Wake Up the Nation is the tenth studio album from Paul Weller

Paul Weller

Paul Weller is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam , Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council...

 and was released April 19, 2010. It was nominated for the 2010 Mercury Music Prize.

It is the first of Weller's albums since 1982 to feature contributions from Bruce Foxton

Bruce Foxton

Bruce Foxton is an English rock and roll musician who is best known as the bass player in punk rock bands The Jam and Stiff Little Fingers.-Biography:...

, formerly of The Jam

The Jam

The Jam were an English punk rock/New Wave/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were formed in Woking, Surrey. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped...

. Weller told Mojo

Mojo (magazine)

MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

magazine: "We'd both lost loved ones and without getting too spiritual that was the spur of it. I spoke to him this time last year when his wife Pat was ill and that broke the ice, then I invited him down to Black Barn (studio). There was no big plan, it was easy, a laugh, and nice to see him and work together again. We just slipped back into it."

Deluxe Edition CD 1/Standard Edition

all songs written by Paul Weller and Simon Dine.

1. "Moonshine" - 2:09
2. "Wake Up the Nation" - 2:19
3. "No Tears to Cry" - 2:25
4. "Fast Car / Slow Traffic" - 1:58
5. "Andromeda" - 1:53
6. "In Amsterdam" - 2:18
7. "She Speaks" - 2:15
8. "Find the Torch, Burn the Plans" - 3:09
9. "Aim High" - 3:08
10. "Trees" - 4:19
11. "Grasp and Still Connect" - 2:16
12. "Whatever Next" - 1:38
13. "7 & 3 Is the Strikers Name" - 3:24
14. "Up the Dosage" - 2:40
15. "Pieces of a Dream" - 2:26
16. "Two Fat Ladies" - 2:39

Deluxe Edition CD 2

1. "Wake Up the Nation (Zinc's Crack House Remix)" - 5:10

2. "Fast Car / Slow Traffic (Erland & Carnival Carnivalization)" - 2:50

3. "Grasp & Still Connect (The Bees Version)" - 2:47

4. "She Speaks (Tunng Remix)" - 3:57

5. "Andromeda (Richard Hawley Remix)" - 3:51

6. "In Amsterdam (Noonday Underground Remix)" - 2:00

7. "No Tears to Cry (Leo Zero Remix)" 8:03

8. "Find the Torch, Burn the Plans (Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeah's Remix)" - 5:18


Aim High / Pieces of a Dream – The Amorphous Androgynous Remix

9. "Part 1: Aim High (Aim Higher)" - 5:57

10. "Part 2: Pieces of a Dream (A Dream in Pieces)" - 5:27

11. "Part 3: Aim High (The Higher Aim)" - 4:57

12. "Part 4: Aim High (Like Water Needs a Flower)" - 5:05

Bonus Tracks

13. "Pieces of a Dream - Original Version" - 2:56

14. "Grasp & Still Connect - Original Version" - 2:22

Additional Musicians

• Hannah Andrews - Backing Vocals (3,5,9,10,13,14)
• Bev Bevan - Drums (1,2)
• Mark Boxall - Guitar (10)
• Barry Cadogan - Guitar (1,16), Bass Guitar (16)
• Clem Cattini - Drums (3)
• Steve Cradock - Percussion (2), Backing Vocals (3), Guitar (4,8,14), 12 String Guitar (5), Bass Guitar (14), Drums (14,15)
• Andy Crofts - Bass Guitar (1), Stylophone (8), Guitar (11), Backing Vocals (15)
• Rosie Danvers - Cello (3,9,15)
• Terry Edwards - Saxophone (2), Horns (11)
• Bruce Foxton - Bass Guitar (4,7), Backing Vocals (4)
• Charles Rees - Drums (5,8,10,12,15), Autoharp (12), Guitar (15)
• Laura Rees - Backing Vocals (3,13,14)
• Sally Jackson - Violin (3,9,15)
• Jamie Johnson - Bass Guitar (15)
• Andy Lewis - Bass Guitar (9), Backing Vocals (15)
• Roger Nowell - Synth Guitar (5)
• Emma Owens - Viola (3,9,15)
• Kerenza Peacock - Violin (3,9,15)
• Steve Pilgrim - Drums (9,10,11), Backing Vocals (15)
• Kevin Shields - Guitar (7,13)
• The Woking Gay Community Choir - Backing Vocals (8)

Reception

Wake Up the Nation received great acclaim from most music critics. In Metro

Metro (Associated Metro Limited)

Metro is a free daily newspaper in the United Kingdom published by Associated Newspapers Ltd . It is available from Monday to Friday each week on many public transport services across the United Kingdom.-History:The paper was launched in London in 1999, and can now be found in 14 UK urban centres...

, John Lewis awarded the album 4 stars out of 5 and commented: "Since turning 50 two years ago, the Modfather seems to be making the most adventurous music of his career, astounding even the most Weller-phobic critics ... Most of the 16 tracks are short, sharp, clever and often wonderfully odd: check out bonkers music hall epic Trees, jazz waltz In Amsterdam or militaristic sound collage 7&3 Is The Strikers Name (an unlikely collaboration with My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields

Kevin Shields

Kevin Patrick Shields is an American-born, Irish vocalist, guitarist, and producer of alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine....

). Weller loyalists will be reassured by the copper-bottomed dad-rock staples, while Style Council fans will love Aim High, his finest blue-eyed soul ballad in ages."