It was the way Weller dealt with the politics of love that put me over the top. Oh, sure, I missed the days of Weller’s pure aggression and adrenaline with The Jam, but this stuff reminded me of the great pop music of the day coming from Culture Club and Wham!, only with a heart and a keen scene of observation of what was happening in these dawning days of conservative principles of Reaganism in the States, and it’s equally evil twin from the UK Thatcherism.īut, in my mind, it wasn’t just Weller’s social eye that separated The Council from the other pop artists of the day. I loved their integration of American soul with the slickness of European sophisticated pop. Regardless of my initial exposure to the band, I immediately fell in love with The Style Council. The EP was a short collection of the band’s initial cache of brilliant UK singles, including one of my all-time favorites, “Long Hot Summer.” The other album apparently was a re-working, much like was the American record companies used to do to Sixties English bands like the Beatles and Stones, of The Style Council’s UK album Bleu Cafe along with a sprinkling of singles from the homeland and repackaged here as My Ever Changing Moods. Since my mind has near-eidetic capabilities, I remembered that article from the previous summer and bought the first two stateside releases by Paul Weller’s new band, the debut EP Introducing The Style Council and the band’s first US long player entitled My Ever Changing Moods. Boy, those were the days!Īnyway, one day during the winter of that junior year, I saw two albums by The Style Council on display at the Den. And, since I worked during college, I was able to live comfortably while getting a couple albums a week from either the Den or the Used Record Shop. Honestly, the only things I ever really purchased at the Den were albums, since they sold them for $3 to $5 off the list price of $10, which is quite a savings for a college student. Just the prior year, the nearby shopping area called The Village had a new general store move in called Discount Den. So, after the summer in Wisconsin ended, I headed back to Ball State University for my junior year. Since the article mentioned that the mods loved old soul and R&B hits from the US, including my beloved Motown music, I knew that I had to check out The Style Council. The only difference was their were new bands whose music was being played at these dances, including the later music of The Jam and the new Paul Weller group The Style Council. One day, during the summer of 1983 while working and living in Southern Wisconsin at a resort, I bought a music magazine in nearby Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in which was an article about a new mod scene that was popping up as a second generation took to the music and clothing style beloved by the original mods in the Sixties. Well, remember, I was a fan of The Jam and specifically their lead singer and creative visionary Paul Weller. How in the heck can a man who grew up in Central Indiana, spent four short years in Southwestern Ohio, then moved back to his hometown, the one in which our said hero claimed to which he would never return, to raise his family, ever hear of the UK-centric and generally altogether European artist The Style Council? Many of you will be scratching your heads at that statement. I am just going to say it: The Style Council is rock’s most underrated band of all-time.
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