Paul Weller’s New Live Compilation Is Dazzling » PopMatters

Paul Weller may be something of a cult artist in the United States, but in his native UK and across Europe, he’s a well-deserved living legend. As a founding member of the Jam in the 1970s and the Style Council in the 1980s, he has taken listeners on a journey through punk, soul, jazz, folk, and whatever other styles he likes to try. Live settings are a great way to experience Weller’s music, usually because they put his electrifying on-stage presence on full display, allow him to cherry-pick some of the best songs from his long and varied career, and give him a chance to test out unique and surprising covers. Weller at the BBC, Vol. 2 accomplishes all of this in spades.

While Weller at the BBC was released in 2008 and covered the years 1990 to 2008, this new set of recordings from BBC studios continues that concept by covering BBC radio sessions from 2008 to 2024. Weller has always been a prolific recording artist, particularly in his eclectic solo career (beginning with this self-titled debut album in 1992). While songs from his entire solo career, as well as a small smattering of Jam and Style Council songs, are represented here, the emphasis seems to be on the last 15 to 20 years. Over this period, Weller has broadened his musical palette to include healthy doses of experimental stylings, as well as earnest, beautifully executed nods toward folk and the odd orchestral touch.

There’s distinct acoustic leanings to songs like the gentle “Gravity”, the string-tinged “White Horses”, and the aching balladry of “Burn Out”. Even “Woo Se Mama”, a funky barnburner that originally appeared on Weller’s 2017 album A Kind Revolution, gets a warm “unplugged” treatment that nevertheless retains the power of the studio version.

Despite the often-intimate surroundings of BBC recordings, Weller and his crack band aren’t immune to tearing things up, as they do on rip-roaring versions of “From the Floorboards Up”, “Wake Up the Nation”, and “The Attic”, full of guitar fury and the piss and vinegar Weller’s been known for since his Jam days. While he began earnestly reconnecting with the music of his former bands as far back as his 2001 live album Days of Speed, this time around, Weller prefers to focus on the more recent past, as a relatively small sample of songs from the Jam (“Start!”, “Boy About Town”, “The Eton Rifles”) and the Style Council (“Shout to the Top”, “Have You Ever Had It Blue”, “My Ever Changing Moods”) are featured here.

Weller is also no stranger to cover songs, peppering setlists with them and even releasing two covers albums over the years (Studio 150 from 2003, and last year’s Find El Dorado). Therefore, it’s not surprising to see a wide variety of covers on Weller at the BBC, Vol, 2, including a gorgeous, ethereal version of Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For”, an intimate, acoustic take on the Zombies’ iconic “Time of the Season”, and beautifully arranged versions of the Kinks’ “Days” and Eddie Floyd’s soulful “I’ve Never Found a Girl (Who Loves Me Like You Do)”.

These covers are a testament not only to Weller’s sterling, open-minded musical tastes, but also to the ability of he and his band to move seamlessly through so many different genres and make them completely their own.

Fans looking for a jukebox collection of “Paul Weller’s Greatest Hits Through the Years” might be disappointed by the emphasis Weller places on newer material here, but that’s exactly the point. He’s an artist who doesn’t mind the occasional glance at the rearview mirror, but prefers to look forward, and Weller at the BBC Vol. 2 is all the proof you need that Paul Weller is still a fiery, intense live act, and continues to be a vital songwriter who’s still as relevant as ever.