The Style Council

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The Style Council
[[Image:‎|220px|]]
Background information
Origin London, England
Genre(s) Alternative Pop
New Wave
Synthpop
Years active 1983-1989
Label(s) Polydor
(UK, Australia, Canada)
Geffen
(United States)
Associated acts The Jam, Paul Weller
Former members
Paul Weller
Mick Talbot
Dee C. Lee
Steve White

The Style Council were an English musical group formed in 1983 by ex-The Jam singer and guitarist Paul Weller with keyboardist Mick Talbot. The permanent lineup grew to include drummer Steve White and Weller's then-wife, vocalist Dee C. Lee. Other artists such as Tracie Young and Tracey Thorn also collaborated with the group.

Contents

[edit] History

The band's early singles showed a diversity of musical styles. "Speak Like a Child" (with its loud soul-influenced style), the extended funk of "Money-Go-Round", and the haunting synth-ballad "Long Hot Summer" all featured Talbot on keyboards and organ. Near the end of 1983, these singles were compiled on Introducing The Style Council, a mini-album initially released in Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States only. The Dutch version was heavily imported to the United Kingdom.

In 1984, the single "My Ever-Changing Moods", backed with the Hammond organ instrumental "Mick's Company", reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The song remains Weller's greatest success on the American charts (including his efforts in The Jam and as a solo artist), while the group reached the peak of its success in the United Kingdom with the 1985 album Our Favourite Shop.

To Weller's fans, the decision to split up The Jam at the height of their commercial success was met with considerable controversy[citation needed]. Weller deliberately distanced himself from The Jam's sound and style, with his use of new musical arrangements and instruments in a much slicker, more heavily produced style. In the place of the Bruce Foxton-Rick Buckler rhythm section were drum and bass parts done entirely on synthesisers. Along with this, the band's early persona — the donning of make-up and New Romantic-style clothing, coupled with mysterious album sleeve notes by 'The Cappuccino Kid' (a pseudonym for Paolo Hewitt, biographer of The Jam and friend of Weller), the use of French lyrics and themes (reflected in the titles of their third single, the 1983 À Paris EP, which saw the duo posing in front of the Eiffel Tower, and their debut full-length LP, 1983's Café Bleu), dabblings in rap and, later, dance music, and the homoerotic imagery in the video for the single "Long Hot Summer" — only served to further confuse and alienate loyal Jam fans[citation needed].

Structurally, many of the band's early singles were not so far removed from The Jam's latter-day soul-pop efforts such as "Town Called Malice" and "Beat Surrender", but they were often criticised as overproduced, despite Weller's impressive songwriting[citation needed]. Also, many observers saw even the early albums as indulgent and overly experimental; Trouser Press called Café Bleu "too schizophrenic to be a good album" [1]. The criticism only grew as the band's career wore on, and Weller's star status in the United Kingdom plunged.

The Style Council took a more overtly political approach than The Jam in their lyrics, with tracks such as "Walls Come Tumbling Down", "The Lodgers", and "Come To Milton Keynes" being deliberate attacks on 'middle England' and Thatcherite principles prevalent in the Eighties. Weller was also instrumental in the formation of Red Wedge with Billy Bragg. However, he later said that this began to detract from the music: "We were involved with a lot of political things going on at that time. I think after a while that overshadowed the music a bit" [2].

In 1986, the band released a live album, Home and Abroad, and, in 1987, the album The Cost of Loving was launched, followed later in the year by the upbeat non-album single "Wanted", which reached #20 in the United Kingdom. However, by the time Confessions of a Pop Group was released a year later, the group's popularity had largely evaporated. A greatest hits album, appropriately called The Singular Adventures of The Style Council, was released internationally in 1989; it included the non-album single "Promised Land", which had reached #27 in the United Kingdom earlier that year.

The Style Council broke up in 1989, after recording a house album (Modernism: A New Decade) that was rejected by their record label. The cover of "Promised Land" (originally by Joe Smooth) was the only release which surfaced from the Modernism sessions at the time; however, the entire album was released in 1998, both independently and in a 5-CD boxset, The Complete Adventures Of The Style Council). After the split, Weller moved on to a more commercially successful solo career (still featuring Steve White on drums, who had left The Style Council by the time Confessions of a Pop Group was released, having only played on a few of its tracks), while Talbot and White released two albums as Talbot/White — United States of Mind (1995) and Off The Beaten Track (1996). More recently, Mick Talbot and Steve White have formed The Players with Damon Minchella and Aziz Ibrahim.

All of The Style Council's UK releases (including singles, 12" maxis, albums, compact discs and re-issues thereof) featured the work of graphic designer Simon Halfon, who often collaborated with Weller to hone his ideas into a graphic form). Weller and Halfon began working together at the end of The Jam's career, and continue to work together to this day on Weller's solo material.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Studio

[edit] Live

[edit] Singles

Title Highest UK
Chart Position		 Year
Speak Like a Child #4 1983
Money Go Round (Pt. 1) #11 1983
Long Hot Summer #3 1983
A Solid Bond in Your Heart #11 1983
My Ever Changing Moods #5 1984
Groovin' (You're the Best Thing) #5 1984
Shout to the Top! #7 1984
Soul Deep [1] #24 1984
Walls Come Tumbling Down #6 1985
Come to Milton Keynes #23 1985
The Lodgers #13 1985
Have You Ever Had It Blue? #14 1986
It Didn't Matter #9 1987
Waiting #52 1987
Wanted #20 1987
Life at a Top People's Health Farm #28 1988
How She Threw It All Away #41 1988
Promised Land #27 1989
Long Hot Summer '89 #48 1989
  • [1] Released as The Council Collective

[edit] References

Mr. Cool's Dream: The Complete History of the Style Council details the band's formation and career.

 This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations.
You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations.
  • Munn, Iain (2008). Mr. Cool's Dream. The Complete History of the Style Council Hardback. Wholepoint Publications. ISBN 9780955144318.  Wholepoint

[edit] External links