Wild Wood

PAUL WELLER: Wild Wood (Go! Discs)

PAUL WELLER is one of those guys (Joe Strummer, Johnny Marr and Pete Shelley are three others) with a name so big it dwarfs everything he does. Size may not be important but constant measurement is enough to ruin any career.

Nevertheless, the first thing to do here is to forget that either The Jam or The Style Council ever existed for the simple reason that this seems to be precisely what Paul Weller himself has done. The second thing to do is to forget that two years ago Weller made an eponymously-titled solo debut for the simple reason that, well, it was crap.

Come to this album cold and you'll be able to see the Wild Wood for the trees. This is a low key collection of high quality pop songs. Nothing more but certainly nothing less.

Paul being Paul, the mood and tone are stil anchored firmly in the early seventies. But the melodies themselves are timeless. Say what you like about Weller, he can still knock out a canny, catchy chorus from the most basic of materials and that voice can still transform every line into a veritable aria.

Top of the pops here include the irresistible 'Can You Heal Us (Holy Man)', the acoustic-tinged 'All The Pictures On The Wall' and the coosome, bluesome title track.

Lyrically, the concerns couldn't be further removed from what happens down in a tube station at midnight. Most of the time you get the impression that Weller is lazing back on a hammock strumming chirpy ditties to himself about beautiful landscapes.

However, amid the pastoral tranquility (the track listing features such picture postcard songtitles as 'Sunflower', 'Country' and 'Shadow Of The Sun') there are occasional bursts of aural psychedelia and even the odd flash of the old nostril-flared aggression. But none of this is ever really allowed to usurp the overall feeling of peace, goodwill and harmony.

Wild Wood is not going to solve any of the arguments about Paul Weller. Those who feel that he's long ago sold out will find nothing in its grooves with which to hail the revolutionary's return. The rest of us, however, can put our feet up and enjoy listening to a master craftsman quietly doing what he does best. Take the scenic route.

• Liam Fay