Paul Weller - As Is Now (2005) Japanese Edition

Posted By: Designol

Date: Feb. 16, 2022

As Is Now finds Weller plugging in, and turning the volume up louder than he has in years. The first single 'From The Floorboards Up' is out now and is 2 minutes 27 seconds of edgy, malevolent rock'n'roll. Possessing the same urgency In The City had 29 years ago, it shows Paul Weller rejuvenated - a livewire and firebrand ready to take on all comers on this, his eighth solo album.

If 2002's Illumination was a warm, laid-back record, Paul Weller's 2005 sequel, As Is Now – a likeable but unremarkable covers album, Studio 150, appeared in the interim – is its flip side, a lean, hard-hitting soulful rock & roll album. Not that Weller is returning to the sound of the Jam: he's still with the same band that he's been with since Wild Wood, anchored by drummer Steve White and featuring Ocean Colour Scene members guitarist Steve Cradock and bassist Damon Minghella, and he's working the same musical territory, grounded in Traffic, Humble Pie, '60s soul, and guitar pop. There may be absolutely no surprises here – even the change of pace "The Start of Forever" is reminiscent of many of his gentler folky tunes, echoing Illumination's mellow vibe – but for as familiar as As Is Now is, it never sounds lazy; it's a tighter, better record than most of his late-'90s albums. The closest antecedent to As Is Now in Weller's solo catalog is Heavy Soul. Like that 1997 effort, this is a straightforward, no-frills record, heavy on rockers and with few pretensions, but where that album could drift, this is focused and exciting, boasting a stronger set of songs and livelier performances, plus a greater variety of colors and textures in the production. Those subtle differences wind up making a huge difference in the overall effect of As Is Now – on the surface, it certainly sounds familiar to what came before, but thanks to Weller's muscular, memorable songs and musicianship, it stands apart as one of his more satisfying solo albums.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com

Paul Weller at Allmusic
Paul Weller at Wiki

Tracklist:

01. Blink And You'll Miss It (03:23)
02. Paper Smile (03:05)
03. Come On / Let's Go (03:16)
04. Here's The Good News (02:56)
05. The Start Of Forever (04:55)
06. Pan (02:26)
07. All On A Misty Morning (04:29)
08. From The Floor Boards Up (02:27)
09. I Wanna Make It Alright (03:38)
10. Savages (02:58)
11. Fly Little Bird (03:44)
12. Roll Along Summer (03:39)
13. Bring Back The Funk (Pts 1 & 2) (07:12)
14. The Pebble And The Boy (05:03)

Bonus tracks:
15. Oranges And Rosewater (03:03)
16. Shine On (04:08)

EAC log CD

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 25. May 2013, 20:29

Paul Weller / As Is Now

Used drive : TEAC DV-W516GD Adapter: 0 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
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14 | 48:19.03 | 5:33.07 | 217428 | 242409
15 | 53:52.10 | 3:04.05 | 242410 | 256214
16 | 56:56.15 | 4:08.03 | 256215 | 274817

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename D:\Temp\Paul Weller - As Is Now\Paul Weller - As Is Now.wav

Peak level 98.4 %
Extraction speed 2.4 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 3ED343B6
Copy CRC 3ED343B6
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

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Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [7A539575] (AR v1)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [A318B954] (AR v1)
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Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [D4AB4A65] (AR v1)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [B868458B] (AR v1)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [E4B59DF6] (AR v1)
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Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [8A59B45F] (AR v1)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [61154683] (AR v1)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [48C6D2FD] (AR v1)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [1BF3E232] (AR v1)
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Track 14 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [7BE7DB2F] (AR v1)
Track 15 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [7DA94DC4] (AR v1)
Track 16 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [C7A947F9] (AR v1)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.3

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[36d658b6] (2/2) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 862F8E2AE24625BAB488062B35EC8842E540C31B09DB7F3C33CAAC65A1F8ABBA ====

DR log CD

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2013-06-10 00:50:12

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Paul Weller / As Is Now
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR8 -0.14 dB -8.50 dB 3:24 01-Blink And You'll Miss It
DR8 -0.14 dB -9.31 dB 3:05 02-Paper Smile
DR8 -0.14 dB -8.77 dB 3:17 03-Come On / Let's Go
DR8 -0.14 dB -9.08 dB 2:57 04-Here's The Good News
DR7 -0.14 dB -9.43 dB 4:56 05-The Start Of Forever
DR9 -0.14 dB -11.99 dB 2:26 06-Pan
DR8 -0.13 dB -10.67 dB 4:31 07-All On A Misty Morning
DR7 -0.13 dB -8.37 dB 2:28 08-From The Floor Boards Up
DR7 -0.14 dB -9.29 dB 3:39 09-I Wanna Make It Alright
DR7 -0.14 dB -8.76 dB 2:58 10-Savages
DR7 -0.14 dB -9.24 dB 3:44 11-Fly Little Bird
DR7 -0.14 dB -8.36 dB 3:40 12-Roll Along Summer
DR7 -0.13 dB -8.07 dB 7:16 13-Bring Back The Funk (Pts 1 & 2)
DR10 -0.14 dB -14.12 dB 5:33 14-The Pebble And The Boy
DR8 -0.14 dB -12.31 dB 3:04 15-Oranges And Rosewater
DR7 -0.13 dB -7.98 dB 4:08 16-Shine On
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 16
Official DR value: DR8

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 918 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

All thanks to original releaser - vladaz

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