release date: Jul 25, 2025
format: digital (15 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]
producer: Steve Cradock
label: Parlophone - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Handouts in the Rain" - 2. "Small Town Talk" - 3. "El Dorado" - 4. "White Line Fever" - 8. "Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire" - 11. "Lawdy Rolla" - 12. "Nobody's Fool" - 15. "Clive's Song"
18th studio album by Paul Weller follows one year after the 'birthday album' 66 (May 2024). Mostly, Weller is an artist who release albums with self-made songs and compositions and this is one of those rare occasions where he has covered other artists. This way, it's only his second covers album - the first being Studio 150 (2004). The album has been met by critical acclaim and that's mostly what Weller meets at this mature stage of his long career, which started out with The Jam and its new wave and punk rock-styled In the City (1977). The Jam was filled to the brim with white energy and although, the band's six full-length studio albums reveal varied and continuous stylistic realization, the restrictions of the band's soundscape couldn't avoid a need to go in new stylistic directions, and Weller initiated what initially was a quite succesful stint with jazz-influenced pop soul and sophisti-pop in The Style Council in '83 but the project possibly turned out as a more confined field, so as of '92 Weller initiated a long and acclaimed solo career as one of Britain's most loved songwriters of a generation. His eighteen albums reveal an artist who has been all over the palette of contemporary rock - many times linked to old genres like soul and r&b and often labelled as britpop, to which he's regarded one of the forefathers. In recent years, he has found his own musical brew, a blend inspired by many styles and genres but mostly sounding very much like no one else, and that's also what he attempts here, although, the original songs come from distinct and differing genres. As far as I know, these are not well-documented and highly praised songs that he interprets, and that, you could argue, could make it easier to arrange the songs the way you feel like.
As said, the album garnered positive reviews but to me, it's not as good as all of his own recent six albums, and you have to go as far back in Weller's back catalogue and look up Sonik Kicks from 2012 to find an album that didn't really impress. Find El Dorado is miles from the mediocrity of that particular album - in fact it's actually more like an improved Studio 150, which wasn't that admirable. Perhaps, Weller's covers work better when played live?
I for one, don't agree with this being one of his better releases. It's clearly fine and Okay. Not great. Perhaps you just expect more from someone like Paul Weller and then perhaps the originals weren't great either but to say that Weller here puts so much more into forgotten material, is not quite in sync with my taste of this new collection. It is, however, the absolute best covers album by Paul Weller, but that doesn't really sell a lot of albums as the other one wasn't all that memorable. Find El Dorado is nevertheless a solid album, and perhaps over time, I will enjoy it more, but for now, I feel it's a wee bit overrated but also an album that contains really good music 'cause Weller is an artist who produces well-structured arrangements and knows how to make every word count. He has also arrived at a point in his career, and in life, where he understands to magnify details of almost any song to make it sound crisp and vital. In that way, the album undeniably has its moments and altogether it ranks as more than just a pretty consistent album.
[ allmusic.com, Record Collector, Mojo 4 / 5, 👍Classic Rock Magazine 3,5 / 5 stars ]
