Mr Jimmy literally fell asleep at the board because he was so drunk and was fired as a result. In the end, Wellie cut the tune live in one day and that spot on version without a drunk producer became the single we all know and love. Brendan Lynch's comments on the tune:

" The first recording of this took place on the 25 and 26 February in 1991. We were in the back room at Solid Bond Studios because Young Disciples were in the main studio doing their album. We actually got snowed in. We couldn't get out so we stayed there for two days .It was great because Paul was kind of into the idea but he wasn't sure about the song. I kept working away on the sequencers and the arrangement. There's one little bit in the second verse where all the drums drop out and it actually happened on the demo, it was a complete accident because the sequencer was playing up. We both heard that and said we have to use that. So on the finished record they drop out for a bar or two."



Into Tomorrow: The tune marked a return to form of sorts for Wellie. It had a far rockier edge than anything he had done with the Style Council. Adding to the fact, Weller not only played a guitar on it BUT a solo nonetheless. There's an edge here musically that certainly is at odds with his TSC persona. The horns provided a staccato nature to the tune in fits and spurts. An opening shot filled with bombast and fury. Sort of a manifesto of what is to come in his solo career musically. In some ways presaging his rock period with great accuracy. Weller comments on how important Into Tomorrow was : " Without point or reason,I co-produced an album with my wife Dee C Lee and Dr Robert. Nothing Happened. I went on tour. Nothing Happened. A year later MC Lynch of Solid Bond studios put a track together in the backroom(whilst The Young Disciples finished "Road To Freedom") in the main studio. We released this track on our own Solid Bond financed label, "Freedom High". It got to number 37 or something but most importantly it was a boss record and made me and all of us(Solid Bond team) think it was worth going on. And we did."



Lyrically, Wellie seems to be in a really self reflexive mode:

Into the mists of time and space
Where we have no say over date and place
Don't get embarrassed if it happens a lot,
That you don't know how you started or where you're gonna stop
And if at times it seems insane - all the tears in searching;
Turning all your joy to pain - in pursuit of learning;
Buy a dream and hideaway - can't escape the sorrow;
Your mojo will have no effect - as we head into tomorrow

It seems almost as if Paul is looking forward to the future. Perhaps subconsciously voicing some of the regrets he has had. However the past is the past and he is looking literally into tomorrow.

Round and round like a twisted wheel
Spinning in attempt to find the feel
Find the path that will help us find
A feeling of control over lives and minds


Wellie underlines the fact that he felt a loss of control as it were and could possibly find the path to save himself.

Paul also comments on the song's massive importance as a bridge of sorts in his career:" I think it's quite an original song and sound. I think it's about me trying to get a grip on becoming a thirty something and the great grey mass that lies between the simple black and white world of my youth."

Into Tomorrow from a live performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytnrACF7axw

Here's a New Thing: Paul seems to still be in a Stylist mode on this tune. And that is not a bad thing at all. The horns, the bass playing and drum part all have a retro vibe in spades. It could have been a lost TSC tune from an initial listening. All in all there is a sense of positivity here on embarking on a new endeavor:

The place in mind is always sweet
It's wonderful and time to meet
Here's a new thing - gotta change up
Got to let go of the past
For a new thing - for some new ground
Only change will make it last
The hardest thing is letting go
But once you do, life starts to flow

Weller mores explicitly states his new found manifesto here. No longer shackled by the past he can move forward to some new ground. And this ideal is engulfed in a musical endeavor that exudes positivity, joyousness and exuberance.

Here's a New Thing from a TV appearance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mFViVhqz_A

That Spiritual Feeling: This version has far more of an organic vibe than the TSC version found on Modernism their last unreleased album AKA The House Debacle! Here The Movement gives an acid jazz reading of the tune and revivifies it in a clever way. The Brand New Heavies seemed to have liked this vibe and sort of emulated it in spots in their excellent catalog of tunes.


Here is That Spiritual Feeling:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfu4OuwTHeo

Into Tomorrow, Demo: The song is still here in all its glory to be honest. This demo sounds far more finished than what passes for a final release from some lesser artists.

Here is the demo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s0aO2j5ANw


The other tunes from the American CD like Feelin' Alright, Don't Let Me Down and Ohio will be up for future discussion. The single's inclusion was for Jammers, Stylist and Wellerian Collector maniacs who might want to buy this at an exorbitant sum from eBay! And as many know from the TSC thread, I encourage such foolish endeavors BUT only when it comes to Weller BUT no one else.

 

Into Tomorrow

The labels:

 

I think to put Wellie's status around this time in perspective, you have to think of his hero Steve Marriot who died in a house fire around the time of this release.... The Small Faces/Humble Pie legend had been reduced to playing pubs in the UK and died effectively a forgotten man. Fast forward 3 or 4 years and there is no doubt he would have become 'famous' again and heralded as a 'britpop' Godfather. Right now it is hard to think how someone as influential and charismatic as Steve (even taking into account his problems with booze) had basically become a 'nobody'

 

The difference as far as I can see is that Weller has more discipline. It would seem that he's had his share of drink/coke issues as well, but Weller always kept working and often working well. I get the impression that the music was always more important than the party for him. With Marriott, I'm not so sure.

"Here Comes the New Thing" should have made the PW album. It's a great track and is the perfect bridge from Style Council to his solo career. "Into Tomorrow" is a nice track, but it's far from the best on that record. I suppose it was a single since its decidedly rock leaning helped re-position Weller in the minds of the public.

For me, the real ace track is (looking ahead) "Amongst Butterflies."

 

I'll never forget seeing the CD single for this in a record shop in Vancouver BC of all places and thinking to myself that I wasn't really sure about that name "The Paul Weller Movement" fortunately it didn't last...

While Into Tomorrow is far from a great Weller track, it sure was great to hear!!!! It had been years since I'd heard some real passion from him especially on the guitar (Love the solo!) Things were finally back on track and even lyrically he was moving into another place.

 

Paul had John Weller to guide him through so much of this period, he was very lucky indeed. I remember quite well when Steve died, it was such an ignoble death for such a great musician. And the world is littered with many people like Stevie unfortunately. Fame and fortune were no longer kind to him and his descent was no exception.

 

I had stuck with him through thick and thin, so this was a welcome turn of events . It was a tiny little sliver of Wellie embracing a more rock direction in what would be a melange of acid jazz, Stylist music and a patina of rock. I felt that the single was a great opening salvo and one which hinted ever so slightly at the new direction in his solo career.

 

In terms of this single, New Thing was a nice companion piece to Into Tomorrow. New Thing was in fact an old thing in some ways! It sounded old school and had a sound that harkened back to TSC in many ways before they went house! Long before they went house actually.

 

Yeah, back when TSC did material I really liked such as "My Ever Changing Moods" or "Have You Ever Had It Blue." Weller's best stuff has a bit of guitar and lots of add7 chords.

 

I wonder why nobody mentioned yet that 'That Spiritual Feeling' recording features JB Horns.
I like the story about how it all happened from 'Fly On The Wall' liner notes...

 

Funny that you mentioned the chord structures because that will be addressed in yet another post that will be appearing soon. New Thing had an extremely up feeling and had some very distinct elements like the flute solo. Weller's guitar part services the tune there as opposed to Into Tomorrow where it's a more instrinic part of the tune.

 

You just mentioned it!No matter how comprehensive my posts are,there is always something left for someone else to add something into the mix. That's the fun of the forum's interactive,gang's all here element!

 

Into Tommorrow screamed Weller is back to me, a real return to form and the best thing he'd written in a long long time. To these ears it encapsulates the sound of a man coming out fighting, even the horns sound like left, right jabs. Weller's at his finest when his backs against the wall and clearly demonstrates that here.

All the self doubt of the "wilderness years" are captured in the lyrics and it comes across that he's laying a few ghosts to rest.

I remember watching the clip from Jonathon Ross, that Butch posted and being really knocked out at the time. I'm sure I'm over analysing things but watching the clip again it's clear that Wellers confidence grows noticeably through that performance. The geezer must have known he'd found it again.It's interesting that people have mentioned Steve Marriott and the other song performed on the JR show was Tin Soldier.

Picking up on the US Promo, "Don't Let Me Down" is one of my favourite Weller covers from any period, I think Wellers vocal performance ranks amongst the best I've ever heard. Dee equally sounds accomplished and as we discussed on the TSC thread, it's really as a backing vocalist she excels. What I love most about this cover is the attack and agression I allways hear when I play it.

"Ohio" is also a better version than appeared in the UK much later, no doubt we'll revisit that particulat song later on.

 

BTW, Don't Let Me Down will be featured very soon, so we'll be getting to that one sooner than one thinks! I only posted that item because of the rabid collector mania I try to ratchet up up to 11. Chronologically that promo comes down the line.

 

I always think of "Here's A New Thing" as a Style Council track myself, not new at all, granted recorded two years after the last TSC bits were recorded, but as the very first track he records, getting his feet wet again, it's kind of ironic he was still squarely in the Council Flats Continuum which didn't last long, but this is one fine track. Weller seems to slag this tune a bit in the Fly on the Wall set, not sure why, its a full on big *** smile....

I also Love That Spiritual Feeling, what a jam, jaunt, jazzy, funky mess of grooves. These two songs feel so not his new Into Tomorrow projection into his new shoe's as a solo artist, but these are faves of mine in his catalog. I think they resonate with him finding his sea legs and straddling the different oceans that somewhat swallowed him up for a while with marriage and I assume by this time fatherhood? (When did his first child come along anyway?)

The Demo is sublime. I love that one of the bits that I've admired was an equipment failure, sometimes the best bits on a record come from a mistake that in itself makes it genius...maybe there is a "higher power", certainly a spiritual feeling that pervades him getting his toes wet.

 

He was still doing house music with Dr Robert at this time though! The issue with New Thing is that it was a look back at the TSC salad days musically speaking. Themically in terms of the lyrics,it's part of Weller moving on to the next echelon! And Paul sometimes has a tendency to rip things he's done sometimes right after he's done them! Look at his attitude towards some of the tunes on Confessions of A Pop Group in 89. He was ripping things he had been promoting so vigorously only a year before!

With TSF, the acid jazz take was for lack of a better term a far superior take of a tune that was handled incorrectly the first time.

As a musician, that demo story is a fateful accident of sorts. When it happens,it might seem like a drag BUT it's a blessing in disguise. In this case ,that happy accident added a special spice to the tune it wouldn't have had otherwise.

 

I do!

 

Anyone else actually own that US promo CD? I was working college radio at the time and was lucky enough to get a copy. One of my prized possessions!

Love this single to pieces though. Just such a bold reinvention of what had come before, tying all of it together from his "personas" in the Jam and TSC into the one new "Paul Weller." A great statement of purpose, and kickin' B-sides too.

I for one always liked the "Paul Weller Movement" name and wish it would have stuck around a bit longer... oh well.

 

The Paul Weller Movement was a cool name indeed. However Paul needed to throw away the shackles of his past and not hide behind a band name in the end. And in an upcoming interview someone makes a good point to that end. As a matter of fact, Steve Sidelnyk made a similar point though not exactly!

Here is the CD (and I'm covering the other songs from this CD in the very near future) for those who don't have it:

 

That's the one! I've actually always kept mine in a clear jewel case though...

 

I coulda had boxes of these. I worked at PolyGram during this time...and worked next to the "college" dept. where these piled up around like rubbish and I never managed to keep one...so many promos I never grabbed, thinking, whatever......stuff like that got thrown out by the bushel back in the day. the promos for radio never seemed worthwhile at the time, when they were so plentiful. all the vinyl I didn't grab either, there was so much, hard to take it all home...could shoot myself now....