Stanley Road by Paul Weller

Stanley Road, Paul Weller's third solo album, came out on Go! Discs in 1995 and borrowed its title from the Woking street of his childhood, which tells you this one was personal. The old Jam frontman and Style Council leader had been rebuilding his standing one solo record at a time, and here, producing with Brendan Lynch at the Manor Studio, he sounds like a man who has found his feet again: meaty guitars, a soul man's warmth and a voice gone rich and gravelly.

"The Changing Man" swaggers, "You Do Something to Me" and "Broken Stones" slow things to a smoulder, and his cover of "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" later scored the closing montage of The Wire's fourth season. The Modfather tag already hung round his neck, and the Britpop kids, Oasis among them, owed him plenty. Island marked its tenth birthday in 2005 with a three-disc deluxe set, stuffed with early versions, concert takes and BBC sessions, plus a film by Simon Halfon.

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