Paul Weller - Paul Weller Has Got Soul, Volume 1: The 1950's and 60's

Here's something a little different I felt like making. I saw someone on YouTube made a compilation of soul covers by Paul Weller. I thought that was cool, but I also knew that he'd covered way more than a dozen such songs. Even though he's mainly a rock and roll guy, he's been massively influenced by soul music. Heck, his first band the Jam did soul covers in concert even before they got a record contract.

He's done so many covers, in fact, that I had to split this into two very big album. This one deals with his covers of songs that were first done in the 1950s and 1960s. The second one deals with his 1970s and 1980s covers. Rather than order these by the years he recorded them, I thought it would be more interesting to order them by the years the original versions of the songs were first released. One can get a better appreciation over the type of soul music he's liked the most. For instance, this volume only has three songs from the 1950s. But there's a big number of songs from around 1965.

This repeats a lot of stuff I've posted on other stray track albums and such. Look to the mp3 tags for the details. (Note that I put the year the song first came out in the year field, instead of the year Weller released his version.)

Here's a list of the original artists for each song:

01 Don't Go to Strangers - Orioles
02 Fever - Little Willie John
03 Slow Down - Larry Williams
04 Stand by Me - Ben E. King
05 [Love Is like A] Heat Wave - Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
06 My Girl - Temptations
07 Every Little Bit Hurts - Brenda Holloway
08 How Sweet It Is [To Be Loved by You] - Marvin Gaye
09 I Got You [I Feel Good] - James Brown
10 [I'm A] Roadrunner - Jr. Walker & the All Stars
11 Back in My Arms Again - Supremes
12 I Take What I Want - Sam & Dave
13 Meeting [Over] Up Yonder - Impressions
14 Going to a Go Go - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
15 In the Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett
16 I Don't Need No Doctor - Ray Charles
17 Things Get Better - Eddie Floyd
18 Sweet Soul Music - Arthur Conley
19 I Heard It through the Grapevine - Gladys Knight & the Pips
20 I'd Rather Go Blind - Etta James
21 Big Bird - Eddie Floyd
22 Abraham, Martin and John - Dion
23 Oh Happy Day - Edwin Hawkins Singers
24 I've Never Found a Girl [Who Loves Me like You Do] - Eddie Floyd
25 What Does It Take [To Win Your Love] - Jr. Walker & the All Stars
26 My Whole World Is Falling Down - William Bell

And here's the usual song list:

01 Don't Go to Strangers (Paul Weller)
02 Fever (Jam)
03 Slow Down (Jam)
04 Stand by Me (Jam)
05 [Love Is like A] Heat Wave (Jam)
06 My Girl (Jam)
07 Every Little Bit Hurts (Jam)
08 How Sweet It Is [To Be Loved by You] (Paul Weller)
09 I Got You [I Feel Good] (Jam)
10 [I'm A] Roadrunner (Paul Weller)
11 Back in My Arms Again (Jam)
12 I Take What I Want (Paul Weller)
13 Meeting [Over] Up Yonder (Style Council)
14 Going to a Go Go (Paul Weller)
15 In the Midnight Hour (Jam)
16 I Don't Need No Doctor (Paul Weller)
17 Things Get Better (Paul Weller)
18 Sweet Soul Music (Jam)
19 I Heard It through the Grapevine (Amy Winehouse & Paul Weller)
20 I'd Rather Go Blind (Paul Weller)
21 Big Bird (Jam)
22 Abraham, Martin and John [Acoustic Demo] (Paul Weller)
23 Oh Happy Day (Paul Weller)
24 I've Never Found a Girl [Who Loves Me like You Do] (Paul Weller)
25 What Does It Take [To Win Your Love] (Paul Weller)
26 My Whole World Is Falling Down (Paul Weller)

This album is an hour and 17 minutes long.

This is just a fun listen. But he's covered so many soul classics over the years that the two volumes put together are practically a history of the golden era of soul music.

https://www.upload.ee/files/15100034/PaulW_2023_HasGotSoulVolume11950and60_atse.zip.html

Since this is a tribute to Weller's love of soul music, I thought it would be fitting to base the cover art on the style of soul music concert posters from the era featured here. In case you're curious, here's the exact poster that I based it on.