![]() ![]() This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. My Ever-Changing Moods (Demo)* Sign Up For the SDE newsletter Submit Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse (Extended version)*ī5. Long Hot Summers: The Story of The Style Council 3LP vinylĪ5. Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse (Extended version) * Shop Style Council (and Dee C.Long Hot Summers: The Story of The Style Council 2CD setġ8. If only this could have been continued after they’d slit up for the numerous catalogue releases that have followed. Simon Halfon’s original artwork was sublime and did more to present them almost as a lifestyle rather than a band, more so in fact than their videos or photoshoots. But reasonable enough is by no means what we used to see from the Style Council back in the day. (Is that a clue that it was included more for its synch appeal?) So it’s a shame to see rarities like the Instrumental of Shout To The Top relegated to the accompanying compact disc and HD streaming editions. The only way to enjoy this release is on vinyl – that’s what these songs were originally recorded for, after all. They didn’t as much dance on the grave of The Jam, more set up a cocktail bar in the cemetery. Which is ridiculous because, at the time, mod was locked firmly in the past. Is it me or do so many Style Council reissues and compilations have too much of a nod towards Weller’s mod days? It’s almost like someone at label level has decided that’s what he’s most well known for, so that’s what has to form part of the presentation of The Style Council. So it would have been nice to have seen some of this material reflected on the compilation. To say nothing of the complementary artwork by Simon Halfon. The B-side of See The Day, for example, was even credited to The Council Collective. Her mid-80s solo releases were very much extensions of the Style Council. You wouldn’t make a star Wars documentary and complete omit one of the movies, would you? This is their Jedi, after all, not their Holiday Special. But that’s entirely a reflection on Polydor, and in no way a reflection on Weller and Talbot’s ongoing thirst for new horizons in dance music. Sure, it was rejected by the record company when they delivered it in 1989. We can’t find any material from the band’s fifth and final studio album. It’s a welcome addition although we should also add that there’s one other job of sleevenotes and promotion that the world is waiting for Martin to put some Hollywood welly behind, and that’s the work of his brother Tim’s band: the infamous and sumptuous pop catalogue of Frazier Chorus.Īnother rarity, this comes in the form of an “Early Instrumental Version” at the end of Disc One, Side One and it’s a joy: just under three minutes in the company of Mick Talbot dueling with himself on both piano and organ. “Who am I kidding? Yes, and to my adulthood as well”. “The Style Council gave so much to my youth,” he says. Noticing a theme here? The theme, or one of them, is how Weller and Talbot used to paint from such a broad baroque pop palette that they were pretty much in a class of their own.Ī self-confessed fanatic of the group, actor Martin Freeman provides a fresh take with his sleevenotes. The light summer breeze-like jazz of this track was a highlight on Our Favourite Shop, its effortlessness belying its genius. The sound quality is up and down on this one but the music is dramatic, energetic, and enthralling. And you can hear how it became an Extended Version: the track rounds out nicely at the three-minute mark, but then continues into a drum solo – for more than a full minute! – before bursting back to life. Previously unreleased, it’s a pure Dave Brubeck-style jazz pastiche. And they couldn’t have dropped it at a better time. Seems like The Council had one last political bombshell up their sleeve. It’s no coincidence that this track is being released days before such a pivotal US election. Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse (Extended version) But, in the interests of balance, here are the five standout tracks that left us buzzing, and the five thoughts that hung over us like question marks as we lifted the needle at the end of Disc Three, Side 2.ġ. It’s a three-LP set, on either coloured or black vinyl and – like anything of this stature and ambition – there’s a mixture of pros and cons to the finished product. Setting out to be a “definitive career anthology,” Long Hot Summers: The Story of The Style Council is out now and we’ve been listening to it all weekend. ![]()
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