![]() ![]() ![]() Not all subject matter is so heavy: being stuck on indefinite hold with tech support provides one of the album's catchiest melodies with closing song "Torture." "Mouthful of Blood" warns of what happens when you don't speak your mind - wrapped in lush harmonies, flutes and strings she sings, "I bite my tongue / my mouth's full of blood." Self-doubt and glammy, '70s rock make fine bedfellows on "Dead Weight," while a messy breakup powers the sunny chords of "Gorgon" that also features her still-great falsetto. It's a sunshiny stormcloud approach she effectively uses, along with the mellotron's many voices, on most of the album. "I’m living in a nightmare and I can’t wake up," she sings on "Nightmary," which was clearly written during 2020, "The whole world is controlled by fascist blood-sucking thugs." While the song deals with fake news, facebook and losing old friends to Jesus, Hatfield wraps the song in bouncy acoustic guitars and mellotron flutes. It's a powerful, memorable and very melodic combination. Blood is Hatfield's 19th solo album and fuel-injects her ever-sharp pop songwriting with seething anger, frustration and doubt. Like Paul Weller, Juliana Hatfield has maintained a quality level that few of her late-'80s/early-'90s peers can match, and remains in possession of one of indie rock's best, most versatile voices. The indie rock great delivers equal parts pop hooks and anger/frustration on one of her best records He's on another hot streak between this and On Sunset, and his ability to reinvent himself - and make fantastic records like this - remains an inspiration.ĪLBUM OF THE WEEK #2: Juliana Hatfield - Blood(American Laundromat) Weller has always been a mercurial artist, and continues to find new sounds and ideas into his '60s, while still only sounding like himself. Fat Pop's other finest moment is "Failed," a wonderful look at how he still has lots to learn in life (including accepting his mistakes), set to a shuffling '70s groove. "Shades of Blue," which was co-written with his daughter Leah (who sings on it too), is soaring Britpoppy Blue Eyed Soul "Testify" and Fat Pop's title track dabble in jazzy funk (flutes!) and "Glad Times" has a soulful groove not unlike The Style Council's "You're The Best Thing." He's mellowed with age but the socially conscious artist whose politics were front-and-center in The Style Council is still there: the breezy, reggae-tinged "The Pleasure," a tribute to George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, is one of the best songs on the album. Weller has really succeeded with that - Fat Pop plays like a Best Of comp, working in a variety of styles, some new, some old, but all of them memorable and melodic. With songs coming from all over, Paul says there was no overarching theme this time, instead envisioning a record where every song could be a single. Eventually they were able to record together at Paul’s Black Barn studio in Surrey and finished the album. When tour plans for last year's excellent On Sunset were scrapped due to the pandemic, Paul went back to work writing new songs, revisiting ideas he'd recorded on his iphone, and made the record remotely with his band - Steve Cradock, Ben Gordelier and Andy Crofts - trading files and ideas. Weller embraces uncertainty - fatherhood, marriage, sobriety, and the fragile state of the world - with panache, wit and a whole bunch of crackin' tunes. "It's too late to fix it." The former Jam and Style Council frontman, who has exuded confidence (and impeccable fashion sense) from Day 1, has never sounded more vulnerable than he does on Fat Pop Vol 1. "I've come undone," Paul Weller sings in the opening seconds of his 16th solo album. The Modfather's 16th solo album is a joyous, veritable Best Of comp of songs that didn't exist till now. ALBUM OF THE WEEK #1: Paul Weller - Fat Pop V.1 (Polydor) ![]()
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