Weller has released a four CD box set with all 67 of his singles with The Jam, The Style Council and as a solo artist. For everyone's Christmas present list there's this 23 hit single version, which evenly represents each period of Weller's career. Remarkably, it is the first one to do so.
This is what a Best Of is all about - a collection that makes you exclaim "blimey", in case you realise you've forgotten what incredible tunes the man has churned out over the years.
All throughout the style changes - the punk mod-revivalists The Jam, the quintessentially eighties The Style Council, to the comfortable middle-aged mellowness of his solo work, the songwriting never faltered.
From listening to The Jam again, it's clear that Weller is an artist that absorbs his influences, proudly displays them, and in most cases, improves on them. All classics present and correct here - including 'Start!', 'Eton Rifles' and 'Down In The Tube Station At Midnight'.
Hotel Rwanda - Soundtracks
The true-life account of Rwandan hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) and his courageous efforts to shield a thousand refugees from the genocide that swept his country in 1994 features a soundtrack that evokes both a range of rich African musical traditions and the horror of ancient tribal tensions pushed to a murderous breaking point. Afro Celt Sound System's "Mama Ararira" medley sets the tense, haunting dramatic tone, while a pair of contributions from group vocalist Dorothea Munyaneza underscore the innocent humanity at the heart of the tragedy. Elsewhere, South Africa's Yvonne Chaka Chaka offers up a lively homage to African beer, while the solo voice and guitar of Uganda's Bernard Kabanda detail a "Voyage to Europe." Offering a tasteful bridge to Western tastes is the rich, Golden Globe-nominated ballad "Million Voices" by the Fugees' Wyclef Jean as well as strong contributions from megastar writer/producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (Debroah Cox's lament "Nobody Cares," the wistful "Ne Me Laisse Pas Seule Ici" ["Don't Leave Me Here By Myself"]). Equally disparate, the film's underscore cements it all into a compelling whole via the dark electro-atmospherics of Rupert Gregson-Williams and Andrea Guerra's melancholia-charged orchestral cues
Stereophonics - Performance & Cocktails
Seems it was only yesterday when every Brit band sounded like Oasis. Then they all turned to Radiohead. Now there's Stereophonics, who sound like Oasis trying to be Radiohead. This Welsh power trio delivers the instantly comprehensible, inherently nostalgic rockin' pop tunes of the brothers Gallagher while piling on the heavy guitars and vocal angst of Thom Yorke. Their second CD packs a few secondhand pleasures: Once you get past the initial ham-fisted, noisy bits, Performance and Cocktails settles into comfortably passionate rock melodicism. Songs of suicidal strippers ("She Takes Her Clothes Off") and homicidal hitchhikers ("I Stopped to Fill My Car Up") get the job done with appropriately downbeat catchiness. But does America need a dumbed-down Radiohead with Oasis bravado? Stereophonics are as useful as a fake-plastic wonderwall.
Eels - Beautiful Morning
Oh What a Beautiful Morning, Eels' only officially commissioned live disc, gives E's loyal fan base a little taste of what a concert is like, as their touring for the previous album, Daisies of the Galaxy, was very sparse. The album compiles performances from all around the world, mainly taking selections from shows in Los Angeles and Glasgow, as well as a few of E's solo dates opening up for Fionna Apple. Highlights are numerous, including several covers (as can normally be found in an Eels set) like the Rodgers & Hammerstein title track and the truly haunting version of "Feeling Good," as well as an overture of previous album favorites, including Beautiful Freak gems like "Rags to Rags," "Flower," and "Novocaine for the Soul," and songs that have previously only been available on U.K. singles. E is joined by drummer Butch Norton and Lisa Germano taking care of bass duties. Germano does an excellent job of filling the void left by Tommy Walter, who left the band after Electro-Shock Blues. This is a necessary album for any fan of the Eels, and is certainly worth the time that one would spend finding this limited-edition treasure. Butch's comical take on the U.K.'s water faucet issues on "Hot and Cold" could be worth the price of the CD alone, and certainly is indicative of the lively and lighthearted antics of the Eels concert experience.
Bob Seger - Noah
For reasons never entirely explained, Bob Seger suffered a bit of a breakdown shortly after Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, so he decided to bring Tom Neme, a guitarist/pianist, into the Bob Seger System to help lighten the load and share the burden. Thing is, Neme wound up taking over the band. It's hard to tell whether Seger endorsed his mutiny or if he was just so disinterested that he didn't put up a fight, but all the same, the second Seger album, Noah, is one strange affair. The band makes no secret of the change, stating on the back cover that "Seger will always be Bob Seger, (but) any change must come from the System and Tom Neme." So, the liner notes seem like a way to gloss over a real lack of leadership or a coup, depending on your point of view. This release holds together better than it would seem, but it's still an awkward album that's never sure where it wants to go. Ironically, Neme tries to replicate Seger's hard-driving rock songs several times throughout the album while Seger sounds more comfortable with the folky shuffle of the title track. Of course, he can still tear it up with "Innervenus Eyes," and he delves deeper into darkness than he ever has with the weirdly intense, claustrophobic closer, "Death Row." No matter how good these individual cuts may be -- and they're certainly worth the time of any devoted fan -- they still are isolated moments on the only album where he sounds tentative, confused, and disinterested. In other words, the only album where Seger doesn't seem like he'll always be Seger.
Beatles - Love
'Love' is a fascinating reworking of numerous classic Beatles recordings by the band’s original producer, Sir George Martin and his son Giles. The result is an astonishing album that reinforces the timeless quality of the group's recordings; fans will have hours of fun enjoying the roller coaster experience of listening to the album whilst trying to spot where all the pieces of music come from. 'Love' is an astonishing album that pushes back the boundaries of recorded music and can only add to the enduring legacy of the Beatles.