Tracks
1. Sunflower
2. Can You Heal Us (Holy Man)
3. Wild Wood
4. Instrumental One (Part 1)
5. All The Pictures On The Wall
6. Has My Fire Really Gone Out?
7. Country
8. Instrumental Two
9. 5th Season
10. The Weaver
11. Instrumental One (Part 2)
12. Foot Of The Mountain
13. Shadow Of The Sun
14. Holy Man (Reprise)
15. Moon On Your Pyjamas
16. Hung Up
Performer Notes
- Personnel: Paul Weller (vocals, guitar, strings, harmonica, piano, Hammond organ, Mellotron, Moog, bass, percussion); Steve Craddock, Robert Howard, Dave Liddle (guitar); Jacko Peake (flute, horns); Helen Turner (organ); Mick Talbot (Hammond organ); Max Beesley (Wurlitzer, percussion, background vocals); Brendan Lynch (MiniMoog, Mellotron, Stylophone, percussion); Marco Nelson (bass, background vocals); Yolanda Charles (bass); Steve White (drums); Dee C. Lee, Simon Fowler (background vocals).
- Recorded at The Manor, Oxford, England from April to May, 1993.
- Composer: Paul Weller.
- Personnel: Paul Weller (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, harp, tamboura, strings, piano, Wurlitzer organ, Mellotron, keyboards, Moog synthesizer, hand claps, percussion); Marco Nelson (vocals, guitar, piano, Mellotron, bass guitar); Maxton G. Beesley, Jr. (vocals, Wurlitzer organ, hand claps, background vocals); Dee C. Lee (vocals, drums, background vocals); Simon Fowler (vocals, background vocals); Robert Howard (guitar, acoustic guitar); David Liddle, Steve Cradock (guitar); Jacko Peake (flute, horns); Helen Turner (organ); Brendan Lynch (Mellotron, mini-Moog synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, hand claps, percussion); Steve White (drums, percussion).
- Audio Mixers: Martin "Max" Heyes; Brendan Lynch.
- Recording information: Manor Studios, Oxfordshire, England (04/1993-05/1993); The Manor, Ozford, England (04/1993-05/1993).
- Photographer: Lawrence Watson.
- Arrangers: Paul Weller; Brendan Lynch.
- Arguably Weller's best solo album, and certainly the one where all his influences first congealed into something uniquely his own. WILD WOOD's template would once again seem to be Traffic--Weller's surprisingly soulful vocals most often recall a gruffer version of Steve Winood, and there's even a jazz flute in the concluding "Holy Man" jam. Weller's songs however, are not so easily pigeonholed; an achingly beautiful acoustic ballad like "Country," for example, owes a stylistic debt to no one except its composer.
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (10/20/94, p.146) - 3.5 Stars - Good - "...Resolutely pre-punk in its spirit, this album gives retrochic an unexpected twist. With its echoes of vintage Traffic...WILD WOOD could have been recorded in 1970..."
Entertainment Weekly (5/27/94, p.88) - "...pits the gruff-punk charge of the band against the refinement and musicality of his later group, the genre-hopping Style Council....It's a record full of intricate nooks and crannies that begs for exploration...." - Rating: A-
Q (12/99, p.76) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s."
Q (6/00, p.63) - Ranked #77 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" - "A warm, raw, uplifting but endlessly self-questioning record....this is the sound of an artist finding a more emotional voice..."
Q (7/00, p.141) - Included in Q's "The Best Male Angst Albums Of All Time"
Q (1/94, p.86) - Included in Q's list of `The 50 Best Albums Of 1993' - "...showcases an artist maturing before our very eyes..."
Q (p.133) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[A] change of direction that both demonstrated a new maturity and ushered in the whole '90s trad-rock boom."
Uncut (p.116) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "WILD WOOD still smells fresh as newly cut pine. 'Country' steals redemption from despair in three minutes..."
Stereo Review (7/94, p.86) - Performance: Extraordinary / Recording: Good - "...Weller has always possessed the uncanny ability to interlace the personal with the political, crafting lyrics that can be read on both levels. But it is as a musical force that Weller looms most impressively on WILD WOOD..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.121) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "WILD WOOD remains Paul Weller's most exquisitely balanced album, with soul stirrings, pastoral folk-rock vibes and stinging REVOLVER guitars dissolving into an elegant and exciting sonic hybrid."
Record Collector (magazine) (pp.98-99) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The album still sounds like a man having fun, which is infectious. 'Hung Up' remains a great lost single..."
