The heftiest of Weller’s nine solo studio albums, 22 Dreams finds the modfather kneeling humbly at the altar of craft. Make no mistake, Noel Gallagher would gladly give his best bowl cut to flick off guitar stabs with such Motownish fidelity or weave string arrangements with such silken grace — even forays into flamenco (!) and modal harp jazz (!!) deliver subtle charms — but craft can be a cage, and come the eleventeenth pleasant chord progression and workmanlike melody, the album’s title may portend the listener’s immediate future. Sweet dreams.
