release date: May 9, 2000
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Paul Weller, Brendan Lynch
label: Island Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "He's the Keeper" - 2. "Frightened" - 3. "Sweet Pea, My Sweet Pea" - 6. "Dust and Rocks" - 7. "There's No Drinking, After You're Dead" (live)
5th studio album by Paul Weller is his fifth consecutive album but also final to be co-produced with Brendan Lynch. Weller sticks to a formula he found useful when making the fine Wild Wood (1993) using a familiar bunch of musicians who has been selected for studio and live recordings ever since.
Heliocentric is a bit more polished without that clear direction, and also without the same immediate energy and originality as found on the '93 album. Weller is a fine songwriter, a skilled craftsman, a that's basically what hold this together and just prevents it from being a lesser release. It may not contain obvious great standouts, although, on the other hand, it doesn't present anything mediocre. It's like Weller looking in his pockets, dragging up... pocket wool, a mixed bag of something familiar sounding, perhaps a few second hand hooks, but still establishing himself with his latest product. Despite being slightly better than the predecessor Heavy Soul (1997), I'm not fully entertained with this and would not recommend it as a starting point if you're unfamiliar with the music by Paul Weller. The album is Weller's most recent studio release after divorcing Dee C. Lee in 1998 - the two married in 1987, at the heights of The Style Council, and rumours suggest that Lee found his drinking habits incompatible with their family-hood of raising two kids.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, NME 4 / 5 stars ]
