Ich habe gerade noch eine AIN-Kritik aus Irland gefunden.
Taken from the latest edition of Irish Music Mag Hot Press.
„AS WELLER CAN BE EXPECTED
Already hailed as the best collection of songs since 1993’s Wildwood, AS IS NOW, the Modfather’s tenth solo album, quickly follows last year’s covers collection, Studio 150. It’s certainly the most energised and stylistically wide-ranging of all his solo albums to datebringing together pretty much every musical direction he’s taken in a career that stertches back almost 30 years.
Throughout we get shades of the angry young man fronting the The Jam, the Blue note and cappuccino and jazz textures of the Stlye Council and the retro/rock of his mid-90’s incaration.
Things kick off in high gear with the guitar heavy stomp of „Blink & You’ll Miss It“ which has late 60’s brit rock influninces written all over it, with strong hints of bands like Traffic and family. The kinks are clearly the template for „Paper Smile“ a mid-tempo rocker, while „Come On, Let’s Go“ closley recalls the more soulful late Jam era. Also, the incendary „From The Floorboards Up“ is an angry and abraisive as anything the likes of Franz Fredinand or The Kaiser Chiefs could muster.
But those tunes aside, the intensity levels drop dramaticly with most of the 14 tracks epitomised by the folky acoustic strumming of „Roll Along Summer“ and the dreamy, pastoral „The Start Of Forever“which recalls Nick drake by wat of Love’s Forever Changes. And rarley have we encountered Weller as mellow as „I Wanna Make It Alright“, a soft shuffle with Cyrtis Mansfiels stylings. „The Peebble & the Boy“ sounds like a Pete Townsend outtake from Quadrophenia (The piano intro is closley moddled on that album’s Love Reign O’er Me).
Something for everyone then – but only a Jam reunion will satisfy his most ardent fans.
SEVEN/TEN
Colm O’Hare“
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