Paul Weller by Paul Weller

Paul Weller is Paul Weller's first solo album, released in 1992. After disbanding The Style Council and leaving label Polydor in 1989, Weller formed The Paul Weller Movement in 1990, releasing a single, "Into Tomorrow", on his own Freedom High record label, in October 1991. Its success - reaching #36 in the UK chart - led to Weller being offered a new record deal with Go! Discs, and the resulting album was released on 1 September 1992, reaching #8 on the UK album chart. Before the UK-edition of the album, it had already been released in Japan on 29 April 1992. The track listing differs from subsequent releases, and the running order is altered. The track "New Thing" (a different recording of "Here's a New Thing" from the "Into Tomorrow" single) was replaced by "The Strange Museum" on all other versions. Until 2009, "New Thing" was unique to this release. In addition to "Into Tomorrow", included on the album, two further singles were released from the album - "Uh Huh Oh Yeh", on 15 August 1992, reaching #18, and "Above The Clouds" on 10 October 1992, reaching #47. The album represents something of a return to Weller's 'roots', with "Into Tomorrow" and "Uh Huh Oh Yeh", in particular being heavily influenced by 60s R&B. "'Uh Huh Oh Yeh' – and, after it, the Stanley Road album – was me revisiting my roots," he said. "I hadn't been down to Woking in a long time. That was the first time, in the early '90s, when I was finding my feet again." The album as a whole retained some of the funk influences displayed by The Style Council, particularly on "I Didn't Mean To Hurt You" and "Remember How We Started". Tellingly, however, the political leanings of The Style Council are - explicitly at least - abandoned; the lyrical themes visited on the album being much more personal. A Deluxe Edition of the album was released on 26 October 2009 and reached #88 in the UK Album Chart.