Paul Weller

When The Jam got too popular, Paul Weller broke up the venerated band and formed The Style Council. When The Style Council got too popular, Weller broke up that only slightly less venerated band and went solo. When Weller became too popular as a solo artist… Well, that never happened. He’s still a national treasure in England, though, and Weller has stayed true, more or less, to the agitated punk sound that he created with The Jam, and to his original start as a chronicler of working-class malaise and writer of teenage anthems. His new Sonik Kicks caps off a trio of restless albums on which the British traditionalist pushes himself into new territory, while remaining firmly in form on churning post-punk tracks like “Dragonfly.”

Updated 05/04/2012