MI Pro

With a brand new album, 22 Dreams, about to hit the high street around now having already garnered critical acclaim by the lorry load, Paul Weller's creative muse is obviously back running at peak levels.

22 Dreams is marked by Weller's deliberate move towards a more eclectic, organic style of writing and recording. With long time PW sideman, Steve Cradock helping out on writing, recording and playing many different instruments on the album's songs alongside the Modfather, there's a more relaxed 'if this works, it works' overall vibe guiding the latest songs from one of the senior statesman of rock in the UK.

In fact, the mood of 22 Dreams is strongly reminiscent of an equally landmark album in Paul Weller's career. After a prolonged spell in the commercial doldrums in the early nineties, Wild Wood marked a blistering return to form, with its title track's fateful and reflective 'Knowing...just where you're going' lyrical take on life's often erratic path, which Weller himself was certainly experiencing at the time.

Many of the songs on Wild Wood, Paul Weller's second solo album after The Jam and The Style Council, were conceived on Paul's sunburst Ovation Legend, a guitar which he often used even while in The Jam, and which was used on classic songs like 'That's Entertainment' and 'Liza Radley'. It even made the Wild Wood cover sleeve photography.

An important guitar for him, the Ovation was retired after a few too many world tours took their toll on the instrument. However, during the early sessions for what would become 22 Dreams at Paul's Surrey-based Black Barn studios, Paul took delivery of a couple of new Ovations, a 1771LX-4 USA Ovation LX Standard Balladeer in natural finish, and a Korean CES24-2TB Ovation Celebrity in Tobacco Burst. Paul quickly started to make use of the Balladeer during the sessions for 22 Dreams in Black Barn - even in the kitchen, which is where the ideas for all the best songs happen, of course!

"I wrote most of the early solo stuff on an Ovation I had at the Barn, so I'm trying out an Ovation again," comments Paul. Sounds like the results were worth waiting for.

Ovation instruments and accessories are distributed in the UK and Ireland by John Hornby Skewes & Co.