| The Style
Council |
| Background information |
| Origin |
 London, England |
| Genre(s) |
Alternative
Pop
New Wave
Synthpop |
| Years active |
1983 – 1989 |
| Label(s) |
Polydor
- UK,
Australia,
Canada
Geffen - US |
Associated
acts |
The Jam |
| 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. Both Weller and Talbot had played a significant part
in the Mod
Revival. The first couple of singles featured drummer Zeke Manyeka. The Style Council also
featured a singer called Tracie Young who had solo hits with
"The House That Jack Built" and "Give It Some Emotion" on Weller's
Respond label. Young can be heard providing emotive and solid backing
vocals on "Boy Who Cried Wolf" (1984). The permanent lineup grew to
include drummer Steve White and Weller's
then-wife, vocalist Dee C. Lee. Other musicians,
including a horn section, were brought in as required.
|
Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Trivia
- 3 Music
Videos
- 4 Albums
- 5 External
links
- 6 References
|
History
The band's early singles showed another level of
Weller's songwriting ability and 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 of these also showcased Talbot's abilities on
keyboards and organ. These singles were compiled on "Introducing The Style
Council" towards the end of 1983. This was a mini-album released in
Holland and Japan. The Dutch version was heavily imported to the UK.
In 1984, the single "My Ever-Changing Moods" B/W
the joyous Hammond Organ instrumental "Mick's Company" reached #29 on
the Billboard
Hot 100
in the United States, remaining to this day Weller's greatest success
on the American charts, while the group
reached the peak of their success in the UK with the 1985 album Our
Favourite Shop.
However, to Weller's fans, the decision to split
up The
Jam at the height of their commercial success was met with
considerable controversy. 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 beloved 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. Structurally, many of the
band's early singles were not 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. Moreover, 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 UK plunged.
The Style Council took a more overtly political
approach than The Jam in their lyrics, with tracks such as "The
Lodgers", and "Come To Milton Keynes" being deliberate
attacks on "Middle England" and the Thatcherite
principles which were prevalent in the 1980s. Paul was also
instrumental in the formation of Red Wedge with Billy
Bragg. However, Paul has more recently expressed 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 powerful live album,
"Home and Abroad", and in 1987 the album "The Cost of Loving" was
launched, followed later in the year by the upbeat single "Wanted (Or
Waiter There's Some Soup In My Flies)". However, by the time
"Confessions of a Pop Group" was released a year later, the group's
popularity had largely evaporated.
The Style Council broke up after recording a house
album, Modernism: A New Decade that was rejected by
their record label. Paul moved on to a more commercially successful
solo career (still featuring Steve White on drums) while Mick and Steve
released two albums as Talbot/White -- United States of Mind
(1995) and Off the Beaten Track (1996). More
recently Mick and Steve have formed "The Players" with Damon
Minchella (Ocean Colour Scene/Paul
Weller) and Aziz Ibrahim (Ian Brown). Although Weller and
Dee C. Lee had two children together, they are no longer married.
Trivia
Former brass player Stewart Prosser went on to a
second career in merchant banking and is now Communications Director of
Lehman Brothers Bank.
All of the Style Council's United Kingdom
releases (this includes singles, 12" maxis, albums, compact discs and
re-issues thereof) would feature the work of graphic designer Simon
Halfon (often working with Mr. Weller and honing Weller's ideas into a
conventional graphic usage). Through his work with the group and Weller
solo, Mr. Halfon has distinguished himself for his encyclopaedic
knowledge of 1960s design technique and his abilitiy to use it in more
recent applications. 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.
Music Videos
- Shout to the Top
- My Ever Changing Moods
- Long Hot Summer
- Walls Come Tumbling Down
- You're the Best Thing
- Speak Like a Child
- Have You Ever Had It Blue?
- A Solid Bond In Your Heart
- Big Boss Groove
- Wanted
- Money Go Round
- Boy Who Cried Wolf
- The Lodgers
- Life At A Top Peoples Health Farm
- Promised Land
Albums
- Introducing The Style
Council (1983) - A mini-LP initially released
only in the US, Holland, and Japan.
- Café Bleu (1984)
UK #2
- My Ever Changing Moods
(1984) - was a variation on the "Cafe Bleu" album released in North
America by Geffen Records US #56
- Our
Favourite Shop (1985) UK #1
- Internationalists
(1985) - the North American version of "Our Favourite Shop", again
released by Geffen US # 123
- Home and Abroad
(1986) UK #8
- The
Cost of Loving (1987) UK #2, US #122
- Confessions of a Pop Group
(1988) UK #15, US #174
- Modernism: A New Decade
(1989) (unreleased until 1998)
External links
References
Munn,
Iain (2006). Mr Cool's Dream. The Complete History of the
Style Council. Wholepoint Publications. ISBN
0-9551443-0-2.
