Paul Weller’s Other Aspects is certainly an understatement of a title. Live At The Royal Festival Hall comes from two October 2018 concerts the one-time titular leader of The Jam performed with an orchestra at the prestigious London venue. The second of the shows was recorded and filmed to feature upwards of twenty-four musicians, from some of whom emanate exotic Indian strains on “Books,” a tune that, like the bulk of the concerts, is culled from the True Meanings album released just weeks prior.
Other Aspects is, in fact, a direct extension of that album’s orchestral approach. As such, it is an object lesson in meeting the differing challenges of the recording studio versus the stage, even as the setlist incorporates selections from Weller’s entire discography along with new material. Haunting re-workings of “Private Hell” from the Jam’s 1979 Setting Sons resides next to solo favorites such as “You Do Something To Me,” both of which fit seamlessly into a set overtly and deliberately lush from its very start on “One Bright Star;” subsequently book-ended by “White Horses,” the program concludes with the appropriately emotional, but decidedly unsentimental flourish of “May Love Travel With You.”
If only by its title, “Gravity” is also one of the most telling tracks here by title alone. Its implicitly stoic attitude mirrors the unsmiling visage of Weller captured in most photos of him, but more importantly, the word is indicative of the artistic attitude he evinces here. As is the phrase “Movin’ On,” especially as expressed in this gently rhapsodic manner: contrasting swells of strings, the intimate acoustic tones at the heart of arrangements for “Glide” and “The Soul Searchers” prevent anything maudlin from permeating the performances. But such counterpoint also underlines the openness to stylistic diversity Paul Weller has pursued since he dissolved The Jam.
Accordingly, this expansive reworking of the latter band’s “Boy About Town” (from 1980’s Sound Affects) communicates healthy nostalgia, nothing mawkish. That said, the samba sway and horns of the Style Council’s “Have You Ever Had It So Blue,” veers dangerously close to stereotypical middle-of-the-road pop. Fortunately, Paul Weller’s singing buttresses the limp material there: his voice is strong throughout Other Aspects, especially on “Amongst Butterflies,” so the man himself sounds as purposeful as the presentation itself.
Thus, while the results proceeding from the original concept end up a bit mixed in execution, the release of Live At The Royal Festival Hall is, like the various packages including CD, vinyl and DVD, indicative of how seriously Paul Weller took this project. It is just the latest illustration of an exploratory pursuit of creative novelty in which he has never been interested in simply repeating himself.