Hit Parade

The first compilation of Paul Weller’s creations

Paul Weller is a national pride of Great Britain. He has contributed greatly to the development of music culture both around the country and the whole world. Born in 1958, in Stanley Road, a teen-aged Weller formed a band that later became The Jam, one of the most influential and successful English rock bands of the XX century. In the late 1970s almost each single of the band charted number 1 and soon The Jam has outshone such legends as Sex Pistols and The Clash in many respects. Paul, however, wanted to develop in a new direction, and at the beginning of 1983 The Jam was no longer existent. Very soon the singer and songwriter found other musicians to join him in a band called The Style Council, which adhered to jazz/pop style, and Weller found himself in the center of public attention once again. The band had existed five years, and afterwards little was heard of its creator until the mid 1990s. Weller’s solo career made him one of the founders of Britpop movement along with Oasis and Blur. Thus there has been a great amount of most varied songs, but only this year the singer has decided to make the first compilation of his creations and released album Hit Parade which includes Paul Weller and his bands’ most famous singles and hits.

Hit Parade – a collection of carefully arranged singles

The album does not chronologically follow Paul Weller’s career for it has not been its author’s initial idea. Hit Parade offers a collection of carefully arranged singles alternating the style and periods of the singer’s career. The record starts with one of the first singles that made The Jam hugely popular around Great Britain, Town Called Malice, which is followed by a song that is mostly believed to be Paul Weller’s credit card, Going Underground. Both compositions are remarkable for deeply philosophic lyrics and a sounding characteristic of the so called new wave musicians. Shout To The Top starts the series of The Style Council creations, it is a danceable jazzy track, on which Weller demonstrates his ability to sound like a real jazzman, and the first of his solo works is From The Floorboards Up – a funny and easy going song. The Jam’s well-known creation Down In The Tube Station At Midnight and Weller’s The Changingman are a real refinement of the collection, as well as The Eton Rifles, which was one of the earliest singles to get into the Top 10 in 1979. Beat Surrender is quite a significant song for the artist as it was the final single before The Jam was disbanded, and Broken Stones – one of more contemporary works – pleases with a nice rhythm and a clearly heard sligh huskiness that has appeared in the performer’s voice. А famous song by The Style Coincil is love ballad You Are The Best Thing, on which we hear Weller’s vocals change into a falsetto and acquiring a bit sentimantal notes, while the closer Start, another The Jam song, amazes with a most unusual accompaniment.

The godfather of Britpop

Despite the fact that new stars constantly appear all over the world, the audience remembers those who is associated with the foundation of various musical directions. In case with Paul Weller it is about several genres at a time, and today a great number of beginning performers admit that it is The Jam’s music and the musician’s solo works that has influenced them most of all. As if it wished to confirm how popular Paul is in his homeland, one of the British national radio stations in December 2002, which was aimed to find out who are the top 100 artists of all time. According to its results The Style Council has became number 97, Paul Weller reached the 21st place and The Jam got to number 5, leaving behind such legends as The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and The Clash. That’s why there is not a single doubt that the compilation of the best singles created by Paul Weller is going to be a great success, and the audience will be looking forward to hearing the continuation of his story. They call him the godfather of Britpop and it is not a joke: practically everything Paul Weller has ever done has turned out to be fundamental and solid, and to make sure of it, just listen to his Hit Parade.