1992’s first solo effort from former Jam frontman was a sublime return from an artist many had written off. Ably assisted by the JB horns, Carleen Anderson and Marco Nelson of The Young Disciples, Weller produced a set of breezy soul songs, straight-up funk and cosmic-acoustic mod-rock, with producer Brendan Lynch assisting Weller to incorporate sampling and Lynch’s distinctive use of studio effects into his sound. Influenced by artists like Curtis Mayfield and the contemporaneous acid jazz scene, unashamedly romantic at times, overflowing with effortless melodies, adding folk and psychedelic influences to Weller’s musical palette. 

Paul Weller frequently finds a sweet spot when he’s operating within a musical Venn diagram between projects. In the final year of The Jam, before he took the plunge into The Style Council, he put out a run of soulful farewell singles — “A Town Called Malice/Precious,” “Just Who Is The 5 O’Clock Hero?,” “The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow),” “Beat Surrender” — that rank among the finest pop songs of the era. Having disbanded The Style Council after Polydor refused to release their last album, in 1990 Paul Weller found himself in the new position of having no record label and, despite his past glories, very little interest outside the most devoted of his faithful as to what he might do next. As such, there’s a carefree lightness to his solo debut (originally only released in Japan as The Paul Weller Movement) that he’s really never captured since. Into Tomorrow’s chiming riffs pointed the way out of the wilderness towards a hugely successful decade ahead, but some of the best music here is still rooted in the more anti-rockist music of his previous outfit. Tracks such as the jazzy slink of “Round And Round,” “Clues’” flute-powered improv and the divine, Long Hot Summer update of “Above The Clouds” owe more to the likes of Terry Callier, Curtis Mayfield and the contemporary Acid Jazz scene (many of the key players feature here) than the more rootsy trad-rock foundations to be found underneath more commercially successful follow-ups Wild Wood and Stanley Road.