Paul Weller, Sonik Kicks

Sonik Kicks (as suggested by the title) starts off with a very electronic beat, which I believe will become the basis of the entire album. I am wrong. This is anything but an electronic album, as it has various elements of pop mixed in with rock and who knows what else. Some songs (based on music only) remind me of Ricky Martin, while others (based on vocals only) remind me of Blue October. Based solely on lyrics, this could be a David Bowie album. It has that kind of overall feel to it. Musically, from song to song it changes, but there is always a consistent beat, strong vocals, and usually techno bleeps in the background.

This album honestly grabbed my attention because I mistakenly thought that the artist was Peter Weller instead of Paul Weller. I thought about how cool it might be to hear Robocop record an album, because, after all, he was also Buckaroo Banzai. [Ed. Note: Dude. Do I really have to lend you my Jam albums?]

But as I think more about this — and about just who Paul Weller is — the only thing that really comes to mind, for some reason, is Phil Collins. And no, I don’t mean that this album sounds like Phil Collins, or even Genesis, really. But when Phil Collins first put out solo albums, and people listened to them and had their minds blown in certain ways, that’s what I think this is like. When I was younger (much younger), listening to “I Can’t Dance” for the first time (a song which has no real basis of comparison for any other song on here), I went out and bought the cassette single and played it until it ceased to work.

I imagine some young music listener putting on this Paul Weller album and feeling the same way. Does that make any sense to anyone? Because this album isn’t the easiest album to draw comparisons to, honestly.