The Style Council Albums.

The number of stars below the name of the album indicates how good I think it is. The scale goes from one to five.The judgement is of course very subjective so please don't be upset if you don't agree with me.

Introducing The Style Council 1983
****

The councils first LP release. They had released two singles and an EP before this "compilation". But this was their first album. Even though it was called a Mini-LP. It contains some really great tunes. First out is the classic, "Long Hot Summer". Almost seven minutes of laidback slow groove. There's no single song ever made (that I know of) that sound even a little like "Long Hot Summer". Next up is the fantastic pop tune "Headstart For Happiness". It makes even the greyest and dullest day seem to have something beautiful about it. Undoubtably one of Wellers finer compostitions. "Speak Like A Child" is next. Their first single as The Style Council, it has a very catchy sound and refrain. Must also be considered a classic. Over to side two or "Face B". First a club mix of "Long Hot Summer". Then we have a little gem. "The Paris Match", a lovesong wich proves to show that paul & mick were really into the romantic and stylish way that france, red wine on cafés and long coats in the rain.. Then we have the first of Mick Talbos little tunes. "Mick's Up". Terribly underestimated, the groove oozes and some friends clap hands to this great tune. Cocktail jazz at it's very best. Finally there's "Money-Go-Round", the second single from The Style Council. A stiff overproduced funk-thing that never seems to end, the only weak link in an otherwise solid chain of songs.

Café Bleu / My Ever Changing Moods 1984
****

The influences from Paris are continuing. This Is the first Real album. It's got some fantastic tunes a couple of fair ones and a few terrible. The album starts with the second of Mick Talbots cocktails, "Mick's Blessings" is just as groovy and great as you could possibly imagine. Then we have "The Whole Point Of No Return" featuring some great soft guitar playing by Paul. For some reason this song doesn't have it's name in the tracklist. "Me Ship Came In!" is the second instrumenal. A jazzy piece dominated by Mick's great piano and a tight horn section. "Blue Café" is the third instrumental, a soft laidback jazz-guitar sounding piece. The smiple but beautiful lovesong "The Paris Match" is next. Soft piano and jazz drums and on top Dee C. Lee's voice. Next is one of my personal favourites, "My Ever Changing Moods", the aucoustic version, Mick's piano and Paul's voice are really working splendidly together. Last out on side one we have "Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse", yet another instrumental. This time with a little more go-go and groove. This is without doubt The Style Council's greatest LP-side. Despite the fact that half the side is instrumental. Side two. Starts out with the early and not very successful rap experiment "A Gospel". Weller was early in the game but I believe he should have passed that one. Perhaps the Council's worst ever. "Strength Of Your Nature" is a funky, beaty thing dominated by a drum machine, Paul's wacka-wacka-guitar and Mick's synth. You get tired of the lyrics in about one minute. Boring! The very soft and great "You're The Best Thing" is next. Also one of my favourites. Paul's guitar-playing is marveoulus. On "Here's One That Got Away" a violin is playing the main part. Perhaps some influence from Paul's soul brothers in The Dexys Midninght Runners? A great song anyway. The Style Council have made a couple of classics. "Headstart For Happiness" is one of them. The anthem of joy. Great soulful sound with horns taken from any Motown hit. Last but not least we have "Council Meetin'", another great instrumental cocktail from Talbot who really gets it on with his Hammond. Paul's playing bass. This album was renamed to My Ever Changing Moods before it was released in the U.S. "Me Ship Came In!" and "Council Meetin'" were dropped and instead "A Solid Bond In Your Heart" was added.

Our Favourite Shop / Internationalists 1985
****

The second Real album by the Style Council and Paul Wellers personal favourite. In my opinion a good but uneven record. It starts with "Homebreakers" a groovy and very political song. An ok tune. "All Gone Away" is a catchy little jazz-pop thing with a nice bossa feel to it. "Come To Milton Keynes" was the second single from the album and an odd choise I must say. Not the best song to issue as a single and it only reached #23 on the English charts. The song is good for awhile but gets wierd and screwed up by Talbot's horrible snyth-line and a crazed melody that gets out of hand. Too bad beacuse it could have been really good. "Internationalists" is next with a screaming wah-wah guitar and a much more uptempo beat. Also a fair song. On the U.S. release of the reocord, this was the title track. The track "Our Favourite Shop" was skipped and the cover art changed. "A Stone Throw Away" is another deeply political song in a very sad arrangement. Crying violins are the only thing supporting Wellers voice on this little one. "The Stand Up Comics Instructions" is a rap with deep sarcasm and funky bass. It doesn't work very well and is more annoying than enjoyable. "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" is a up-tempo ballad with nice guitar playing by Weller. But I don't like the synth-bass very much. "A Man Of Great Promise" on the other hand has a neat bass-line and a great melody. Next is the jazzy and soft "Down In The Seine" wich I really like, especially the contra bass. "The Lodgers (Or She Was Only A Shopkeeper's Daugher)" is without doubt the greatest song on the record and one of Weller's best ever. The entire arrangement, the melody, the bass, the guitar, everything is great. And it was also the Council's next single and went to #13. "Luck" is a sweet pop-soul thing with good piano by Talbot. One of the better tracks on the album after a couple of listenings. The jazzy "With Everything To Lose" has a nice bossa rhythm and some great fluteplaying as well as guitar. "Our Favourite Shop" is the only "solo Talbot composition" on this album. Most people doesn't like his jazzy little pieces, but I love 'em so I think it's too bad that this is the only one. The first single from the album was "Walls Come Tumbling Down" and it's a real knock-out, Weller's screaming and the drums are pounding hard over a swirling piano and some funky horns.

Home & Abroad 1986
***

The official and first live album. Contained ten live acts on the original LP. When it was released on Cd two more tracks were added though. "The Big Boss Groove" and "Our Favourite Shop" are the added tracks and they sure ought to be there. What else can you say about this record? Well, it's sound is very clear and the band plays tight and with alot of joy. It doesn't get any worse by the fact that this more or less is a "greatest hit live" album. With songs like "My Ever Changing Moods", "The Lodgers", "Headstart For Happiness" and "Shout To The Top". A magnificent preformance. A song that is lifted to new hights is "Internationalists" wich is much better here than on the original album. "(When You) Call Me" is also getting a nice facelift. I have to make a comment about the coverart of this record as well. Extremly styish and very much my taste. This is an album for fans, who wants everything.

The Cost Of Loving 1987
**

This album was originally released as a orange gatefold sleeve on two 45rpm 12". Don't ask me why, but it looked good. Later it as released on a single LP with a picture of the band on the cover instead. This is The Style Council's most "souly" album. But it's not that good despite that fact. Sure there are a couple of great songs but the sound of the black bands of 1987 wich the Council tried to copy weren't very good. The sound was dated alredy when it was new. The album contains eight tracks, no one is even near as lousy as for instance "A Gospel", but most of them are simply quite dull. For example "Right To Go", "Heavens Above", "Angel" and "Waiting". All fair tracks but not much more. But then we have "Walking The Night" wich I really like. A very funky bass and a laidback sound. "Fairy Tales" and "The Cost Of Loving" are also good. A record you should have if you really like the Council, if you're considering buying your first Council album, don't choose this one.

Confessions Of A Pop Group 1988
*****

The groups final album. A great comeback if you consider The Cost Of Loving to be a faliure. If not, then it's just another great album. In my opinion the greatestthey ever made. Side one is called The Piano Paintings and it starts out with one of the Council's greatest songs ever, "It's A Very Deep Sea", a beautiful balad with Mick on piano. I especially like the sounds of seabirds and the sound of waves gently meeting the shore. "The Story Of Someone's Shoe" is an acapella ballad wich also is really nice. A bit odd though. "Changing of the Guard" is another piano-ballad this time cosung by Dee C. Lee. They are all slow and beautiful and with a centain glow of hope. "The Little Boy In The Castle" is an instumetal piano piece. It's something taken from the classic school and is very sad sounding. As a grand final on side one is the over ten minute long "The Gardener Of Eden (A Three Piece Suite)", probably the Council's most abitious work ever, but somehow they manage to keep it together despite perhaps a little to much of everything. Side two is the up-tempo side called Confessions Of A Pop-Group. This is where everything comes togheter. First out is the single, "Life At The Top Peoples Health Farm" a groovy piece with a great horn section and razor sharp lyrics. "Why I Went Missing" is another great song wich has a great melody and great bass-line. "How She Threw It All Away" is probably the second best song on the album (after "It's A Very Deep Sea". Just listen to a line like "one of the things money can't buy, freedom is never cheap...". Superb melody, horns and Weller's voice is almost reaches falsetto at some points. A cool flute-solo is also included. The next song is connected with "How She Threw It All Away" and changes the feel radically. This is the worst song on the album even though it's only half-bad. "Iwasadoledadstoyboy" is some kind of funk experiment in the same school as "Money-Go-Round" and "Strength Of Your Nature". "Confessions 1, 2 & 3" is a "fake-live-recording" with applause added at the start and the finish as well as at some points in the song. It's anyway a great up-tempo ballad with great guitar playing by Weller and the horns works as well. Finally the almost ten minute long title-track can be found. A highly political funk piece with a slap-bass as hard as iron and Weller is angrier than ever and delivers hard punches to Thatcher and Reagan. This is Weller's last openly political songwith the council. A grand final.

Modernism: A New Decade 1998 (1989)
****

These, the last recordings Weller and Talbot did as the Style Council was rejected by Polydor and buried in the vaults. Some songs have been released as B-sides to the final singles the band released. "Can You Still Love Me" a B-side to "The Promised Land", "Everybody's On The Run" a B-side to "Long Hot Summer '89" and "That Spiritual Feeling", B-side to Paul's solo debut single "Into Tomorrow", but that was as a re-recorded version. That leaves five great songs (six if you iclude the original "That Spiritual Feeling") that had to wait almost ten years to see the light of day. The origanl album starts with "A New Decade" wich shows the listener on what to come. A very clubby sound with deeeeep bass and hard drum-machines. "Can You Still Love Me?" is a House thing with great dance groove and superb piano beat. "The World Must Come Together" is another great dance tune (they all are). "Hope (Feelings Gonna Getcha)" has a bass-line that's out of this world and some great drums as well. The lyrics are mostly positive and happy. Something that's special for the House and Club music. Be happy ,dance away. "That Spiritual Feeliung" is jazzier with hammond and alot of horns and saxes and stuff blowing away for all that they are worht. This is actaully James Browns horn section that Weller and co. have borrowed and it sure is tight. "Everybody's On The Run" has a almost salsa latina drum sound and a deep funky bass. One of the greater songs on the record. But my personal favourite is "Love Of The World" for it's amazing bass and drums. The have a perfect dance sound. Dee C. Lee's moaning "Oooh-Yeah!" and Wellers "Love Everybody, Love Of The World" along with Talbot's funky piano hits the spot. Finally "Sure Is Sure" can be found, another gem, it starts out with a long House-piano but the great bass soon fills up the empty space and this turns out to be another of the greatest songs of the album. Polydor should have a big f****** punch in the face for not releasing this when it came. It's ahead of it's time and would have made Weller & Co. legends in the House genre as well. This is one of their greatest momemts, even though some might say it's not the council. Who cares when its so great. Buy the boxed set and get these songs Now! they are worth every dollar/pound/crown or whatever... Peace Brother!

Written by Klas Appelqvist 2000 & 2001