Paul Weller Night

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:50 pm

Wow, anyone over here catch the stupendous Weller docu on BBC2 on Sunday? If you missed, seek out a repeat, or someone with a recording. Some great footage I hadn't seen before, with all Jam songs either from TOTP (only a couple), or mostly live. Weller playing excerpts from songs they'd reached in the story with no singing, but lyric excerpts on screen. Interviews with his mum (never seen before, looks a lt like Paul), and his familiar dad, plus Bruce Foxton (looks old!), Mick Talbot, DC Lee (so sad, Paul used to say 'We're too happy, we can't be this happy!'), Steve White. Made me reappraise the Style Council too, and Weller's braveness in going against everything he'd previously stood for. Candid interview with him running throughout. Lovely technique used of rostrum shots of photos, but where the camera would swing over the photo and seemingly isolate elements within it, creating something akin toa 3D effect. Brilliant. One hour, concise, interesting from start to finish. They followed it late on with the recent Roundhouse show that VG forewent to fuel his Keane addiction. You went to the wrong gig, mate. Looked really good. Ain't seen it all, though (is this where he plays Tubestation?)

I slag him for the dadrock thing (at least 50% if not 75% of his solo ouptut is just plain boring), but this programme showed what a truly inspirational figure he has been.

One measure of the originality of the programme was that when he talked about being influenced by Wire and Joy div at the time of Sound Affects, they showed some truly obscure footage of JD playing She's Lost Control, I think on So It Goes, the Tony Wilson Granada (I think) prog. Can't find this on YouTube, and it ain't on the 2CD bootleg compilation of JD that I have, so this was a real rare gem.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 5:27 pm

Enjoyed the documentary, thought it was very well done.

Just watched the concert, also very good. In the City and Down in ttsam were both done with guest vocalists (the singers from Dirty Pretty Things and Hard-fi respectively). Amy Winehouse also guested.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 6:08 pm

Saw Amy, must check out the rest. Stupidly I switched it off at about 11.50, decided to read the paper 5 more mins, and then it was 12.20 and I could have heard the whole sodding thing. Too much to read in the Sunday papers. Loved DC's line about no man ever spent longer in the bathroom and you couldn't buy him clothes! the doc also brought home how very beautiful he always was in the Jam/SC days. The ludicrous homoerotic punting video on my local river for Long Hot Summer is just hysterical, though.

cosmos · Post by **cosmos** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:29 am

I saw the Weller doc. Brilliant! I didn't know much about him before seeing it, but he's been elevated to "musical god" status in my book!!

Extreme Honey · Post by **Extreme Honey** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:36 pm

Holy crap you brits have the best TV shows ever! All we have in Canada is repetitive ads and voices that don't sound natural (not that I watch too much anyway - even when I went to London a few weeks ago).

Love Paul Weller and his recent efforts.

"You have never been there 'till you heard the fat girl sing
and nothing else matters everything just pales within"

verbal gymnastics · Post by **verbal gymnastics** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:23 am

It was a fantastic documentary and beautifully shot. Mrs VG just looked at me when DC Lee said about not being able to buy him clothes and said she knows what DC Lee meant.

I must admit, I never realised how Wire and Joy Division inspired The Jam.

I thought it was really funny when Paul looked at Steve Craddock for coming in too early on backing vocals on Tubestation.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:46 pm

Only thing is, he related that to Sound Affects, but I remember well that in the c. September '79 NME interview with Weller, when Setting Sons was due out, he talked about listening to Joy Division, and although he described them as very 'four square', he was impressed, and there was mention of their influence on Private Hell. Maybe that was the journalist's conjecture and it was more conscious on SA.