Wild Wood

Wild Wood

Nothing prepared fans for quite such a return to form from Paul Weller. The mood was autobiographical, most notably on "Has My Fire Really Gone Out" and on the title track--both of which dealt with the writer's block that plagued Weller after the Style Council. And yet <I>Wild Wood</I> is anything but morose. Flutes and sun-dazed guitars create pastoral moods. "Shadow of the Sun" takes stock of youthful idealism and finds wisdom of years, and "Sunflower" is a superlative burst of psychedelic power pop. But it's the instrumental passages and interconnecting refrains that truly reveal their author's attention to detail and give <I>Wild Wood</I> an edge over the rest of his solo material. <I>--Peter Paphides</I>