A Thousand Things
by Paul Weller

Wonderful photos with insightful essay from Weller

“I’m casting my mind back, trying to conjure up images of a bygone era. But they are more like flashes – blinding Instamatic pictures. Flash! Blink and you’ll miss it,” writes Weller in the foreword to this truly spectacular picture book. It doubles as a deeply personal family photo album and the story of Weller’s musical career from The Jam to the present day, through snaps taken by everyone from his mum and dad, to notable lens-people Pennie Smith, Peter Anderson, Lawrence Watson and Nick Knight.

You’ll have seen some photos before, some are outtakes from famous shoots, others newly published, but all give important glimpses: of the eager youth dreaming the impossible dream at Michael’s Nightclub in 1975; the energetic evangelist at The Jam’s height in 1980; the hepcat in Paris; the political activist with Jerry Dammers and Jon Moss on the Red Wedge tour; the excitable music fan grinning from ear-to-ear at the recording of Come Together with Paul McCartney (“It was pure fantasy,” he says). The book also reprints artwork, adverts, badges, magazine articles, covers and “Jam shoes”! It’s just a shame that there are only 2,000 and it’s so damned expensive. You can get it through www.genesis-publications.com.

Reviewed by Lois Wilson
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