Artist:     Paul Weller 

Album:     Other Aspects: Live at Royal Festival Hall

Label:     Warners/Parlophone Records

Release Date:     3.27.2019

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Paul Weller may not be a name we immediately associate with blues music, but for many years—probably from his days fronting UK mod-rock pioneers The Jam —he has had a deeply held, personal interest in the music itself. Here we have a simply sumptuous offering, featuring Weller and his current band alongside a full orchestra, a surprising pairing that delivers at every turn.

Weller’s vocals are better than ever and his rhythmic mastery and harmonic savvy ensure this is a release worthy of widespread attention. The DVD itself includes some enjoyable “fly-on-the-wall” moments behind the scenes with the man voicing his thoughts and faltering anxieties about the whole undertaking. It then moves on to capture the very essence of his current performance and ranges across years of work, with his last album, True Meanings, being held firmly to the fore.

I’ve been increasingly impressed by each recent release this guy delivers. His last few albums, Kind of Revolution and True Meanings have both been absolutely excellent, and this latest offering again lifts him into another musical dimension. If anything, this release, which includes the DVD of the action and comes with a CD download code and a deliciously rich triple vinyl album, could well prove to be the album Weller has always been aiming to produce: a rich tapestry of interwoven sounds and lush orchestration that proves the guy remains very much at the top of the modern music tree.

—Iain Patience