Paul Weller | Lost in a Wide Open Field

Paul Weller and his various incarnations has provided the musical background to my adult life. It’s not to say I enjoy everything he produces, far from it, I just have a deep respect for the manner in which he keeps an authentic approach to music. His integrity and development of his craft makes him a standout artist from the fag end of the 70s. Judging from the fan bash tonight I can see a yearning for the glory hits of the Jam and Style Council, I get that, but he is often at his best when he and his band loosen up with many of his later releases. In my considerations he is simply my generation’s Ray Davies.

“In the city there’s a thousand things I want to say to you, but whenever I approach you, you make me look a fool. I wanna say, I wanna tell you about the young ideas, but you turn them into fears. In the city there’s a thousand faces all shining bright and those golden faces are under 25. They wanna say, they gonna tell ya about the young idea. You better listen now you’ve said your bit-a. And I know what you’re thinking. You’re sick of that kind of crap, but you’d better listen man because the kids know where it’s at. In the city there’s a thousand men in uniforms. And I’ve heard they now have the right to kill a man. We wanna say, we gonna tell ya about the young idea and if it don’t work, at least we still tried In the city, in the city. In the city there’s a thousand things I want to say to you.” John Paul Weller, In the City, 1977.