The albums was dedicated to "absent friends – John Weller, Pat Foxton and Robert Kirby".

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).

In Metro, 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).

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.