What made Eric Clapton trade in his raw, blues-based licks for some chops in the craft of adult contemporary? And how did everyone’s favorite car salesman Sting shift from frontman of the Police who packed riffs that compiled an insurmountable mountain of rock magnitude-to singing a cheesy techno song with some chubby Arab guy?

With old age it seems they lost their cutting edge. The list of artists could go on-and-on: Paul McCartney, U2, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty and Paul Weller.

Paul Weller? If you are British, you know who I’m talking about. He was frontman of The Jam, the late ’70s and early ’80s arena rock band in London, club band in the states. The Jam more than caught on over in Britain but here they never quite broke.

The question to ask about Weller is-did he ever really have a cutting edge?

The Jam came in on the same boat as The Sex Pistols, The Clash and Buzzcocks in ’77. Despite their valiant effort to push their image as a punk band the group came up short. They had a sound that was a mix of The Who (after Keith Moon’s departure) and a weaker New York Dolls.

So, a few successful Jam albums, several side projects and six solo albums down the line, Paul Weller is now trying to win over America once again with the distribution of his recent album followed by a club tour crossing the nation.

Weller’s latest work “Illumination,” released on Independiente, a division of Sony, is what I consider to be the album that sets the standard of a mediocre album. It has witty lines wrapped up in cliches, good riffs on top of bad progressions, a catchy chorus followed by a weak verse and so on.

Weller shoved his punk ideals aside long ago as he took off his Gibson SG and black and white suit and put on a cardigan and a nice warm acoustic.

When a musician is young, his or her passion and fury is what drives them the hardest. Clapton played the notes his soul cried out. When he longed for George Harrison’s wife and knew only one way to express it, he wrote “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs,” with Derek and The Dominos. Then he teamed up with Babyface to give us “Change The World” and that’s all I want to say about slowhand.

Weller’s ‘Illumination’ lyrically consists of three types of songs. The tracks are mixed between songs of love, religion and politics that are right along the lines of “Change the World.” Although Weller’s political lyrics were always contrived, now they are laughable as he talks in circles until you think he has a point when he doesn’t.

As for the music on the album, Weller still wishes he was Pete Townshend, well, minus the hard drive.

Guest appearances include longtime fan and longer time brat Noel Gallagher, founding brother of Oasis, who laid down drums and bass on “One X One.” Kelly Jones, of The Stereophonics, belts out raw vocals on “Call Me Number 5,” a rockin’ blues track that makes no sense and until it does I am going to assume number 5 as in Johnny 5, the robot.

While “Illumination” certainly has touches of the rock veteran grown old, it seems to have more signs of the generic rock veteran. While all the signs are there of being Eric Clapton, the cheesy love song and religious songs, there just isn’t a sign of that kind of talent.

Catch Weller live in Chicago at the Vic Theatre Feb. 15.