A few weeks back, I read a post on a blog called
Mod Male in defense of The Style Council. Considering Paul Weller's second band has a permanent place in my own personal pantheon of favorites, I've always found it curious that even 20-some years on, Weller fans new and old remain so divided on the Council's value.
As much as I like what Weller did before and after The Style Council, the music he made alongside Mick Talbot between 1983-1989 symbolizes a period of incredible growth, both as singer and a songwriter. You only have to listen to The Jam's "In the City" or "Going Underground" in the same sitting as "My Ever Changing Moods" or "You're the Best Thing" to hear the difference. And it's unthinkable that he could have made an album like 22 Dreams or the recent Sonik Kicks had he just jumped from The Jam into a solo career.
Did everything work? Of course not. Weller's enthusiasm for pushing his own musical boundaries made up for the Council's inevitable failings, though, and even if his stabs at jazz, funk and rap didn't quite reach their mark, they were almost always interesting enough to send his more studious listeners off in search of the real thing.
Beyond all that, though, The Style Council had some bloody great songs, and the main thing that struck as I first read that blog post back in March, was that I've never ranked those songs in a top 10 list. So, without further rambling: My top 10 favorite tracks by the band I still consider to be probably best the pop group in world...
1. "My Ever Changing Moods," (single a-side, 1984)
"The past is knowledge, the present our mistake, and the future we always leave too late..."
Originally released in March of 1984, this was more or less the sound of my summer that year, and still ranks as one of my all-time favorite songs. Lyrically, Weller was in the midst of a three-year-long purple patch, and this is perhaps the most potent example of his steadily growing powers as a songwriter following his decision to split up The Jam. In many ways, it's the quintessential Style Council song: There's a nod to the '60s by way of an old Classics IV riff, and it combines heavy brass, Latin-tinged percussion, a bouncy synthesized bass line and just the right touch of Merton Mick's Hammond organ to create a sound that was both classic and contemporary at the time and is pleasantly timeless now.
2. "A Man of Great Promise," (Our Favourite Shop, 1985)
Written about David Waller, a friend of Weller's taken down by drugs, this is another great lyric that, like many track on
Our Favourite Shop, was set to a deceptively upbeat backing track. Soulful and poppy at the same time, there's something about this that brings to mind The Kinks – and no, it's not just they nicked the bells from the opening to "Big Black Smoke" – despite the fact its overall sound is fairly specific to The Style Council circa '85.
3. "The Piccadilly Trail," (single b-side, "Shout to the Top," 1984)
Man, I loved this whole record – "Shout to the Top," "Ghosts of Dachau," and best of all, this track, tucked away on the b-side of the 12". A seedy tale of Soho set to a lazy soul jazz groove, "The Piccadilly Trail" is one of a number of excellent b-sides that made me anticipate the release of each new TSC single as eagerly as the albums. In fact, counting non-album singles, Weller and Talbot laid down close to two dozen tracks between 1983 and 1985, in addition to 27 songs that comprised
Café Blue and
Our Favorite Shop.
4. "The Story of Someone's Shoe," (Confessions of a Pop Group, 1988)
This is Weller at his most mournful, as he tells the sad tale of a one-night stand in almost microscopic detail, with sublime vocal accompaniment by The Swingle Singers. Not everyone's cuppa, but I think Weller's growth as a singer is really apparent here. It seems odd today that Weller is congratulated for trying so many new and different styles on his most recent solo albums, when he was so harshly criticized for the same approach on
Confessions of a Pop Group. To me, it's a great companion piece to
Café Blue, especially when considering the two records are separated by only four years.
5. "Have You Ever Had it Blue?" (single a-side, 1986)
When it was announced that Julien Temple was directing a film adaptation of Colin MacInnes'
Absolute Beginners – and a musical, no less – there was little doubt Paul Weller would be involved in some way. MacInnes' classic tale of life in late '50s London had already been name checked in the title of The Jam's 1981 single of the same name, and anyone familiar with the book would easily recognize the similarities between Weller's look circa '83/'84 and that of the character Dean Swift. As it turned out, this lovelorn piece of jazz pop – featuring an arrangement by the legendary Gil Evans – was his sole contribution, but even so, it was probably the last truly great Style Council single.
6. "You're the Best Thing," (Groovin' EP, 1984)
Originally available on
Café Blue, but re-recorded with a slightly different arrangement for a single release, this is one of Weller's all-time finest love songs. What's more, lines like "I might shoot to win and commit the sin of wanting more than I've already got" also make it a near-perfect synthesis of political outlook and romance.
7. "Party Chambers," (À Paris EP, 1983)
Probably my favorite of Mick Talbot's Hammond-driven instrumentals, I had a hard time time choosing between this and "Long Hot Summer," the lead track on their À Paris EP. The almost complete overhaul of the arrangement on "Party Chambers" makes this the firmer favorite, though. Mick's Hammond really sings throughout, and it still sounds remarkably fresh no matter how many times I hear it.
8. "It Just Came to Pieces in My Hands," (single b-side, "A Solid Bond in Your Heart," 1983)
An ode to the pitfalls of rampant egotism, starkly executed on acoustic guitar with doo wop backing vocals, this is yet another example of the stellar material Weller was coming up with for the b-sides of the Council's early singles. Played live, it was given an almost gospel-esque treatment, with Mick's Hammond in place of Paul's guitar, but the original is still the greatest.
9. "Speak Like a Child," (single a-side, 1983)
In which The Style Council meet their public, or from another perspective, the first salvo in Paul Weller's war on the tried and true fan base that provided The Jam with so much of their success. A mighty blast of Hammond organ and Stax-like brass, there was no mistaking the line Weller was drawing in the sand with this soulful pop confection – but it still sounds sweet almost 30 years on.
10. "Fairy Tales," (The Cost of Loving, 1987)
Easily the most maligned TSC album,
The Cost of Loving was Weller's attempt at crafting the kind of slickly produced soul sounds that were coming out of America in the mid-'80s. Not everything worked, but this brassy, Impressions-influenced track stands out as the best alongside the likes of "Heavens Above," "It Didn't Matter," and the title track. Mixed by Curtis Mayfield, the lyrics are yet another of Weller's broadsides at then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and one of the last full-on political songs he would ever pen.
