Looking Back At: The Style Council
It was my mother, and her incredible music taste, that introduced me to The Style Council. I remember hearing ‘You’re The Best Thing’ all the time as a child, and when I hear it now she comes to mind immediately, a crucial song to the soundtrack of my life. Now that I’m older, and I’ve developed my own taste, I’ve found myself coming back to The Style council a lot and become a staple of my own rotation.
In more recent times there have a been a few British acts that seen a revival by the younger Gen Z generation like Sade, Kate Bush, Wham!, and most recently Sophie Ellis-Bextor. But if there’s one band I would like to see have some sort of re-appreciation occur, it’s definitely The Style Council. Considering the great success they experienced nationwide, it’s then baffling to me that their appeal and legacy would be so muted in modern context. In the landscape of iconic British acts, I do feel as though they have been somewhat lost amongst the vast amount of names.
The Style Council formed in late 1982 by The Jam frontman Paul Weller and Keyboardist Mike Talbot (of Dexy Midnight Runners, The Bureau, and The Metro Parkas). Usually in a situation like this, one would usually write that a band was formed from the ashes of another right? That is not the case here. When Paul Weller decided to call it quits with The Jam in early 82’, the band were celebrating a #1 album with the ‘The Gift’, a #1 song with ‘Town Called Malice’, and a successful world tour. The decision was solely Weller’s, citing a desire to move on and expand his musical horizons for the bands split.
“I wanted to end it to see what else I was capable of, and I’m still sure we stopped at the right time. I’m proud of what we did but I didn’t want to dilute it, or for us to get embarrassing by trying to go on forever. We finished at our peak. I think we had achieved all we wanted or needed to, both commercially and artistically.” — Paul Weller
The Jam, formed in 1972, propelling Weller into the consciousness of the British youth. While the group did emerge during the height of punk rock, even adopting some influence from the movement, the mod subculture was essential to the band’s sound and styling; and thus were apart of the subculture’s revival in the seventies. The band also held influences from new wave and traditional soul and rhythm and blues, and combined all this with a distinctive English sound in their tailored suits. The Jam were also very socially aware, as The Style council would also go on to become, and penned politically charged songs that dealt with topics from xenophobia to class conflict. Weller as a songwriter, as I’ve realised upon re-listening to both The Jam and The Style Council, is incredibly observant and writes with such vividness that makes it difficult to misinterpret his lyrics.
In ‘Going Underground’ the switch in phrasing from “the public gets what the public wants’ to “the public wants what the public gets” is what get’s me excited about Weller’s writing. It’s a simple switch that reflects the illusion of a democratic relationship between the British government and British public. With his serious attitude and strong voice frontman Paul Weller essentially became the voice of his generation; a generation that was, if not the first, to be disillusioned by the one before them, and a government that actively shows that it does not have the country’s best interest at heart. From his roots in The Jam, it’s easy to see the seeds for The Style Council being sewn.
The mod influence didn’t stop with The Jam, in fact, I would argue that The Style Council was more true to the origins of the subculture, especially in the beginning with the Café Bleu. The permanent lineup when on to include vocalist Dee C. Lee (former backing singer of Wham!, and member of the band Central Line ) in addition to drummer Steve White. The band would also occasionally collaborate with other artists such as Tracie Young, Tracy Horn (of Everything But The Girl), and rapper Dizzy Heights. In this era Weller and Talbot fully embraced the café culture, a more 60’s European styling, and a Jazzier sound (and later on soulful also), truer to the earlier iteration of the mods. Understandably, a lot fans from The Jam didn’t crossover to this new project of Weller’s.
Now The Style Council is as much Talbot’s band as it is Weller’s, there’s always going to be that hyper focus on the lead singer, but Talbot’s own musical contribution and prowess should be commended, his keyboardist skills are as much essential to the sound of The Style Council as Weller’s pen.
“Mick and I have an awful lot in common, […] Musically and culturally we’d grown up through the skinhead, suede head thing and become mods in the seventies, so a lot of our influences were very similar.”
Café Bleu divided both critics and fans alike, it’s a 44 minute fusion of jazz, soul, and pop. It’s an ambitious album to start off with, considering 7 out of the albums 13 tracks don’t even include Weller’s voice or any vocals at all. There’s songs like ‘Bleu Cafe’ that sounded like it could’ve been apart of the soundtrack for a French new wave film, or ‘The Paris Match’ with Tracey Thorn is like something you would hear in a quaint underground jazz bar, smoke clouding the room and dimmed lights setting the scene. Then there’s ‘Headstart for Happiness’ which has the signature Style Council pop blend we would come to know and love. For the most part it’s a very atmospheric album despite its eclectic-ness.
I admire how they didn’t completely stick to one sound, it just showcases how many influences they had and just how varied those influences were, and I think worked in their favour — it separated them, amongst other factors, from the typical ‘eighties band’ sound and archetype. They experimented, they took chances, and for the most part it paid off. From the beginning they were showing their versatility, on Introducing The Style Council there’s the funky ‘Money Go-Round’, the synth heavy ‘Long Hot Summer’ or the soulful ‘Speak Like a Child’ which all sound like they could come from completely different albums.
When I watched Paul Weller’s “What’s In My Bag?” video with Amoeba Records, I can’t lie, I was a little shocked with just how eclectic his taste actually was. You could tell he’s someone who’s not afraid to venture out and listen to all kinds of music, completely different to maybe what he’s comfortable with — honestly the best kind of music lovers. Watching this video, you quickly release that The Jam, even from conception (whether known or unknown), really had its days numbered and Weller going on to from The Style Council was inevitable.
“I had total belief in The Style Council. I was obsessed in the early years, I lived and breathed it all. I meant every word, and felt every action. Our Favourite Shop was its culmination.” — Paul Weller
Unanimously decided as The Style Council’s best album, the one that most people will think of when they hear the bands name, and for good reason. Our Favourite Shop (known as Internationalists in the US), released in 1985, is unfortunately still as relevant as ever almost 40 years later. Upon re-listening to Our Favourite Shop, i’m left wondering why this isn’t on any of the ‘Best British Albums” lists. One of the stand out tracks for me is ‘A Stones Throw Away’ for its instrumental, along with the introduction track ‘Homebreakers’where Talbot delivers a deep soulful vocal performance. It’s that dark and brooding emotion in Talbot’s voice that really gives the song it’s life. ‘Walls Come Tumbling Down’ has almost gospel feel to it, and I guess that’s fitting considering the charged message of the song.
It’s a cohesive 50 minuets of eclectic soulfulness that takes on topics from loss of a friend, to excessive consumerism, racism, and a government in power to serve only themselves. There was the National Front, unemployment, strikes and threats to workers rights, along with the culture of consumerism and materialism, Our Favourite Shop was a strong reflection of Britain in the eighties, so good it could practically be treated as some kind of historical primary source.
It was during this era where The Style Council were also at their peak politically, and made an effort to practice what they preach. They sought out a diverse lineup to both record and tour with, balancing out the number between men and women. They took part in events like Live Aid, Weller being apart of the charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas?, performing at gigs that supported various causes like the Anti-Apartheid campaign, and penning the song ‘Soul Deep’ which raised money for the miners that were on strike nationwide. The Style Council would also go on to be apart of the Red Wedge, a musical collective that was created by Billy Bragg in support of the Labour Party, which took aim at then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
By 1987 The Style Council had released an album almost every year since 1983, and by the time it came to record The Cost of Loving it’s evident that there was a feeling of creative burn out, and lacks that same enthusiasm felt on Our Favourite Shop or Cafe Bleu — which now that I think about it, could be from the pressure to follow up on the success of Our Favourite Shop. Now that’s not to say it’s a bad album and in the landscape of their discography they actually don’t gave ‘bad’ album, despite it maybe being almost too polished an album, it still holds its own weight and deserves a revisit by critics and fans alike. ‘It Didn’t Matter’, ‘Waiting’, and ‘The Cost of Loving’ are the standouts for me, and this route down the more contemporary (for the eighties) American RnB sound really suits the band well. It should also be noted that Dee C Lee really pushes the album forward for me, her harmonies with Weller and own solo parts really do carry the album, adding that extra touch of soul and she really sounds amazing.
“If this was gonna be our last time, we better make sure it counts.”
Oh boy did they make it count. Confessions of a Pop Group was released in 1988 and is The Style Council at their most ambitious, and in my opinion they’re most realised since Our Favourite Shop. The album is split into two sides; side A, titled The Piano Paintings, contains elegant fusions of classical and jazz inspired songs. Side B, which is also titled Confessions of a Pop Group, features slightly elevated versions of the funk and soul pop compositions that The Style Council had become known for. Honestly, it’s one of their best albums and might be my favourite. The split between sounds is not unlike Cafe Bleu, and it’s fitting that they should come full circle for their last release.
To this day there hasn’t been a band to look or sound like The Style Council, and like Wham! or Sade, they’re are an eighties act that I would love to see have some kind of revival by the younger generation, or even have some more love shown by some of the older ones — they deserve the recognition.
