It's my brother's birthday next week so I bought him The Style Council On Film DVD set. I had a quick flick through and found the song " Confessions Of A Pop Group ".
I've not played this song for ages and I forgot how funky it was. I think Paul Weller was better when he had a little funk and soul in his music instead of his plodding guitar noodles which he serves up lately.
" Confessions Of A Pop Group " is funky as hell with a slap bass similar to War On The Bullshit by Osiris. If Prince had written this song it would have been a favourite with fans. Check it out / download / whatever ... just hear it.

i love the style council... check out precious by the jam talk bout funk !!! this could b curtis mayfield its that good !

mr weller used 2 b funki alrite !!!

Paul Weller RULES!!! I love his work with Style Council as well as The Jam. Your brother is lucky he's getting that DVD. I wish I had someone get that for me.

The Modfather... Weller is one steady performer, he always delivers quality!

where did you get the DVD? is it availible in the US?

pacey68 said:

I loved some of the later Jam stuff like "Town Called Malice", "Ghosts" and their cover of "Stoned Out Of My Mind".

Some of the Style Council stuff was superb too.

Don't like his current direction at all though. Guy's boring.

chemmie said:

Released last week in the uk.Available in all the stores in the UK. Try www.amazon.co.uk but it will be UK region. It is available as 2x DVD with the following :

SHOWBIZ - Live at Wembley Arena 1985 complete with orchestra!
JerUSAlem - The Style Council's short movie
CONFESSIONS OF A POP GROUP - TV Special
1988 Interview
Plus all 19 promos with 4 alternate versions.

Total Running Time : 225 Minutes 53 Seconds

I think it will be released at a later date as a single disc with the promos only.
[This message was edited Mon Dec 1 15:37:42 PST 2003 by pacey68]

One of my favorite albums of the 80's is 'Internationalists'.

That album has some of the finest melodies known to man.

I just bought The Complete Adventures of the Style Council today. Weller has never failed to attract my attention.

Y'all should listen to "Money Go Round". Now that's funky!!!

NWF said:

Good choice - you got the box set!
Don't forget to play Confessions Of A Pop Group.

violator said:

Released in the rest of the world as "Our Favourite Shop". Their biggest selling album and second best after Confessions.

pacey68 said:

I actually heard that "Confessions..." was their weakest album. Their best one (IMO) was "Introducing..."

NWF said:

You're sort of right. "Introducing TSC" is a mini-album featuring the first three singles, including two versions of "Long Hot Summer" (the essential full-length one) and a dub one, plus a couple of extra tracks. Not a bad moment there. "Confessions" is a hit and miss thing. The title track is the funkiest Weller ever got, while "Changing Of the Guard" and "It's A Very Deep Sea" are the saddest. "Our Favourite Shop" had some good moments, but it sounds really really dated now, more of a snapshot of 1980s radical chic, if you're into that kind of thing. "Cafe Bleu" is probably a bit better. In fact, compared to Weller's really disappointing, interchangeable pub rock ditties, it's hard to believe he was that musically adventurous in his youth.

His last album, "Illumination" is a great album. I've been a Paul Weller/Jam fan for years and think this is as good as anything he has done. Check it out if you haven't already.

NWF said:

It wasn't a proper "studio" album though. Just a collection of singles and B-sides.
Confessions is Paul Weller's Pet Sounds. Ambitious , melodic , challenging , timeless. Vastly underrated in my humble opinion. It needs rediscovering by a new generation.

Pagey said:

It's Written In The Stars was the best song he's written for years. Looking back to his soul boy roots instead of his pub rock crap , although the rest of the album is more of the latter.

frankjotzo said:

You want dated? Dig out The Cost Of Loving album. Dated production and lyrical content. The rap by The Dynamic 3 on Right To Go is embarrassing. They were trying to sound like a sophisticated US soul group but were too mean to pay for a decent producer who could give them that sound.AND DON'T EVEN MENTION THE ORANGE COVER!

pacey68 said:

Hey, I like The Cost of Loving. It may be a little dated but it sounds great and the most R&B-ish out of all SC albums. That orange cover was pretty creative even if it might've ripped off the Beatles. It also reminded me of Sign O' The Times a bit. That album was their "SOTT" to me.