Unconvinced by their final album, 1989’s Modernism: A New Decade, Polydor refused to release it, but when it finally surfaced in 1998, tracks such as the blissful “That Spiritual Feeling” – featuring no less than James Brown’s backing band – showed the band had assimilated the contemporary sounds of house music into their sound and created a lost gem in the process.Ĭlick to load video Mixing Pop And Politics (Money Go Round Walls Come Tumbling Down The Lodgers Internationalists Life At A Top People’s Health Farm) Weller and Talbot’s desire to broaden their horizons continued for the duration of The Style Council’s career, with Weller enthusiastically tuning into the burgeoning acid house scene during the late 80s. Arguably the best of these, “Fairy Tales,” was a punchy slice of protest soul pepped up with stabs of Stax-style brass. MacInnes’ book – a vivid portrayal of late 1950s London – was a favorite of Weller’s and he got to work with another of his primary influences the following year, when soul legend Curtis Mayfield mixed several tracks for The Style Council’s third album, The Cost Of Loving. The jazz inflections of Café Bleu were largely absent from The Style Council’s second album, Our Favourite Shop, but Weller and Talbot later scored a Top 20 hit early in 1986 with another blissful, jazz-inflected track, the samba-flavored “Have You Ever Had It Blue?” The song was penned during the Café Bleu period but later made it onto the soundtrack of director Julien Temple’s film adaptation of author Colin MacInnes’ Absolute Beginners, featuring David Bowie, Patsy Kensit, and James Fox. Lee, and the gloriously jazzy “The Paris Match,” featuring a smoky vocal from Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn. The record included contributions from rapper Dizzy Hites, soul singer (and Weller’s future wife) Dee C. Top 20), Weller and Talbot adopted a similarly collaborative approach with their debut album, Café Bleu. and sold over 350,000 copies, categorically proving there was life after The Jam for Paul Weller.Įncouraged by the success of The Style Council’s initial flurry of singles (with “Money-Go-Round” and “Long Hot Summer” following “Speak Like A Child” into the U.K. A wonderful pop record driven by Weller’s funky bassline, Talbot’s classy Hammond organ, and a joyous chorus, the song cruised to No. The Style Council established their collaborative approach from the off, with Weller and Talbot enlisting Orange Juice drummer Zeke Manyika and vocalist Tracie Young to perform with them on their debut single, “Speak Like A Child,” issued in 1983. Broadening Horizons (Speak Like A Child The Paris Match Have You Ever Had It Blue? Fairy Tales That Spiritual Feeling) Listen to the best Style Council songs on Apple Music and Spotify. In retrospect, however, the band amassed a sizable collection of fantastic pop music during their six-year career and their catalog is now ripe for reappraisal. In stark contrast to the fierce, mod-inspired punk-pop sound The Jam perfected, The Style Council’s music could be wilfully eclectic and some of it even alienated Weller’s loyal fanbase. Ostensibly a duo of Weller and former Dexy’s Midnight Runners keyboard player Mick Talbot, drummer Steve White played on most of their recordings, while additional musicians were drafted in as required. Unlike The Jam – effectively a hermetically-sealed rock trio – The Style Council were all about looseness and flexibility. Yet, while The Jam was Britain’s biggest band at that point, Weller had tired of the constant album-followed-by-tour treadmill and was determined his next project, The Style Council, would be a complete break with the past. chart-topping album, The Gift, and a No.1 single in “Beat Surrender,” while their final tour included five sold-out shows at London’s Wembley Arena. When they finished at the end of 1982, the band went out at the very top, riding high with a U.K. Cover photograph of The Council "Taking Five" while performing "The Lodgers" on Channel Four's Soul Train.It’s often said Paul Weller split The Jam at exactly the right time. Original sound recording made by Polydor Ltd.
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