22 Dreams

More than 30 years into his career, Paul Weller has made his most varied and surprising album. He's made plenty of good and even great records in the past, with the Jam, the Style Council and on his own, but 22 Dreams is really something unique in his catalog, and it's refreshing to hear him changing the script like this so late in the game. The album's 21 tracks (dream #22 is a story by Simon Armitage, included in the CD booklet) simultaneously introduce a host of new ideas to Weller's music and play like a microcosm of his career and musical life, ranging from crunching rock to piano ba llads and truly dream-like psychedelia. It may be his finest solo effort, and easily hangs with its closest contenders, 1997's Heavy Soul and 1993's Wild Wood.

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