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
For a man obsessed with the power of youth, Paul Weller actually improved with age. When he led The Jam, his voice was a sharp bark from a street corner; in The Style Council it was a soulful suburban wail. By the early ‘90s, it had became a warmer, more expressive instrument, fitting his solo material like one of his well-cut suits. Musically, Weller continued to evolve and push against his own past, moving from the shuffling growl of 1995's Stanley Road to more recent No. 1 releases like 22 Dreams and Sonik Kicks. There's soul-infused rock and rock-infused soul, with deviations into psychedelia, pastoral folk and spikier stuff, depending on his ever-changing moods.