Paul Weller

谁是英国摇滚乐坛除David Bowie之外最著名的变色龙？答案是Paul Weller，他不但乐风变化无常，连政治信仰也不断改变……
 
从1976年组建The Jam乐队、1982年组建Style Council乐队到1990年以个人名义独立发展，再到今年的他个人第五张录音室专辑《Heliocentric》(日心)，其间经历了朋克、Motown式灵歌、Acid－Jazz、House、R＆B、Funky、民谣、电子、布鲁斯摇滚等多次乐风的变化，简直让人眼花缭乱。
 
在政治上他从早年的保守党支持者摇身变为工党狂热分子，从70年代的朋克愤怒青年到90年代的具有浓厚的自省色彩的摇滚浪人，在不断的变变变中走过一条曲折并深具典型意义的人生轨迹。从荣耀到沉沦，再从沉沦到荣耀，Paul Weller完成了从愤怒的摇滚青年到成熟的摇滚大师的蜕变。
 
从1976年迄今，Paul Weller刚好走过了四分之一世纪的发展历程，其间可以清晰地分为The Jam、Style Council、个人发展3个阶段。
 
1976年，Paul Weller和吉他手Steve Brooks(当年离队)、贝司手Bruce Foxton、鼓手Rick Buckler组建了The Jam乐队，随即汇入由The Sex Pistols引发的英国朋克浪潮，但与The Sex Pistols的街头无产者形象大异其趣，The Jam时髦光鲜的发型装束以及对演奏设备、技术的讲究，使他们看上去与朋克的原型迥然不同。但这似乎并不妨碍他们在次年推出的充满攻击性的首张专辑《In The City》(在城市里)赢得《The Rolling Stones》杂志给予的4星好评。The Jam在朋克运动沸腾的时刻站到了摇滚的乐坛的最前沿。
 
随后的《This Is The Modern World》(摩登世界，1977)、《All Mod Cons》(所有时髦的反面，1978)、《Setting Sons》(安排儿孙，1979)、《Sound Affects》(声音效果，1980)、《The Gift》(礼物，1982)，一连6张专辑均获得了商业上的成功。在使朋克乐从街头的地下文化发展为一种时髦的流行文化的过程中，The Jam起了很大的作用。1982年底，The Jam在推出一张现场录音精选唱片《Dig The New Breed》(发掘新品种)之后宣告解散。
 
Paul Weller的对于以后英国吉他摇滚的影响以及自身那十足的魅力能够让他在历史上与Lennon, Harrison等并肩。The Style Council时Jazz曲风结合Pop旋律，好听得完全让你无法想像，他和The Jam里的Paul Weller同一个人！于90年代仍然能焕发出的老而弥坚的音乐感染力。但最吸引人的恐怕还是The Jam时期的张张经典。
 
一颗永远不老的心，一头永远亮顺的mod短发，一套瘦身并稍小的西装，伴随着一把充满磁性的好嗓。谁与争峰？
 
As the leader of the Jam, Paul Weller fronted the most popular British band of the punk era, influencing legions of English rockers that ranged from his mod revival contemporaries to the Smiths in the '80s and Oasis in the '90s. During the final days of the Jam, he developed a fascination with Motown and soul, which led him to form the sophisti-pop group the Style Council in 1983. As the Style Council's career progressed, Weller's interest in soul developed into an infatuation with jazz-pop and house music, which eventually led to gradual erosion of his audience — by 1990, he couldn't get a record contract in the U.K., where he had previously been worshipped as a demigod. As a solo artist, Weller returned to soul music as an inspiration, cutting it with the progressive, hippie tendencies of Traffic. Weller's solo records were more organic and rootsier than the Style Council's, which helped him regain his popularity within Britain. By the mid-'90s, he had released three successful albums that were both critically acclaimed and massively popular in England, where contemporary bands like Ocean Colour Scene were citing him as an influence. Just as importantly, many observers, while occasionally criticizing the trad rock nature of his music, acknowledged that Weller was one of the few rock veterans who had managed to stay vital within the second decade of his career.
 
Weller's climb back to the top of the charts was not easy. After Polydor rejected the Style Council's fifth, house-influenced album in 1989, Weller broke up the group and lost both his record contract and his publishing deal. Over the next two years, he was in seclusion as he revamped his music. In 1991, he formed the Paul Weller Movement and released &Into Tomorrow& on his own independent label, Freedom High Records. A soulful, gritty neo-psychedelic song that represented a clear break from the Style Council, &Into Tomorrow& reached the U.K. Top 40 that spring, and he supported the single with an international tour, where he worked out the material that comprised his eponymous 1992 solo debut. Recorded with producer Brendan Lynch, Paul Weller was a joyous, soulful return to form that was recorded with several members of the Young Disciples, former Blow Monkey Dr. Robert, and Weller's then-wife, Dee C. Lee. The album debuted at number eight on the U.K. charts, and was received with positive reviews.
 
Wild Wood, Weller's second solo album, confirmed that the success of his solo debut was no fluke. Recorded with Ocean Colour Scene guitarist Steve Cradock, Wild Wood was a more eclectic and ambitious effort than its predecessor, and it was greeted with enthusiastic reviews, and entered the charts at number two upon its fall 1993 release. The album would win the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection the following year. Weller supported the album with an extensive tour that featured Cradock as the group's leader; the guitarist's exposure on Wild Wood helped him successfully relaunch Ocean Colour Scene in 1995. At the end of the tour, Weller released the live album Live Wood late in 1994. Preceded by &The Changingman,& which became his 17th Top Ten hit, 1995's Stanley Road was his most successful album since the Jam, entering the charts at number one and eventually selling nearly a million copies in the U.K.
 
By this point, Weller decided to stop attempting to break the United States and canceled his North American tour. Of course, he was doing so well in the England he didn't need to set his sights outside of the U.K.. Stanley Road may have been greeted with mixed reviews, but Weller had been re-elevated to his status as an idol, with the press claiming that he was the father of the thriving Britpop movement, and artists like Noel Gallagher of Oasis singing his praises. In fact, while neither artist released a new album in 1996, Weller's and Gallagher's influence was felt throughout the British music scene, as roots-oriented, '60s bands like Ocean Colour Scene, Cast, and Kula Shaker became the most popular groups in the U.K.
 
Weller returned in the summer of 1997 with Heavy Soul. Modern Classics: Greatest Hits followed a year later. Heliocentric — which at the time of its release he claimed was his final studio effort — appeared in the spring of 2000. The live record Days of Speed followed in 2001, and he released his sixth studio album, Illumination, in 2002. The covers record Studio 150 appeared in 2004. As Is Now arrived in October of 2005 on Yep Roc. The live album Catch-Flame! followed in 2006.