I was happy to run across this high-quality video from the band’s appearance on Top of the Pops in 1985 featuring lovely harmonies between Weller and his then-wife Dee C. “The Lodgers (Or She Was Only a Shopkeeper’s Daughter)” Released: 1985 Drummer Steve White told the mag: “It does stand out on Our Favourite Shop as the rockiest track on the record, though it’s still got a great soulful feel about it.” Said Weller: “It’s probably my favorite thing we did.” Last year, the UK music magazine Uncut ran a feature about the making of this song. Adding to the political punch, the video was shot behind the Iron Curtain in Warsaw, Poland. A defiant political anthem with one of the best opening bars in the catalog: You don’t have to take this crap/You don’t have to sit back and relax. If “Shout to the Top!” is my favorite, then “Walls Come Tumbling Down” is a close second. “Walls Come Tumbling Down” Released: 1985 All done in front of a painting depicting the 1984 UK miner’s strike. I love the sepia-toned music video with Talbot goin’ to town on the piano as a sunglassed Weller coolly sings into a super-slim microphone with Dee C. It’s so soulful and bursting with energy that I can’t listen without tapping my feet. Probably my favorite Style Council song, the driving string section immediately hooks you. This was one of their biggest hits, peaking at #5 on the UK Singles Chart and #31 on the U.S. On “You’re The Best Thing,” Weller slows things down and gets romantic but not without including his political barbs: You’re the best thing that ever happened, so don’t go away/I might be a king and steal my people’s things/But I don’t go for that power crazy way. Tunes like this are what I meant by “damn fine pop songs.” What’s not to like? The song featured a fun, breezy video of Weller and Talbot bicycling through the English countryside. The “title track” was The Style Council’s only Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hit, peaking at #29 in June 1984 and making them one-hit wonders stateside. The horn charts and organ licks alone put this among the group’s very best.Ĭafe Blue was titled My Every Changing Moods in the States. The super catchy, soulful debut single was a huge hit in England, peaking at #4 on the UK Singles Chart. Here are 360°Sound’s picks for the greatest singles from The Style Council: “Speak Like a Child” Released: 1983įrom the EP Introducing The Style Council Looking for an introduction to this underrated ‘80s group? You’ve come to the right place. Last year saw the release of the excellent 2-CD comp Long Hot Summers: The Story of the Style Council as well as a documentary of the same name. All these years later, there seems to be a bit of reassessment of The Style Council. His latest, Fat Pop (Volume 1), dropped just a few months ago. The Style Council broke up in 1989 and Weller has since focused on his solo career, releasing 16 studio albums. While they have some solid albums, even the best ones get a little too ambitious for their own good and have their share of filler. I’ve heard the entire Style Council catalog and I firmly believe they are best experienced through singles and compilations. But they recorded some damn fine pop songs, many with biting social commentary, that hold up very well nearly four decades later. No, they weren’t The Jam, one of the greatest rock bands of its era in the UK. For this reason, I believe they were unfairly maligned. The Style Council was smooth, sophisticated, and more rooted in jazz and R&B than rock-n-roll. The group’s music was a huge break from the punky mod rock of The Jam. After the breakup of The Jam in 1982, singer/guitarist Paul Weller formed The Style Council with keyboardist Mick Talbot.
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