Chico1 said:

It's not as good as the first

This was also another really good one. By that point, ABC were just out to destroy that whole sparkling gold glam image that made them famous. So, they found inspiration from Roxy Music and created a record whose sounds almost parallels it. But I guess the public at large wanted more "Lexicon" stuff. But that's why I love ABC. They never tried to build on their hype. They took things into a new direction, and said to everyone who wouldn't come along for their ride.


Reminds me of someone else. I think they made an album that reflected that too.
















































[Edited 10/27/04 1:16am]

NWF said:

Each to their own taste, NWF, and I respect your decision, but as I remember it as a Brit, everyone was pretty gutted that the Jam split when they were huge.....and the Style Council were regarded as a very lame attempt by Weller to reinvent himself.

If you look at how people cringe at the mention of TSC now, believe me, people weren't far off that at the time, too.

RocknRollDave said:

yes, ther was some criticism about that, but nevertheless the first two albums, especially "Our favorite shop" got quite some good reviews an comments in magazines and from radio hosts, no?

sosgemini said:

i loved this cd.....

3bogs said:

kisscamille said:

NWF said:[quote]My vote would go to The Style Council's 1987 classic "The Cost Of Loving". By that point, TSC was the biggest thing in the U.K. (& unfortunately not in the U.S.). But when this album was released, things kinda went downward. The music was great, but many felt that Paul Weller's political agenda was beginning to reflect very heavily in his music. So I guess that's why a ot of folks were turned off by it.




Personally, I LOVE this album. It's a great collection of Soul/Pop/Funk tunes and nice arrangements and stuff. I'm still trying to figure out why this was not a hit in America. It would've done great on the R&B charts, since the music sounded a lot like American R&B. Surrrrre, a British group like Loose Ends could break America in the Soul market, but not Style Council? Gimme a break. I guess with Paul's reputation as being thoroughly and defiantly British, it pretty much showed in the music. But then again Sade, Swing Out Sister, Scritti Politti, as well as other U.K. Soul/Pop acts were pretty hot in America too. So I'm not trying to hear that. Well, whatever the excuse was as to why it wasn't successul, it's still a shame.

Anyways, I think if you're a fan of 80's Soul/Pop, as well as left-wing politics, then I think you will enjoy this album as much as I do.

So, have you orgers got a case for an album that you liked that everyone else thought sucked?





I loooooved the High cost if Loving'

Key tracks

"Heavens above and Walking the Night"

sadly i lost this album in a fire, and cant find it anywhere

Totally agree with Thunderbird about Pop. While its very en vogue to trash that disc, it is really quite good. In many ways, it was prophetic of all the Britney, Boy-band crap to come the following year with its ironic take on mass-market consumption.

RocknRollDave said:

I didn't know that Style Council are that embarrassing today. I mean, they made some great tunes if you ask me. It isn't like listening to Bros. or something. (with all due respect to you Bros. fans)

I think they would've done well in America, even in the R&B charts. Heck, there were already a lot of New Wave/Soul/Pop bands claiming their place anyway.

NWF said:

Classic Style Council

ever chaging moods
you're the best thing that ever happened
Heavens above
Walking the Night
Angel ( the Anita baker Cover)
Beat Surrender ( jam,style Council it was Paul Fuckin Weller )

TheRealFiness said:

Great tunes. So I guess I'm not the only Paul Weller fan here.

NWF said:

Speak Like A Child, Shout To The Top, Solid Bond..... All good tunes up to a point...Maybe it's just me, but the whole look of the band and the concept were just .....naff. An I HATE his solo stuff. How dull has he gone?!?!?!?!

RocknRollDave said:

While he was on the whole soul trip, he should've come up with more stuff like the Jam's version of Get Yourself Together by the Small Faces (on the "Extras" compilation of rareties). Now, THAT is how to do white soul.

Cloudbuster said:

RocknRollDave said:

I have that one. It's quite good actually. I liked when The Jam did them soul covers, because they put their own little spin on it.

NWF said:

I liked their And Your Bird Can Sing too


I reckon that towards the end of the Jam, all that stuff can be seen as pretty much Weller solo stuff...Bitterest Pill, Beat Surrender..It was all Weller, wasn't it? Can't see the influence of the other two on those songs really.

RocknRollDave said:

I guess not. But many people think that's how the Jam broke up. Paul was out to prove that he was a soul boy and not this.....Punk. But fans felt that the other 2 couldn't keep up with Paul's new direction. But really, that's not the case.

NWF said:

I certainly have no doubts as to their musical ability - I think they are both very highly talented. Perhaps they just didn't have the feel for that kind of music, which is arguably just as important. I dunno. Maybe I should put my hand up here and admit that's possibly why I don't like the Style Council stuff. Maybe I just ain't got the feel in me - coul be it's me not the music at fault
[Edited 10/27/04 8:19am]

Totally agree with you guys about U2's POP. I actually like it better than ZOOROPA.

I would add: NO CODE - Pearl Jam

VITALOGY - Pearl Jam

NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI - R.E.M.

kisscamille said:

SquirrelMeat said:

how did I ever forget about this
fantastic album!!!

I have to go look for it in the
attic right now. I'm sure I've
still got it somewhere.

Superb! Yes!

Plus..

SassyBritches said:

Zooropa is my favorite U2 album, then Pop, and I wasn't aware people didn't like these albums.

NWF said:

Weller split the Jam because he was bored with the music they were making, their sound and the fact that neither the bassist nor the drummer could play the other styles of music he wanted to experiment with. This was especially true of Rick Buckler, the drummer, who said the band's final - and musically most diverse - album, The Gift, was "not a drummer's album". Weller himself said that he preferred the drums he'd played on his demos to those on the finished tracks.

I don't think The Style Council ever made a great album, but they did come up with about twenty classic or almost classic songs. All five of their albums were very different one from the other, with the last three - Cost of Loving, Confessions of a Pop Group and Modernism: A New Decade - being the most experimental (taking in mid-eighties American soul, chamber pop and house respectively). They are also the most patchy and the least successful, commercially or critically (in fact Modernism went unreleased until it came out as part of a box set a few years ago). Unfortunately Weller, no doubt chastened by the failure of the second part of the Style Council's career, shied away from experimenting as a solo artist and returned to doing what the public loved him best for - making the sort of music he'd grown bored with in The Jam.

David Bowie - 1.Outside
Morrissey - Southpaw Grammar
Bob Dylan - Down In The Groove
The Clash - Sandinista!
Marvin Gaye - Here My Dear
Tricky - Angels With Dirty Faces
The Rolling Stones - Undercover
Prince - The Rainbow Children

mrdespues said:

...but, come on... tonight does suck

Everything's Different Now--'Til Tuesday. I don't know if people hated it but nobody seemed to ever notice it.
I was a big Adam & the Ants fan. I've never heard them get much praise (maybe in England they did).

I also like:
Chaos & Disorder
New Power Soul
The Rainbow Children

fms said:

It most certainly does.

Shapeshifter said:

I think most fans of his music would list it as being among their favorites. Maybe you're just thinking of critics and even they were mixed about that one.


I love that album. I had a hard time with it at first, but I kept at it. It's by far his most challenging listen, but it also has some of his best songs. The b-sides are killer too. Check 'em out if you haven't already.