“How did this not get on the album?!” Just one of many musings from Paul Weller when selecting tracks for his eagerly-awaited forthcoming B-sides and rarities album Will Of The People.
Handpicked by Paul himself, Will of The People is a carefully curated collection of 31 tracks from Weller’s extensive cornucopia of tunes that never quite made it to one of his 9 studio albums since 2002. Here is a collection which reminds us that there has always been a parallel narrative to the main recorded output of Paul’s albums and singles. The B-Side, and the remix, is a space in which to explore, experiment, or to flex a different set of artistic muscles.
The story begins back in the autumn of 2003, when the Fly On The Wall 3LP & 3CD collection brought together a wealth of Paul Weller solo recordings that stretched back to 1991. The B-sides, 12” EP tracks, single remixes and ‘live’ recordings featured all had one thing in common, namely that they hadn’t been included on any of his hugely successful solo albums. Furthermore, in many instances, they’d become highly sought after in their original formats and were fetching significant sums from fans and collectors. Will Of The People follows up Fly On The Wall and takes the listener through a similar mix of rarities, this time spanning the period 2002 to 2021.
From covers to eclectic remixes, Will Of The People delivers a scintillating array of songs which skirt across many genres. Here you will find such gems as Paul’s cover of The Beatle’s “Birthday”, released to celebrate Macca’s 70th, and the sparkling disco-ball banger remix of Cosmic Fringes by none other than the Pet Shop Boys. It also includes Paul’s first foray into film soundtracks with the sublime “Ballad Of Jimmy McCabe” from the film Jawbone. Scattered across the tracks are appearances from the likes of Primal Scream, Simon Tong & Graham Coxon.
Will Of The People is released on triple vinyl, 3CD and digitally. The album features sleeve notes written by writer and broadcaster John Wilson.
Preceding this will be a digital only EP entitled the Whoosh EP, available from 29nd September. This features 4 unreleased tracks including a demo of a track Paul wrote with Noel Gallagher for The Monkees last album.
Tracks on the Whoosh EP are:
- Paul Weller & Noel Gallagher – Birth of an Accidental Hipster
- Paul Weller – Room 309
- Paul Weller – Be Happy Children (demo)
- Paul Weller – Whoosh
