Polydor Fat Pop (Volume 1) [VINYL]

16th solo studio album by the English singer-songwriter, released just under twelve months after June 2020's chart-topping 'On Sunset'. During the spring of 2020, after his tour dates were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Paul Weller needed something else to focus on. With many ideas for new songs stored on his phone, he started to record them on his own with just vocals, piano and guitar, which he'd send to his core band members (drummer Ben Gordelier, Steve Cradock on guitar and bassist Andy Crofts) to add their parts. Despite it being strange not being together, it kept the wheels rolling and sanity prevailing. The band reconvened at Weller's Black Barn studio in Surrey when restrictions were lifted to finish the work with the shape of the album becoming clear to all. 'Fat Pop (Volume 1)' - Paul adding the 'Volume 1' to keep options open for a second volume in the future - is a diverse selection of sounds. No one style dominates. There's the synth-heavy, future-wave strut of 'Cosmic Fringes', the stately balladeering of 'Still Glides the Stream' (co-written with Cradock), the chunky percussive groove of 'Moving Canvas' (a tribute to Iggy Pop no less), and the kind of dramatic immediate pop symphonies on 'Failed', 'True' and 'Shades of Blue' with which Paul Weller has hooked in generation after generation of devotee. As ever, 'Fat Pop' sees a number of guests contributing including Lia Metcalfe, the young Liverpudlian singer with The Mysterines who combines her tremendous vocal as well as a song writing credit to 'True'. Andy Fairweather Low adds his distinctive vocals to superfly strutting 'Testify' and Paul's daughter Leah co-wrote and features on the classic 3 minute pop kitchen sink drama 'Shades of Blue', which is the first single taken from the album. Hannah Peel is back in the fray adding her classic string scores to 'Cobweb Connections' and 'Still Glides the Stream'. This box set edition includes a second disc which features ten live tracks taken from Weller's 2020 concert at Mid-Sömmer Musik in London, and a third disc featuring six additional bonus tracks.