I'm sure most of you experienced this before. You know, those records you looooved way back in the days, played them up and down when they were fresh and enjoyed for weeks, months or years... but then for whatever reason you kinda forget about it and it just get's dusty somwhere in your vast collection. And suddenly, many many years later for whatever reason you rediscover it and say to yourself "Damn, why did I sleep on it for all this time? This was my jam!" So you put it on powerplay once more.

I had this experience again a few days ago with the Style Council's "Café Bleu" when I supplemented my old vinyl copy with a cheap CD I found in a cut out shelve.

Now that was/is a really fine album! Very eclectic, yes. But in the most positive way. Like many Prince albums it is covering lots of musical styles. But it still has that certain flow to it (especially on side one) that keeps the whole thing together, a frame that makes it more than just a collection of different songs. Their follow up album "Our favourite shop" was maybe more polished, maybe more consitent, yeah... maybe better. But for the next several weeks I'm gonna enjoy "Cafe Bleu". Again.





Style Council - Café Bleu (released 1984)

Mick's Blessings
The Whole Point of No Return
Me Ship Came In!
Blue Café
The Paris Match
My Ever Changing Moods
Dropping Bombs on the White House
A Gospel
Strength of Your Nature
You're the Best Thing
Here's One That Got Away
Headstart for Happiness
Council Meetin'

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[This message was edited Thu Jul 22 2:29:56 2004 by Dancelot]

I always dug the Style Council!! I think there are a lot of Jam fans that still turn up their nose at this period, but this is the music that got me into Paul Weller.... "Cafe Bleu", (and also "My Ever Changing Moods"), then "Our Favourite Shop("Internationalists" in the US)...I wasn't as crazy about "The Cost Of Loving"(Though I LOVE "Walking The Night") but 1988's "Confessions Of a Pop Group" is one of my favorite albums!
[This message was edited Thu Jul 22 6:38:43 2004 by paligap]

I didn't hear Cafe Bleu till I picked up the box set a few years ago. Definitely my favourite album. I really love the first few years of the Style Council. The poster is very right about many Jam fans unfairly neglecting the Style Council. But of course that's going to happen when a band as great as the Jam splits.

Yes, this a a very good album, and I am a big Style Council fan (I even loved The Cost of Loving ). I believe this was also SC's biggest charting album in America. (such a shame they didn't make it quite big in America too.) But with songs as great as "My Ever Changing Moods" and "You're The Best Thing", the album is sooooo eclectic that it's just messy and sort of uneven. I mean, they go all over the place with the diversity of the music. RocK, Pop, Soul, Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Rap, New Wave, etc. I mean look at the difference between sides 1 and 2: Side 1 has more Adult/Contempoary Soul and Jazz while side 2 is more Pop and Rock oriented. So it's not their best album, but a fairly good one anyway.

By the way, that one song with that chick from Everything But The Girl singing on it is awful.