Credit: Far Out / Nicole Nodland

Paul Weller’s 22 favourite albums: “He’s such a talent”

Sun 30 November 2025 9:29, UK

When it comes to finding poetry in the everyday, Paul Weller has always been something of a master.

With The Jam, he catalogued the British people’s eccentric and frequently threatening idiosyncrasies in tracks like ‘That’s Entertainment’, ‘Down In The Tube Station At Midnight’ and ‘Town Called Malice’. These are tracks that still seem to place life in Blighty in amber decades on from when he composed them in his little London flat.

Then came the jazz-tinged inflexions of the Style Council, who soundtracked the summer of ’83 with their hit single ‘Long Hot Summer’. Weller then segued into a highly successful solo career, releasing a wealth of LPs that brought together his incredibly eclectic welter of influences from over the years, as can be seen from his 22 favourite records.

We’ve compiled these golden selections into a list. And what a list it is. Half of the selections below come from an interview Weller conducted with Entertainment Weekly back in 2005, during which he discussed his love of Stevie Wonder, The Zombies, Marvin Gaye and Bob Marley.

There’s a heap of American jazz, soul and R&B in there, but he made a point of highlighting the “quintessential English melancholy” of Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left and the brilliance of The Kinks’ 1968 album The Village Green Preservation Society, two record that seem to typify his own approach perfectly. “I’ve been listening to this a lot recently,” he said, wxing lyrical about his favoured icons. “Ray Davies is such a great writer, and his eye for detail is incredible, really.”

The list even offers rare insight into some of Weller’s influences. “It was completely unheralded at the time,” Weller said of The Zombies’ Odessey & Oracle – also released in 1968. “Every track’s great. It’s very English, with wistful, autumnal melodies on it. In terms of strength of melody, this has definitely been an influence on me.”

Ten years later, Weller sat down to add an extra 13 records to his list, the first of which, Gruff Rhys’ Hotel Shampoo, was released in 2011. “He’s such a talent, that fella,” Paul told The Quietus. “I’m a massive fan of him and the Super Furries. He’s always trying something different. I’ve only ever seen him live a couple of times on his own, but I thought both times were brilliant. He just follows his nose and sees where it take.”

Considering he spent his late adolescence embodying the cutting edge of British music, Weller’s inclusion of classic albums like The Beatles Revolver comes as a surprise. “I was half-tempted to put in all of The Beatles’ albums. It’s really hard for me to pick one because I fucking love all of them. They mean so much to me,” he confessed.

Adding, “I think Revolver, because it pointed the way forward. It’s interesting that ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, which still sounds like something that’s coming from the future, was the first song that they started work on. That song always sounds contemporary to me. That thing with the bass and drums where it’s just one groove, like a loop. And all the tape sounds that are coming in and out. It’s very advanced for its time.”

Tame Impala’s Lonerism, also included on Weller’s list, owes a huge debt to Revolver. Like that album, it achieves the original objective of psychedelic music: to advance music written in a traditional band setup through innovative production techniques.

“He’s a great talent, I think, Kevin Parker. I’ve loved all of his records so far,” Weller said. “That whole little scene he’s involved in as well, with Melody’s Echo Chamber and Pond. You can see where his influences are from, but it still sounds contemporary to me. It couldn’t be made at any other time.”Weller’s career has been fueled by finding new favourites, as he once recalled, “I’d heard a lot of Motown and Stax when I was a kid, but the more well-known end of it. On Jam tours, we had a DJ called Ady Croasdell who ran a ’60s club. He turned me on to underground stuff and what people call northern soul. It just blew my mind.” From that moment on, he left no stone unturned.

You can check out Weller’s full favourite album list below.