Paul Weller - Into Tomorrow

Fab in-depth profile narrated by Weller himself

“He was a lovely little boy… except when he painted the cat,” recounts Ann Weller, mum of Paul, in this superb documentary. It charts her son’s musical career, from early days in The Jam, through The Style Council years to the present day and 2005’s As Is Now, of which he says, “If I don’t ever make any more records, then I’ll be quite happy if that’s my epitaph.”

Mum and dad John, provide a glimpse into Paul’s childhood: playing cowboys and Indians in the woods with dad on a Sunday morning; getting suspended from school for stealing the weather vane cockerel off the roof; getting his first guitar aged 12. Jam co-founders Steve Brookes and Bruce Foxton discuss the group, the latter reliving both the hello and painful goodbye, the former playing a rare acetate of their 1973 Chuck Berry-inspired Making My Way Back Home.

Dee C Lee, Mick Talbot, Steve White and fan Boy George give valuable insight into TSC, while Noel Gallagher praises Weller’s solo career. Throughout there is superb archive footage, including The Jam having a pie fight on Tiswas and Margaret Thatcher’s dismissal of TSC’s It Didn’t Matter on Saturday Superstore.

Universal | cat no tbc

Reviewed by Lois Wilson
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