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 enlarge | Artist: Paul Weller
Label: Universal / Island
Category: Music
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £4.44
You Save: £4.55 (51%)
New (41) Used (12) from £3.24
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 415
Format: Extra Tracks
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Running Time: 54 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 042282851321
EAN: 0042282851321
ASIN: B000001FI1
Release Date: September 1, 1993
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: IN STOCK. USUALLY DISPATCHED SAME OR NEXT WORKING DAY (MON - FRI). PLEASE ALLOW 3 - 6 DAYS FOR DELIVERY. BRAND NEW AND FULLY GUARANTEED BY A WELL ESTABLISHED TRUSTED LTD COMPANY. EMAIL DISPATCH CONFIRMATIONS SENT. TRACK PROGRESS 24/7
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 Truly amazing... June 3, 2008
ModdyBoy67 (UK)
The later version of this album is even better, with the inclusion of "Hung Up", but all the tracks are great.
Check out "The Weaver"....and the accompanying video!
Where will we find meaning after Weller?......
 I Guess I Have Some Catching Up To Do May 7, 2008
Coincidence Vs Fate (UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought my first Jam single in 1978 and stuck by PW and his music up to the splendid "Into Tomorrow" single way back when. However, I then became disillusioned and admit that I turned into one of the dreaded "his solo stuff isn't as good as The Jam/Style Council" nightmares. That statement was spoken parrot fashion to anyone who mentioned the two words PAUL and WELLER to me in the same sentence. My argument always came unstuck however, if anyone DARED to ask me if I'd actually listened to anyone his solo material...of course we know the answer to that one, don't we?!
Last Summer I was listening yet again to "Our Favourite Shop" and I went through one of those periods where - and men will understand this - you suddenly for no apparent reason become obsessed with a particular artist again; I played the Council and The Jam constantly, read as much material as I could on Weller and generally annoyed my wife for a couple of months. It was after she said that she'd divorce me if she ever heard "The Dreams Of Children" again that I thought, well, maybe now that I'm a mature, easy kind of guy in his early 40's, I should really give Weller's solo stuff a go, so I did. I started with this album, "Wild Wood". I never looked back.
Why on earth didn't I buy this stuff years ago? "Wild Wood" is a joy, beautiful songs beautifully played. "Sunflower" kicks the whole album off and right-away I recognised the guitar refrain. There were others I'd heard before, "The Weaver", for example, so not everything was new to me. "Wild Wood" is acoustic; is laid-back; is understated; is perfect for Summer. It's just a shame that I took 15 years to realise.
Sorry Paul.
 am i missing something? August 19, 2007
The evil hippy
1 out of 8 found this review helpful
i dunno....im always hearing young men of a certain age, normally 25-35, calling for this guy whenever a singer comes to the pub for instance. 'got any weller?' is the normal request! seems like either everyone loves this guy or hes simply a hip name to drop amongst that particular blank generation. im nearly 50 years old. i liked the jam at the time, even saw them a few times. and whilst they were never as exciting as the pistols or the damned, or even the buzzcocks, they had a certain energy and some decent tunes. i didnt mind the style council and was well impressed by wellers involvement in dee c lees fabulous 'see the day' single. ok....but his solo stuff? hmmm. im not sure what it is that people seem to be inspired by. ive made a point of listening to most of his solo work to try and see just what everyones making a fuss about. this is always lauded as his best album so i listened many times very carefully.
i dont wanna come across as slagging weller off cos at least hes a real musician playing real songs, but really, this is rather a dull and limp affair. pastoral in feel, it kind of breezes along, not really saying anything in particular. its pleasant enough, but it starts to morph into lounge bar, elevator muzak after a while. it just hasnt got any BITE. no particular hooks or strong melody lines. its clear that he was doing a lot of listening to the likes of drake, lightfoot, maybe james taylor. but his material just hasnt got the depth of those artists best work, lyrically or musically. its ok. but its just ok and thats it. its throwaway music, just ambling along. so why oh why is this guy given such status amongst these aforementioned young men? probably cos they havent had any exposure to enough really powerful, evocative music in this style from the early 70's in particular. in the folk/pop league tables, if you can imagine drake,mclean,cohen etc, in the premiership, then this album and this man would be somewhere around the lower half of the second division. a bit bland. a bit uninspired. just very ordianary. so here he is along with all the other unworthy acts being hyped up as something special. straight away that makes me resent him, when other, more deserving acts, are left floundering. but like ive said before, that just seems to be the nature of the way things are with the music biz and the listening public. this is perfect album to accompany a whole generation of people aiming their lives at the middle of the road
Weller's progress to Modfather April 7, 2007
Magic Rat (uk)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Who would have thought that sixteen years after the release of "In The City", the former Jam frontman Paul Weller would be singing not of the streets, tube stations, the crowd, the weekend and the town called malice but of mountains, fires, weavers, sunflowers, seasons, holy men and the moon on his young son's pyjamas. Although Weller had clearly matured and become concerned about and influenced by different things it was still a massive change in both approach and image. The cod-politics and fake homoeroticism (together with the white jeans) of much of The Style Council's output and image had also been flushed down the pan in no uncertain manner. Eschewing virtually everything from his past (which had included singles going straight in at number one) Weller had completely reinvented himself, not for any "career choices" but simply because he wanted to.
His musical influences are very clear on this album - late 1960s Traffic, a bit of latter-day Small Faces, Humble Pie, Nick Drake, Neil Young and even singer-songwriters like Gordon Lightfoot. One would have thought this was a recipe for complete commercial suicide. Weller's first solo album, two years earlier was excellent, but didn't really sell well. However, "Wild Wood", for some reason, caught on with the loved up crowd and the festival generation and Weller was suddenly embraced by a younger crowd as "The Modfather" and granted both respect and kudos from people not old enough to properly remember the early days of The Jam.
The music itself is perfect for a hot summer morning (why I reckon it might even be good "chill-out" fare, whatever that may be!). It is a very pastoral, laid back album, perfectly exemplified on the title track and others like "The Foot Of The Mountain", "5th Season" and "The Weaver". There is lots of choppy guitar, swirling organ, matching acoustic guitar and solid drums. It is both rock and folky wistfulness rolled into one. I cannot say much more than this album is sublimely atmospheric and a delight from beginning to end. It is now fourteen years old and sounds just as fresh today as back in 1993. Highly recommended.
Wild Wood feels good November 25, 2006
D. J. H. Thorn (Hull, UK)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
'Wild Wood' represents a big leap forward after the fake soul of The Style Council. The album has soul, but it's a natural inflection rather than a forced imitation of black music. For me, 'All The Pictures On The Wall' demonstrates this the best with its bold acoustic rhythms. Throughout the album, Weller's band display a hearty appetite for the music they're playing. They're as solid as any seasoned rock band, but their style is rooted more in the 1960s. This album and 'Stanley Road' complement each other and there are parallels. 'Sunflower' and 'The Changingman' open both albums in a similar fashion, for example, with simple, repetitive guitar figures. 'Stanley Road' has better songs, however, while 'Wild Wood' is more satisfying in terms of style. The device of including four brief interludes is effective, breaking up the songs to keep them fresh while giving the album a distinct aura.
Perhaps it's the content that falls marginally short of greatness. Weller's songwriting isn't as hard-hitting as in the days of The Jam, though some anger is still there. The title track, though, an alternative metaphor to 'concrete jungle' offers positive wisdom, something the angry young Weller didn't do much. 'Shadow Of The Sun' doesn't warrant seven minutes, however, and the extended instrumental passage only proves that he's better with three-minute songs. It's a minor criticism, though. 'Wild Wood' is largely a satisfying album.
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