UrbaNE bLUES
mICkS bLESSINgS
drEw HIpSON
Side one of Café Bleu is bookedended by two instrumentals: the talbot-penned ‘mick's Blessings'which wryly took its cue from the Billy taylor trio version of gospel/jazz track ‘i Wish i Knew how it Would feel to Be free’ with its medley of piano, handclaps and cymbal - and the controversially titled ‘dropping Bombs on the Whitehouse’.
THE wHOLE pOINT Of NO
rETUrN
dENNIS mUNdaY
many Jam fans stated that Paul had lost his fire with tSC, which is not valid. his musical horizons had widened, and he was able to write songs across the musical spectrum, which included many incendiary political statements. Paul had dipped his toes in the political mire with the Jam, however, with tSC he dived into the pit, and what followed, was a coruscating political critique, particularly against thatcher’s
authoritarian government. the polemic of tSC political output was always inflammatory, but the music didn’t need to be inflammable, as it is with ‘the Whole Point of no return’. Although subtle in construction, and with a simple, sublime guitar, backing a wistful vocal, the political statement is as powerful as ‘money-Go-round’. the song’s message is as strong today as the day he recorded it at Solid Bond Studios, perhaps even stronger.
THE wHOLE pOINT Of NO
rETUrN
paT gILbErT, mOjO
in ‘the Whole Point of no return’ Weller returned to the theme of class conflict. here, the sentiments of ‘the eton rifles’ were remade in the vein of romantic poetry: ‘sparrow’ is rhymed with ‘righteous arrow’ as the narrator muses on the theoretical simplicity of the populace ‘rising up and taking back the property of every man’ from the landed gentry. its jazzy chords picked out on a hollowbodied guitar, this is young Weller the Angry young man finding a more sophisticated way to operate, and it works; few can be unmoved by its affecting sense of naive hope and nagging despair.
THE wHOLE pOINT Of NO rETUrN
rObErT paLmEr
THE NEw YOrk TImES
[on] ‘the Whole Point of no return', the most innocuous-
sounding tune on [Café Bleu], protests in its lyric that 'the laws made by and for the rich’, and other lyrics are equally biting. the Jam's rock sound may be a thing of the past, but mr Weller's idealism remains intact.
mE SHIp CamE IN SImON prICE, rECOrd COLLECTOr
‘the first side,’ Weller told Smash hits’ neil tennant, ‘is supposed to be almost like a live sound, like a combo playing in a club.' the edgy, restless Latin jazz instrumental ‘me Ship Came in’ lived up to that billing.
bLUE Café
drEw HIpSON
Weller was intrigued by the idea of creating a movie soundtrack instrumental. he had already cited ‘theme from A Summer Place’ by Percy faith and ‘the Windmills of your mind', scored by michel Legrand for 60s flick the thomas Crown Affair - as particular favourites, and mick talbot, had, of course, already composed the brilliant movie end credit piece ‘Le départ', of which the sleeve notes on the À Paris eP claimed was to be used for a movie called the Golden Lama starring Alain mélon. Although this was merely Weller and talbot’s idea of ‘humour’, it did, however, indicate that film score music was on the radar. the resultant score was a gorgeous, sombre piece, aptly titled 'Blue Café’, which had the same tonal quality as the mid-60s work of
jazz pianist and film score composer Krzysztof Komeda, and showcased Weller's exquisite jazz guitar lead work; a style of playing and sound which he had first attempted, with quite spectacular results, on the Jam B-side ‘Shopping’.
bLUE Café
jOHN YOUNg, CrEEm
'Blue Café' mates exquisite afterhours guitar with oozing strings to create a romantic jewel worthy of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds.
bLUE Café
STEvE maLINS
'Blue Café' was a lazily captivating soundtrack to a Parisian boulevard stroll.
THE parIS maTCH
drEw HIpSON
the title of Weller’s chanson d’amour triste was inspired by french magazine Paris match, which featured many celebrated figures of french culture that inspired fledgling francophile’s Weller and talbot: author Albert Camus; actor Alain delon; songwriter Jacques Brel, and director françois truffaut. Weller’s love of the english romantic poets of the midnineteenth century (most notably William Wordsworth) crops up on the chorus; however, the atmosphere – accentuated by Jean-Louis rocques’ superbly authentic accordion playing - is decidedly Piaf-esque. ‘the Paris match’ is the greatest song that Weller has ever penned.
THE parIS maTCH
gUS TaYLOr, THE magIC gaNg
When you think of the Style Council – you think disco, you think soul, you think boogie. But they’ve got this down too, they do the cool jazz thing really well. this tune’s so wavey. Beautiful chords, beautiful melody. featuring tracey thorn too! What’s not to love?
THE parIS maTCH
CHrIS CaTCHpOLE, mOjO
the decision to let a young tracey thorn take the lead on the gorgeous ‘the Paris match’ was inspired.
THE parIS maTCH
CHrIS bOSTOCk, jO bOxErS ‘the Paris match’ was more involved due to its arrangement. At that point, i hadn’t even heard the other version of ‘the Paris match’ that Paul sings on, so it was totally new to me. All i had to go on was drums, guide vocal and guitar. mick had seen me playing double-bass during the making of the Subway Sect album Songs for Sale and Paul asked if i fancied having a go at trying something out for ‘the Paris match’, and i just thought “Why not?” i didn’t know the song and so went straight into it blind, learning the song and its complex arrangement while working out and recording the parts in sections with guidance from mick. tracey thorn’s amazing haunting, sultry voice was already recorded, along with some beautiful moody jazzy guitar from
Ben Watt and Steve White’s slickly brushed kit.
i’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve since said that this version of ‘the Paris match’ is their favourite Style Council track of all time without realising it’s me playing on it, so i have to take that to mean it was a success. that track turned out so atmospheric, it sends shivers up my spine to this day.
THE parIS maTCH STEvE wHITE
We didn’t have a rehearsal. We ran the song once and that was it. in fact, Paul was still finishing chords up. ‘the Paris match’ was performed at that session as he finished it. he was looking at me and nodding where there was a verse and a chorus and for the middle eight. And i just went with it. But to be honest, that was not that dissimilar to the way i’d spent the last two years doing gigs in London with dance and pop bands.
THE parIS maTCH paUL wELLEr
for all the faults that are listed about the Style Council, the other side is that there were some great tunes which got overlooked and i think this is one. for me it's all about capturing a mood or a certain emotion. it was about a brief affair i had at the time and that thing where you want to be together but you can't. People might think the lyrics are a bit clichéd, but i can physically
remember going back to my hotel, walking the Parisian streets at dawn.
mY EvEr CHaNgINg mOOdS aLExIS pETrIdIS
THE gUardIaN
take your pick from the ballad on Café Bleu, or the 70s soulinspired reading released as a single. Both are superb in their own ways, the ambivalence of the lyric and the strong melody (inspired, one US critic insists, by easy-listening band Classics iV’s 1968 hit ‘Stormy’) meaning it works perfectly as either wistful lament or celebratory anthem.
drOppINg bOmbS ON THE wHITEHOUSE
drEw HIpSON
regarded as ‘Blue note clonework’ by nme journalist hector Cook, Weller and talbot were at pains to point out that they were not jazz musicians, but jazz fans. enthused by Steve White’s incredible Buddy rich-inspired drum technique and knowledge of the Blue note label, Weller and talbot began discovering a whole host of modern jazz records which the protagonist of Absolute Beginners took aesthetic inspiration from. the dual meaning (dropping bombs is a bebop drumming phrase) of the title was inspired.
drOppINg bOmbS ON THE wHITEHOUSE
paUL wELLEr
We wanted to call the album that in the States and they wouldn't let
us. All those nuclear warheads sitting in our country. it was a dodgy time.
HEadSTarT fOr HappINESS paT gILbErT
i think ‘headstart’ best sums up the freedom Weller felt after escaping the Jam – its weightlessness and swinging, Chairmen of the Board groove were conclusive proof that Paul had needed to move on and work with other musicians to realise his vision of a new kind of modernist sound. it’s a fantastic ensemble recording: the jazzy, tumblingdown bridge of ‘Peace in my mind is so happy to find’ showed at a stroke what Steve White brought to the party in terms of energy and rhythmic flair; and dee C. Lee’s voice lent the whole thing a distinctive, understated extra layer of class.
a gOSpEL SImON prICE, rECOrd COLLECTOr
the album misfired only once. with ‘A Gospel’, on which rapper dizzy hite, aka Wag Club habitué Brian Beaton, inveighed against gun culture, the arms race, brainwashing, propaganda, advertising, cocaine, tyranny and poverty, and echoed Weller's dream of hanging the elite (‘i can't wait for the day they do the lamppost swing’). one could certainly applaud Weller's intention - to drag the mods kicking and screaming towards contemporary black music - but the reality felt clunky and clumsy.
for all the faults that are listed about The Style Council, the other side is that there were some great tunes which got overlooked and I think ‘The paris match’ is one. paul weller.
STrENgTH Of YOUr NaTUrE HECTOr COOk, NmE
on 'Strength of your nature'
Weller polishes the dance bullet he found in 'money-Go-round' and all the potential of the Style Council comes clear. A terse crackle of pop polemic where everything is at the service of a result instead of the ingredients: the players cut back to paragraphs (talbot's organ romp works brilliantly), the hook furious.
STrENgTH Of YOUr NaTUrE jOHN YOUNg, CrEEm
'Strength of your nature', takes Sly Stone's 'dance to the music' and beats it to a pulp.
YOU’rE THE bEST THINg aLExIS pETrIdIS
THE gUardIaN
the great Weller love song – at least until ‘you do Something to me’ came along to compete –‘you’re the Best thing’ is timelessly beautiful songwriting. in a different era, Al Green could have covered it; instead, it was subjected to a spectacularly drippy reading by dimly remembered 90s boyband 911.
YOU’rE THE bEST THINg drEw HIpSON
in the Style Council documentary broadcast on Sky Arts, Boy George singled out ‘you’re the Best thing’ as an example of 80s pop perfection, which is perhaps not surprising, as it was the closest that the Style Council ever came to sounding like Culture Club.
YOU’rE THE bEST THINg mark wINTEr, NmE
By this stage, Weller was operating on a different plane of existence. Sounding more like Sade than the Jam, this is undoubtedly one of Weller’s sexiest moments. not a common inclusion in his recent live performances, ‘you’re the Best thing’ pushed a young Weller to the very limits of his vocal range.
YOU’rE THE bEST THINg drEw HIpSON
inspired by the 1983 Anita Baker single ‘you’re the Best thing yet’, Weller’s variation on the radiofriendly bass synth pop of ‘Long hot Summer (it don’t matter What i do)’ was embellished with a gorgeous guitar motif and brass (trumpet, trombone and sax). A first-dance favourite, Weller’s vocal range is extraordinary and producer Peter Wilson’s string arrangement and co-production are on point. A trifle too sweet for Jam diehards, though, who preferred the Bass Weejun stomp of the single B-side ‘the Big Boss Groove’.
HErE’S ONE THaT gOT awaY STEvE maLINS
the swinging, skip-along rhythm and Bobby Valentino’s violin playing on ‘here’s one that Got Away’ was a success.
HErE’S ONE THaT gOT awaY drEw HIpSON
Weller’s determination to escape the suffocating confines of suburbia were outlined in ‘Away
from the numbers’; a teenage mission-statement outlining his attempt to break free from a lifesentence of ‘pub talk’ and ‘scandal’. yet, flight from the backstreets, the emptiness, and the hot breath of hatred (‘dream time’) seemed futile and revealed that he felt equally imprisoned within the band: frozen in a prepackaged world of fan adulation (the goldfish-bowl gawping captured in the newcastle City hall footage) and defrosting fame: ‘i saw the hate and lots of people/i heard my name called above the noise/i tried to speak but my tongue was tied/Bumped into emptiness and started to cry’. A triumphant finale to the wistful yearning of ‘Away from the numbers’ and bowel-filling fear of ‘dream time’.
HErE’S ONE THaT gOT awaY CHrIS bOSTOCk
i hadn’t heard any of the tracks before. ‘here’s one that Got Away’ was just acoustic guitar, guide vocal and drums. i had to quickly break it down into its structure - in this case, just a chorus and verse - and get a handle on it.
Paul wanted a walking bass, and so for the verse i was thinking of something along the lines of ‘more today than yesterday’ by Spiral Starecase - a popular northern Soul track, while for the chorus, i worked on a swinging version of ‘i Can’t help myself’ by the four tops. these two parts seemed to balance and work well
together, so was straightforward.
COUNCIL mEETIN’
rICHard COOk, NmE
When they go straight for the heartland of hard bop in ‘Council meetin" the spectacle of horn players bumming cliches off their tutors record collections and talbot overreaching his competence is neither exciting nor purposeful.
Café bLEU
CHrIS CaTCHpOLE, mOjO
As the title suggests, Café Bleu’s vibe is one of continental sophistication: languid, jazzy chords conjuring up images of Gitane smoke drifting over the Seine and an immaculately cut rain mac folded over one arm.
Café bLEU
marY NOvakOvICH
THE INdEpENdENT
Weller, to his credit, was still oozing style, and looked like an extra from À Bout de Souffle. this time we were inspired to be seen sitting in a continental café, looking nonchalant, reading Le monde and smoking unfiltered Gitanes. Again, the look prevailed. the music, unfortunately, left [me] cold and not a little derisive.
Café bLEU
paUL wELLEr
i remember playing rick Buckler some tracks off Café Bleu, before it came out. And he was stunned: 'Are you taking the piss?' i suppose it must have been the same for a lot of Jam fans.
prISTINELY prESSEd prOvOCaTEUrS
HOmEbrEakErS
drEw HIpSON
the marvin Gaye-inspired album opener features talbot – who cowrote the song - on lead vocal, as the theme about a family torn apart by unemployment was based on the plight of his father and brother, who were both made redundant as members of the print union SoGAt. Weller also references norman tebbit’s oftquoted line about getting on your bike and looking for work: ‘you see they tell you to move around/if you can’t find work in your own town’. Whilst Chris dean of the redskins visualised the class struggle with the detached eye of Stanley Kubrick, Weller’s communique had the sensitivity of Ken Loach.
HOmEbrEakErS
dENNIS mUNdaY
‘homebreakers’ is a reaction to norman tebbit’s callous comment about the unemployed. ‘if you can’t find a job in your town, you should get on your bike and
move away.’ never mind about your family and your community. mick took the lead vocals, but by his own admission wasn’t in Paul’s league as a vocalist, nor did he try to be. the intention was to open up the album with a strong message, but as it was the first song, it was bound to draw attention and mick received some unjust criticism for his vocal. it would have been better to open up with mick’s instrumental ‘our favourite Shop’, which would have taken the heat off him.
aLL gONE awaY
drEw HIpSON
the breezy bossa nova - which has shades of the everything But the Girl track ‘each And every one’ - was deliberately at odds with the song’s subject matter about northern mining towns targeted by the tories. Weller’s orwellian lyric condemned thatcher (her father’s grocer’s shop and the closed shop of the trade unions are referenced in Weller’s cleverly interwoven wordplay) and the effect that her pit closures had on local communities. A beautifully judged, unorthodox protest song.
COmE TO mILTON kEYNES
drEw HIpSON
A journalist queried why Weller hadn’t used Woking in the title of his assault on the soulless new developments of middle england. the reason was that it allowed him to contrast the ruthless free market capitalism of John
maynard Keynes, adopted by thatcher, with the sentiment of John milton’s poem Paradise Lost. for the accompanying video, Weller and talbot adopted the guise of music hall double-act flanagan and Allen in a Councilcamp send-up of British jingoism and American consumerism. Underneath the Arches-meetso Lucky man!
INTErNaTIONaLISTS
TErrY STaUNTON, rECOrd COLLECTOr
An attempt to rally the troops (‘Under this system there's no such thing/As the democracy our our leaders would have us sing’), later revealing that its mutinous themes were inspired by robert tressell's highly influential 1914 novel the ragged-trousered Philanthropists: ‘Coming from a reactionary working class background, it opened up my mind to politics’.
a STONES THrOw awaY
dENNIS mUNdaY
‘A Stones throw Away’ is a real gem and deals with the harsh injustices that have been perpetrated throughout the world. John mealing’s string quartet arrangement adds poignancy to the story of man’s abuse to humankind. At live gigs, Paul would perform this number on electric guitar, which gave the tune a real edge. Some critics said that since leaving the Jam Paul had lost his edge, which this track belies and perhaps he realised, it wasn’t necessary to scream out
his message.
THE STaNd Up COmIC’S INSTrUCTIONS
dENNIS mUNdaY
‘the Stand Up Comic’s instructions’, featured the comedian Lenny henry, and an attack on the racist bigotry of the comedy club scene, which has since changed. Although heavy on sentiment perhaps the song would have been better suited to the B-side of a 12” single.
THE STaNd Up COmIC’S INSTrUCTIONS
garY CrOwLEY
you have to remember that Paul had been playing 70s working men’s clubs for most of his life so was exposed to that kind of ‘comedy’. the 80s were a time of great social revolution, so you can see where he was coming from and where he was aiming for.
bOY wHO CrIEd wOLf drEw HIpSON
‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’ is undoubtedly, one of Weller’s most beautifully realised ballads, the Alfred, Lord tennyson and Aesop’s fable themes of lost love and hubris set against an eddy of descending minor chords. the keyboard sequencing by Peter Wilson and Jeremy Wakefield may sound somewhat dated; however, it doesn’t detract from the consummate craftsmanship and emotional clout of the song. Surprisingly, Weller has never attempted to resurrect it acoustically.
a maN Of grEaT prOmISE
drEw HIpSON
A heartfelt memorial to Weller’s ‘loyal and devoted’ teenage friend dave Waller, who sadly died of a heroin overdose in 1982. Waller’s rebellious nature, love of literature, and urban poetry were a huge influence on Weller in the early days of the Jam (Weller included six of his poems in the in the City songbook, and later, compiled, edited and published a book of his poetry, titled notes from hostile Street). it is without doubt one of Weller’s most memorable tunes, and resurrected acoustically during the early solo years.
a maN Of grEaT prOmISE STEvE wHITE
i didn’t at first realise what ‘A man of Great Promise’ was about, but when Paul told me the story behind the lyrics i was blown away; that’s the thing about that record; really upbeat positive chords and melodies and beautiful, insightful lyrics.
a maN Of grEaT prOmISE dENNIS mUNdaY
‘A man of Great Promise’ was dedicated to dave Waller, one of Paul’s old school chums who tragically died far too young. i recall meeting dave backstage at the rainbow after a Jam gig. he was well pissed and stormed out after a barney with Paul. it must have come as a shock to Paul to learn of the death of his friend and this tribute ensures dave will never be forgotten.
dOwN IN THE SEINE drEw HIpSON
Weller always had a penchant for the Liverpool Poets’ merging of the magniloquent with the mundane (summed up in the title of Brian Patten’s poem Somewhere Between heaven And Woolworth’s) and here returned to the concept by juxtaposing Blackpool-bowler bawdiness with grandiose gestures of Gallic gloom. inspired by Jacques Brel and Bertolt Brecht, Steve White’s relentless tempo keeps the current flowing as the swirl of Weller’s emotions reach a baroque crescendo. the emotional drowning metaphor would later resurface on the Confessions of A Pop Group track ‘it’s A Very deep Sea’.
dOwN IN THE SEINE STEvE wHITE
Paul would play songs on acoustic, and mick would obviously be doing his thing, and i would just do what i felt was right, and that felt right for a Jacques Loussier type brush part; lovely song.
THE LOdgErS
(Or SHE waS ONLY a SHOpkEEpEr’S daUgHTEr)
drEw HIpSON
the disgraced lodgers in question are the Conservative Party and the shopkeeper’s daughter, margaret thatcher (her father owned a tobacconist’s and a grocery store). Another stinging satire in the vein of ‘Come to milton Keynes’, Weller’s lyric
exposed the level playing field myth perpetuated by the old eton-educated elite (whose membership requirement is ‘an old school tie and a reference’), and thatcher’s pit closure policy, which was essentially an attack on the trade unions in revenge for the national Union of mineworkers’ part in the downfall of the Conservative Government following the strike of 1974: ‘they’re batting on pickets/trying to even the score’.
LUCk paUL wELLEr
micks tune this one, he demo'd it just 'la-laing’ the tune and the first thing it made me think of was of luck! it has such an optimistic feel and melody so i wrote the lyrics around this feel. they aren't 'great' but they fit the music and add to it i think. it's got a gospel type feel with mick’s heavy piano track and the hand claps as well. Great drumming from Steve on this.
wITH EvErYTHINg TO LOSE
dENNIS mUNdaY
Steve White got his first chance as a songwriter and aired his own political thoughts on the Latin flavoured ‘With everything to Lose’. the lyrics centered on the frustrations of the ‘Saturday Kids’ forced to work as cheap labour on government schemes.
wITH EvErYTHINg TO LOSE
STEvE wHITE
Paul had the backing track with the bossa nova feel and just asked me if i would be interested
in having a go at the lyrics, we had attended a youth trade Union rights meeting and we were hearing horrific stories about the treatment and the twenty one kids that had died, and the lyrics literally just came pouring out of me.
OUr favOUrITE SHOp mICk TaLbOT
this started on the last tour in the soundchecks when i'd be doodling around with a Latin rhythm. rather than call it 'the talbot Samba' we thought we'd call it 'our favourite Shop'. i see it as the kind of theme music for the album - if we made a film of the LP it'd be up there at the front.
OUr favOUrITE SHOp
paUL dU NOYEr, NmE
the sole mick-strumental this time is the title track. 'our favourite Shop' - an agreeably breezy bit of organ business, of course, but still a bit of an intermission, somehow.
waLLS COmE TUmbLINg dOwN!
aLExIS pETrIdIS
THE gUardIaN
Boasting one of Weller’s most attention-grabbing opening lines – ‘you don’t have to take this crap’ – ‘Walls Come tumbling down!’ had him railing against political apathy to a northern soul backbeat. the chorus is so terrific, that it snuck in a lyric as uncompromising as ‘the class war is real and not mythologised’ into the top 10.
The original idea was a kind of parallel between a shop where all our favourite things are jumbled up and thrown in, but in a way which worked, the same way that our music has a lot of different styles. paul weller.
waLLS COmE TUmbLINg dOwN!
LLOYd COLE
When i arrived at the Birmingham odeon, [on the red Wedge tour] Weller came up to me and demanded to know why i had slagged off his single, 'Walls Come tumbling down!'. i told him it was because i thought it was crap and he said, ‘Well, 'forest fire' ain't changing nothing’, to which i had to agree. then he said, ‘So you really slagged my song off?’ i said, ‘yes’ again and he looked at me for a minute, then said, ‘that's all right then. everybody else tries to deny it.’
waLLS COmE TUmbLINg dOwN!
STEvIE CHICk, mOjO
Weller felt adrift amid the 80s ‘pop aristocracy, with their suits and pearls’, flexing the punk rock muscle beneath the Style Council's slickness and fielding Biblical allusions and earthier polemic, this anti-establishment anthem made clear whose side he was on. the opening snarl of ‘you don't have to take this crap!’ set the tone, while his proclamation that ‘class war's real and not mythologised’, over soulful horns and rock urgency, made this one of the more explicitly incendiary UK top 10s ever.
OUr favOUrITE SHOp paUL wELLEr
the original idea was a kind of parallel between a shop where all our favourite things are jumbled up and thrown in, but in a way which worked, the same way that
our music has a lot of different styles but what comes out makes sense to us.
OUr favOUrITE SHOp
CHrIS CaTCHpOLE, mOjO
the divergent strands Weller wanted to explore in the Style Council coalesced on their second album proper. Pop, politics, funk and modern soul came together in an ambitious and eclectic sonic manifesto. the group were bona fide pop stars at this point and as such it’s a surprise now to hear just how politically fired-up these songs are underneath their polished, chart-friendly sheen. you can’t imagine duran duran banging on quite so much about collectivism and the economic perils of free market capitalism.
OUr favOUrITE SHOp dENNIS mUNdaY
having unshackled himself from the Jam, Paul planned to have a floating line-up that would embrace all the styles of music including soul, funk, rap and jazz, which gave me a laugh. When i started working with the Jam, i mentioned that i’d worked with some great jazz artists. Paul responded: ‘den, jazz is fuckin’ shit - all those long and boring solos, you can say everything in three minutes.’
OUr favOUrITE SHOp STEpHEN TrOUSSé, UNCUT
entering the charts at no 1, our favourite Shop was the culmination of a stunning two
years’ work. A man as driven as the younger Weller might have been tempted to quit at the top of his game, disbanding the Style Council as he had once cast aside the Jam. But maybe that drive now refused to stop at mere pop success. Weller threw himself into red Wedge, rallying the left pop community behind the Kinnock campaign.
OUr favOUrITE SHOp garY CrOwLEY
for me it is their most complete album. Paul's pencil (during that period under the Style Council umbrella) was never sharper (bar ‘the Stand Up Comic’s instructions’) and it captured perfectly what was going on socially at the time. on top of that, they were fantastic pop songs. the band’s musicality – in the studio and live – were second to none. everything seemed to gel on that album for me. i loved the sleeve – the idea of a shop with all of your favourite things. i spent many an hour going over that cover and checking mick and Paul's references.
OUr favOUrITE SHOp mICk TaLbOT
A lot of music journalists wrote reviews about our favourite Shop that didn't mention music but just dissected the lyrics. that particular album was lyrically a great reflection of the state of the nation and really captures the spirit of the times, so perhaps it's to be expected that critics might get distracted in that direction.
it's interesting how some people relate to songs that can have quite a clear lyrical thread and not have any idea what they are about but still really like them: a collection of sounds that appeal.
OUr favOUrITE SHOp STEvE
wHITE
As with all of my fave records it’s about a body of work, our favourite Shop is a body of work that i was honoured to play on, and i still stand by it, still being active in politics it still resonates to me, and people like ian Prowse the singer, comedian John maloney, my wife Sally Lindsay, tV writer Chris Lunt, Sky tV boss Adam mcdonald, and actor martin freeman, have all told me how special the record is, and that makes me very proud, i have heard that even russell Crowe loves ‘Walls Come tumbling down!’
OUr favOUrITE SHOp dENNIS mUNdaY
our favourite Shop was a slicker and more confident album than Café Bleu, but it was always going to be, and it went on to become the best-selling album the Council released during their career. Simon halfon did a fantastic job on the sleeve and the mocked-up shop contained many personal artefacts of both Paul and mick. if you look carefully, hidden away amongst the memorabilia, is Pete Barrett’s caricature of Paul and mick in a sexual pose that was neatly censored.
THE fUTUrE ISN’T OraNgE...
dIdN’T maTTEr
drEw HIpSON
With no intended irony in the title, the Style Council’s most lacklustre single suffered from Weller’s deadpan delivery and the flatline phonic. Weller and Lee were drawn to the commercial soul of Anita Baker and david Sea (the Style Council covered the former singer’s 1983 track ‘Angel’) and on this, appropriated the electronic funk/soul backbeat of Sea’s 1984 single ‘night After night’. Weller’s lone production failed to de-fibrillate; or in the words of dennis munday, he ‘micro-waved it when it should have been simmered over an open flame’.
IT dIdN’T maTTEr
jOHN rEEd
When ‘it didn't matter' was chosen as the next Style Council single for release in January 1987, it was a disappointment. Weller's voice sounded hollow and disinterested, and the sterile backing music was flat and
dreary, which wasn't helped by the song's lumpish rhythm. in trying to recreate the high-tech production values of cuttingedge American soul, as created by backroom boys like Jimmy Jam & terry Lewis, Weller ended up with a bland song which lacked the character and the melodic strength which had rescued previous ballads like ‘Long hot Summer' and ‘you're the Best thing'.
IT dIdN’T maTTEr STEpHEN TrOUSSé, UNCUT
the most daring thing about lead single ‘it didn’t matter’ was that it was a brazen rip-off of david Sea’s ‘night After night’. But the theft was carried out with little style.
IT dIdN’T maTTEr paUL wELLEr
it was a bit of a nick really from a david Sea track called ‘night After night’ [1984]. i was trying to do this modern soul thing, like these independent soul records which sounded quite cheap in a way. We had our Solid Bond Studios in marble Arch, which used to be the old Philips studio. i think i was too young and arrogant to really appreciate the fact that Scott Walker and dusty had made records in this place. Beautiful old gear in there, which we took out because of the 80s and all this new technology that was coming in. After a while, we just ended up making records in the control room. We never used this beautiful live space.
IT dIdN’T maTTEr
LEN brOwN, NmE
if you forked out three quid for the 'it didn't matter' 12 inch (with instrumental flip side) you'll be choked off to find it here again; Valentine Brothers remix and mega chart placing aside, the single's a pedestrian affair, hardly in the past master class of 'Speak Like A Child' or 'ever Changing moods'. in fact, the main thing that concerns me about the Cost of Loving is the distinct lack of pace, of variety of tempo throughout.
rIgHT TO gO
paUL wELLEr THE STYLE pOpULaTION
track two on the LP is called ‘the right must Go' at the moment, though this could change! this is up and hard, with some of Steve's best drumming ever to my mind. the lyrics are kind of half sung/half chanted with rappin' from the dynamic three, a young London rap group. the theme is register to vote, whatever criticisms of the Labour Party abound, if it comes down to a choice, the tories must go, and if any of you watched the tory Party Conference recently, you will surely know what i mean.
rIgHT TO gO
SImON rEYNOLdS mELOdY makEr on this album there's a track recorded with ‘homegrown’ rappers the dynamic three; 'right to Go' is a vote registration rap. it's dated, flailing and useless,
hardly crucial or fresh (is there any more hopeless bandwagon than British soul and hip hop?) but the real problem is: how can you conceivably make trudging through the wet leaves and puddles to your local primary school, in order to tick a piece of paper in a polling booth, seem like a glamorous and dynamic act of self-realisation, or even solidarity? you can't.
rIgHT TO gO
CHrIS rObErTS, rECOrd COLLECTOr
‘right to Go’ is an oddity: a perky rap runabout clearly indebted to the rhythms and phrasings of Whodini or Curtis Blow. the dynamic three bring the flow. it sounds naive now, like PJ & duncan trying to homage funkadelic by mentioning malcolm X, but it's a likeable period piece. it's one of those moments in his oeuvre where Weller seems to suddenly lurch from mr Sturdy & reliable to a total Wtf maverick.
rIgHT TO gO
LEN brOwN, NmE the Weller, Steve White, dynamic three ‘register to vote’ rap ‘right to Go’, [buzzes] with more energy and humour than the rest of the Cost of Loving put together. Phibes, tK and Jazzy J are rappers who rise above mcGonagal rhymes and ditch the clichés of dicks, dolls and dimes; powerful stuff and, to the Style Council's credit, a great break for the hip hop Alliance.
HEavENS abOvE
jOHN rEEd
the majestic ‘heavens Above' resurrected the spirit of early 70s marvin Gaye (especially his acclaimed What's Going on album), with its soaring melody and gliding rhythm, which moved up a gear halfway through by breaking into a jazz-funk jam.
HEavENS abOvE
paUL wELLEr
‘heavens Above' is a 6-minute epic, with strings and funky sax, courtesy of Billy Chapman. Again, as with most of the new songs, myself and dee sing lead on them. it's good for me to trade off another vocalist, and i like the two lead vocal approach, it gives the new stuff a different edge.
faIrY TaLES
paUL wELLEr
hard brass lifts this modern fairy tale up and into demand. Like Jack And the Beanstalk, the monsters of reality can all be chopped down, that includes norman tebbit. the lyrics are quite funny on this, i think.
aNgEL
dENNIS mUNdaY
the version of Anita Baker's ‘Angel’ is smooth, but let down by a clunky drum machine and dee's rather wafer-thin vocals.
waLkINg THE NIgHT
paUL wELLEr
‘Walking the night' is a jazzy tune with great horns and backing vocals care of John Valentine (of
the Valentine Brothers) and very sophisticated. the actual musicianship on this LP is probably our best so far; certainly the most confident.
waLkINg THE NIgHT jOHN rEEd
the problems lay with the slower songs, which congregated on the second disc. ‘Walking the night' and Anita Baker's 'Angel' were sickly smooth.
waITINg
paUL wELLEr
‘Waiting' is a haunting ballad and a song i'm very proud of, especially from a musical view. it’s just me and mick on this, and a possible single, but it's a hard decision. this, like the rest of the songs on side two, is a love song, but dealing with different kinds of love.
a wOmaN’S SONg
LEN brOwN, NmE
Sung by dee C. Lee over solo guitar (shades of ripperton's 'Lovin' you') – is the most soulful sensitive and hopeful Weller song [on the Cost of Loving]; a sad mother's lullaby to her child.
a wOmaN’S SONg
drEw HIpSON
taking its cue from the traditional cradle song ‘hush, Little Baby’ (the nursery rhyme ‘See Saw margery daw’ was adapted for the B-side of ‘the eton rifles’), Weller’s antithatcher lullaby was penned from the perspective of a penniless single parent caught in the midst
of a recession (tying in with the cost of loving/living concept of the LP). Lee’s raw, exposed vocals and Weller’s production render the song more akin to an underdeveloped demo; however, the fragility of Lee’s performance adds to the poignancy of the song.
a wOmaN’S SONg
paUL wELLEr
‘A Woman's Song', track five, is based on an old nursery rhyme, but updated to tell the tale of a mother thinking out loud about the future of her child. this just has guitar and electric piano and dee singing lead.
THE COST Of LOvINg
paUL wELLEr
the title track of the album is ‘the Cost of Loving', the title taken out of a line from ‘heavens Above'. this has some really lovely harmonies, and is also quite different from what the Style Council has done before. A midtempo, almost bluesy number.
THE COST Of LOvINg
mICk TaLbOT
i suppose we kind of lost a lot of people with the Cost of Loving. We knew we could have done another our favourite Shop, but it wasn't what we'd done. We'd never made the same record twice. my take on it is that we got too embroiled in changing our production, rather than the quality of the songs. We were trying to embrace contemporary soul, and maybe it didn't suit us.
But don't forget that ‘Long hot Summer’ had some of that too.
THE COST Of LOvINg drEw HIpSON
the Cost of Loving – or the orange Album, as it is sometimes referred to in reference to the Beatles’ White Album – is perhaps the only LP that is largely devoid of Weller’s distinctive signature. Although the orange sleeve recalled the early Penguin Books’ dust jackets, the orwellian language of our favourite Shopwhich drew on orwell’s ‘the road to Wigan Pier’ with its social reportage about the plight of British miners - didn’t lend itself to slick 80s r&B; Weller opting instead for simplified political slogans and metaphors in the run up to the 1987 general election. it was the first time that the Perrier pop of the Style Council lost its sparkle.
THE COST Of LOvINg STEpHEN TrOUSSé, UNCUT
the Cost of Loving, released in 1987, was the band’s first great failure – and not even a noble one. on the face of it, turning to the modern r&B sounds of America wasn’t a terrible idea (even if the human League had already signed up with Jam & Lewis with mixed results in 1986). But while the delirious reference points of early Style Council – nouvelle vague, bossa nova, Curtis mayfield, Jean-Paul marat, the modern Jazz Quartet, the GLC –had fused into something inspired, the LP was too sedulous.
after the adverse reaction from the press (not only confined to the music papers but a blanket blank from all) on our Lp, you have before you, comrades, a very angry and frustrated Council. paul weller.
THE COST Of LOvINg
CHrIS CaTCHpOLE, mOjO
the Cost of Loving was Weller’s move to recontextualise the Style Council - who up to that point had been digging into mod’s european roots - as a modern soul group with their eyes fixed on the other side of the Atlantic. released as two 12-inch singles, the album got the super smooth production down pat, but Weller - perhaps distracted by falling in love with dee C. Lee at the time - neglected to really come up with the songwriting goods to go with it.
THE COST Of LOvINg
paUL wELLEr
the only thing i can say in defence [of the sleeve] is that it's in some book as one of the top 100 album sleeves.
THE COST Of LOvINg LOIS wILSON
rECOrd COLLECTOr
Packaged in a plain orange sleeve in a nod to the Beatles’ White Album, the album was slated in the music press. it may have been attuned to the US r&B charts, but it was out of step with the UK’s rock-oriented inkie weeklies. nevertheless, it reached no 2 and went gold.
THE COST Of LOvINg
mICk TaLbOT
We wanted to create a modern American soul sound like Jimmy Jam and terry Lewis. We were aware we could just make our favourite Shop Volume two, but
we were also adamant we weren’t going to. those soul influences from the 60s and 70s never went away. i do remember being impressed by isley-Jasper-isley’s ‘Caravan of Love’ and we went to see Bobby Womack around that time.
THE COST Of LOvINg
paUL wELLEr
the Cost of Loving came more from what you'd call modern soul. that's what influenced usunderground music. it was done well, but there wasn't enough passion in the performances to pull it off. And the songs weren't up to scratch. in the last few years, i haven't had to think about it so much. At that time i used to go through so many tribulations about what i should be singing - i could always hear what it should be like, but i couldn't transfer it physically.
THE COST Of LOvINg CHrIS CaTCHpOLE, ESqUIrE
the Style Council’s like it or lump it approach eventually proved to be a law of diminishing returns. the Cost of Loving’s cold r&B sheen lacked its predecessors’ sense of fun (‘my eye was off the ball by then,’ Weller concedes).
THE COST Of LOvINg LEN brOwN, NmE
Although i refute the muttering that Weller even making Jam has always been strictly a singles man, three out of nine for the Cost of Loving isn't great going by any standards. maybe it is the
Cappuccino Kid's crossing over to an audience more to his liking, deliberately leaving 'money-Goround'ers like me behind; maybe his sleeve-note observation that ‘the love of another, be it a friend or a lover, rises above all considerations’ signifies a mellower approach to life. Whatever the explanation the Cost of Loving is far too loveydovey for these lugs.
THE COST Of LOvINg
davE rImmEr, q magazINE
it’s four years now since Paul Weller knocked the Jam on the head and launched his new group with ‘merton’ mick talbot. ever since the break, his old die-hard following has been dwindling slowly but inexorably. in its place he seems to have found a new audience. i know only two big Style Council fans. one of them (a man) simply fancies Paul Weller. the other is a thatcherite estate agent who finds their moods and melodies to be the perfect accompaniment when cruising the mediterranean on his yacht.
THE COST Of LOvINg
mICk TaLbOT
our favourite Shop was our most commercially successful and fully realised album. We were of the opinion that we could do our favourite Shop Part two, which the majority of our fans might cherish and want, but we strove to go somewhere else. it wasn’t being bloody-minded, just carrying on our endless quest for new pastures. in doing that, once
we got involved with the Cost of Loving, we became too webbed up with getting a more polished sound, a more contemporary production. it was sort of style over substance. i don’t think the songs were there. you can see all these things in hindsight but at the time you’ve got to have full belief in everything you’re doing.
THE COST Of LOvINg paUL wELLEr
After the adverse reaction from the press (not only confined to the music papers but a blanket blank from all) on our LP and live concerts you have before you comrades a very angry and frustrated Council. Unfortunately, in this poxy country of ours, stifled by its ignorance and hypocrisy, creativity and success are things to be sneered and spat at. But we will continue to press ahead, onwards and upwards until the whole world sees in Council Vision, what else can we do. We are not to be beaten into submission by the myopic cynics who claim authority on what is right or wrong, good, great, bad or crap. We are the judges, you are our jury. We create what we feel at the time and always hope it is our best. the Style Council is an idea, a concept (careful!) and a way of life we will not be forced into a way of thinking/living because it disagrees with others views. that is not living. We still have great aspirations for the Council, one is to get back to making a series of great singles as opposed to tracks culled off an LP.
I CONfESS
IT’S a vErY dEEp SEa
paUL wELLEr
it was just me sitting down at a piano and hearing that first chord, and just what that inspires. it sounds like you're just sinking into the depths. i didn't play the piano on the record but i did find those chords on mum and dad's piano in Selsey. So the first chord, not knowing what i was doing, i was playing an e flat, with a d minor at the top. it's a lovely sound, right? And i'd have never found that on a guitar. it opened up a different world.
IT’S a vErY dEEp SEa
mICk TaLbOT
By the time of Confessions of A Pop Group, Paul was writing more and more on the piano, and listening to debussy and erik Satie. i might have pushed him towards a bit of ravel as well. Paul met Brad Pitt once, and he knew that album really well: he said he used to play ‘the Little Boy in A Castle’, and he was inspired by it. my favourite track on it is ‘it's A
Very deep Sea’. i was really glad that Paul chose to resuscitate that. i think ‘ it’s A Very deep Sea‘ is one of Paul’s best and possibly most underrated songs. most of side one on the Confessions of A Pop Group started from Paul’s demos with him playing piano and singing. We’d then develop the band approach for each track. Johnny mealing did some wonderful orchestrations for the tunes that needed them, plus a vocal arrangement for the Swingle Singers. All in all, quite a rich and multi-layered record.
IT’S a vErY dEEp SEa CHrIS CaTCHpOLE, mOjO
in the final scene of 2020 documentary Long hot Summers, Weller, mick talbot, dee C. Lee and Steve White sit down to play a song together for the first time since the Style Council's infamous royal Albert hall show in 1988. that they chose the opening track from their flop swan-song LP spoke volumes. inspired by debussy and erik Satie, ‘it's A Very deep Sea’ rolls in on a sumptuous wave of pianoled melancholia. it's breathtakingly beautiful and typical of the most overlooked record of Weller's career.
THE STOrY Of SOmEONE’S SHOE
dYLaN jONES
one of my favourite Paul Weller songs has always been ‘the Story of Someone’s Shoe’ from the Confessions of A Pop Group album. it mixes lush Swingle
Singers orchestration, with brutal bedsit romance, and is a pretty good snapshot of his enormous talent.
THE STOrY Of SOmEONE’S SHOE
LOIS wILSON, THE qUIETUS
‘the Story of Someone’s Shoe’, a brutal invective about a onenight stand, with its unforgiving lyrics, as grim and graphic as any kitchen sink drama are sharpened further when pinned to an elegant soundtrack of vibraphone and a capella vocals by the Swingle Singers – inspired by the modern Jazz Quartet’s Place Vendôme and utilising a Style Council trope, placing a gritty subject with musical opulence.
CHaNgINg Of THE gUard
jOHN HarrIS, mOjO
‘Changing of the Guard’, a song about post-relationship regret cut from the same cloth as ‘the Paris match’, remains one of the most timeless and perfectly turned compositions Weller has ever created.
CHaNgINg Of THE gUard
drEw HIpSON
one of Weller’s finest compositions and the second best track on Confessions of A Pop Group (bafflingly, the LPs triumph ‘it’s A Very deep Sea’ is not included on the compilation LP Long hot Summers!), the precision drill performances are exquisite; from Weller and Lee’s two-part harmonies, to talbot’s
piano phrasing and White’s brilliant brush work (especially during the tempo change midway through). As with the similar descending minor chord melancholy of ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’, Weller captures fleeting thoughts of regret with extraordinary sensitivity.
THE LITTLE bOY IN a CaSTLE CHrIS CaTCHpOLE, mOjO
Side one of the Confessions of A Pop Group LP (the Piano Paintings) contains ambitious musical suites inspired by erik Satie and the Beach Boys (‘the Little Boy in the Castle’/’A dove flew down from the elephant’).
THE gardENEr Of EdEN jOHN HarrIS, mOjO
‘the Gardener of eden' cast a weary eye over today's ecological ravages in one of Weller's most sensitive lyrics, set to a mesmerising jazz tune sung by dee C. Lee. this was preceded by an ornate harpsichord piece, ‘in the Beginning’, and the ‘three Piece Suite' (as it was subtitled) ended with another of mick talbot's quiet piano solos, ‘mourning the Passing of time’.
THE gardENEr Of EdEN STEvE maLINS
Cod classicism sweeps through some of the album, notably on the ten-minute long 'the Gardener of eden (A three Piece Suite)’, which closed the first side of the album - an amalgamation of debussy, the Swingle Singers, the Beach Boys and donald Byrd.
we set out to document the dismal times but at the same time we wanted to elevate pop to an art form. Sometimes
it’s important to do that and I think we succeeded in both. paul weller.
LIfE aT a TOp pEOpLE’S
HEaLTH farm
drEw HIpSON
Weller’s lyric - like michael Stipe’s for r.e.m.’s ‘it’s the end of the World As We Know it (And i feel fine)’, released six months prior to the Style Council song – was an homage to Bob dylan’s ‘Subterranean homesick Blues’, with its scattershot references and snapshot imagery. Weller’s scathing state-of-the-nation address (which begins with the sound of a lavatory flushing) took aim at middle-class marxists, the British monarchy, margaret thatcher, the privatisation of British telecom, and the tabloid scandal of Jeffrey Archer. Weller subsequently deemed the song a mess; however, the musical mania - a cacophony of brass and programmed drums – perfectly matches his mad monologue.
LIfE aT a TOp pEOpLE’S
HEaLTH farm
aLExIS pETrIdIS
THE gUardIaN
the relative commercial failure of Confessions of A Pop Group certainly wasn’t down to the quality of the music it contained – it may be the Style Council’s best album. And ‘Life At A top People’s heath farm’ should have been a bigger hit: soul horns, electronic funk, and a ferociously bitter lyric.
LIfE aT a TOp pEOpLE’S
HEaLTH farm
dENNIS mUNdaY
Listening to the opening lines of
the first two verses, i realised that i’d heard similar lyrics before. in 1962, Joe Brown & the Bruvvers had a number two hit record with the song ‘What A Crazy World We're Livin in' and included the lines, ‘dad's gone down the dog track/mother's playing bingo’. i know Paul had an eclectic taste in music, but Joe Brown?
wHY I wENT mISSINg
drEw HIpSON
Another confessional song from the final Style Council LP, here Weller pleads the case for his reginald Perrin vanishing act (he had listed the death of Leonard rossiter, who, incidentally was performing in Joe orton’s play Loot at the time, as one of the saddest moments of 1984) as escape from his troubled relationship with girlfriend Gill. the somewhat dated synth doesn’t detract from the delicate beauty of this break-up ballad; the outpouring of ‘fictional truth’ admissions of ‘out of town kissing’ concluding with the final rebuke: ‘i once blamed myself now i blame you.’ Singled out by Weller as one of his favourite tracks from the Confessions of A Pop Group LP.
wHY I wENT mISSINg
STEvE maLINS
‘Why i Went missing' was the best song he'd written since the early Style Council days. the suggested confessional mood of the album's title is most overtly expressed on this song, where Weller owns up to bouts of unfaithfulness in his long-term relationships: ‘there’s
plenty more i could have kissed’.
HOw SHE THrEw IT aLL awaY STEpHEN TrOUSSé, UNCUT
the second side, though less leftfield, featured the last great Style Council single, ‘how She threw it All Away’. once again, it was a commercial flop, and by now bridges with Polydor had been truly burned.
HOw SHE THrEw IT aLL awaY LOIS wILSON, THE qUIETUS
Side two features more self examination – the break-up pop of ‘how She threw it All Away’. Weller, now 30, married to his cosinger dee C. Lee, and about to become a father, looks back to his first serious girlfriend Gill Price.
IwaSadOLEdadSTOYbOY LOIS wILSON, THE qUIETUS
there was pure disdain for thatcher and her colluders on ‘iwasadoledadstoyboy’ [which] encapsulates the feelings of a man and country in crisis, dejected, with no answers and is a direct swipe at the Sun, its title an actual headline printed in the newspaper. ‘this was how ridiculous it had got, it was just pure propaganda for the tories,’ says Weller.
CONfESSIONS 1, 2 & 3 paUL wELLEr
i knew what i wanted. it was conceptual, like on the track ‘Confessions 1, 2 & 3’ where we linked little bits together. the title came from the Confessions series of novels (Confessions of
A Window Cleaner, etc.).
CONfESSIONS 1, 2 & 3
jEzar
in the song there's a horn solo that originally just felt late rather than just lazy. Using digital editing techniques i was able to timeslide individual notes around until i got just the feel i was after.
CONfESSIONS Of a pOp grOUp
jOHN HarrIS, mOjO
these were the qualities that defined the album's title track, transparently inspired by ‘War (on the Bullshit!)’, an obscure early80s single by the Washingtonbased funk band osiris that was issued in the UK in 1986. its words portrayed a Britain awash with Union Jacks and brittle arrogance that still rings true over 30 years on: ‘Cheap and tacky bullshit land/told when to sit, don't know where you stand/too busy recreating the past to live in the future’.
CONfESSIONS Of a pOp grOUp
jOHN rEEd the spine of Confessions of A Pop Group was provided by the closing nine-minute funk workout. Unlike the Style Council's earlier stabs at whiteboy funk, this reinvented funkadelic's anthemic ‘one nation Under A Groove’, but with the latter's unifying optimism replaced by a cynical, hard-bitten outlook in the wake of another tory victory. think of their 1983 hit, ‘money-Go-round’, only made by grown-ups.
CONfESSIONS Of a pOp grOUp aNTHONY dENSLOw
Confessions of A Pop Group, charts what Weller describes as major personal changes in his life in the past two years (he married singer dee C. Lee last year but won’t talk about it). the album also boasts a new experiment in his lyric writing. Adopting the brisk shortened language of fleet Street and advertising, Weller has written several songs in a punchy and cynical style and has also gone for a new humour in much of the imagery and word play.
CONfESSIONS Of a pOp grOUp paUL wELLEr
it felt like we were just another state of America. We no longer had our own voice. it didn’t matter what we did or said, nothing would change. the rich would get richer, the poor, poorer, it didn’t matter what you believed in, it wasn’t going to happen.
CONfESSIONS Of a pOp grOUp paUL LESTEr, UNCUT
for this writer, the Confessions of A Pop Group LP provides the most credible, and most compelling, depiction of ‘the real Paul Weller’: the sentimental, wistful romantic luxuriating in european melancholy (strings, piano, synths); the suburban soulboy in love with modern America.
CONfESSIONS Of a pOp grOUp CHrIS CaTCHpOLE, mOjO mauled by critics, rejected by fans and up to that point the worst-
selling album of Paul Weller’s career, Confessions of A Pop Group has been reappraised as a classic. Sumptuous, piano-led melancholy (‘it’s A Very deep Sea’, ‘Changing of the Guard’) sits comfortably alongside fantastic 80s soul bangers (‘Life At A top People’s health farm’, ‘how She threw it All Away’) and ambitious musical suites inspired by erik Satie and the Beach Boys (‘the Little Boy in the Castle’/’A dove flew down from the elephant’). Admittedly, some of the lyrics can come across as a bit pretentious at times and even take a dig at radio 4’s long-running ‘everyday tale of country folk’ the Archers at one point, but it’s an essential purchase for any Weller fan.
CONfESSIONS Of a pOp grOUp paUL wELLEr
there was a sense our time was up. it wouldn’t have mattered what we put out, it would have bombed. So we thought, if this is going to be our last time, we better make sure it counts. And we did.
CONfESSIONS Of a pOp grOUp LOIS wILSON, THE qUIETUS in 1987, margaret thatcher took the Conservatives to their third consecutive general election win, making her the first Pm to do so since 1820 and the political idealism that had galvanised Weller and his followers was quashed. dejected, he distanced himself from red Wedge – the movement finally disbanded in 1990 – and turning his back on
organised politics, went into the studio to score his despondency. Confessions of A Pop Group was the result and it rang the death knell on insurrection and hope for a better life in a series of experimental songs mapping his personal fallibility and frailty. these were sketched out over a two-week stay at his parents’ house on the south coast, using the grand piano in the family’s front room – ‘in a creative burst,’ he says, ‘written as poetry, then set to music’ – and then recorded at London’s Solid Bond Studios with Weller and talbot sharing production.
CONfESSIONS Of a pOp grOUp mICk TaLbOT
it’s an album of two sides. the second side's Piano Paintings are the strongest. then again, ‘the Gardener of eden (A three Piece Suite)’ is a bit too long. it’s a pretty ambitious album and they’re great arrangements. my favourite song on the whole album is ‘it’s a Very deep Sea’. i think that’s quite an overlooked classic of Paul’s. We had a little bit of a return to form by the time we got to that album, but i think it suffered because of the one before. We ‘d lost a lot of people who never came back.
CONfESSIONS Of a pOp grOUp paUL wELLEr
We set out to document the dismal times but at the same time we wanted to elevate pop to an art form. Sometimes it’s important to do that and i think
we succeeded in both.
CONfESSIONS Of a pOp grOUp jOHN rEEd
Looking back now, Confessions seems to capture the period perfectly. As the country entered a major recession, and a year on from the failed red Wedge initiative, Weller painted a vivid picture of a bleak, hopeless world, his previous idealism replaced by pessimism and personal regrets of hollow one-night stands, of fraught relationships and feelings of guilt and shame. Coinciding with the death of political idealism in pop, this was arguably Weller at his most honest, and yes, soulful.
during the sessions, relations between artist and label soured. rumours abounded that Weller had delivered the finished record on a cassette with a defiled mugshot of Polydor's A&r chief attached. Within a year, the Style Council had disbanded, and Weller was unceremoniously dumped by the label.
of course, Weller eventually picked up his guitar again as a solo artist and was re-born, creatively and commercially, in the 90s. And yet Confessions of A Pop Group towers over even solo pinnacles like Stanley road.
CONfESSIONS Of a pOp grOUp paUL wELLEr
We could have made the best record ever and no one would have noticed.
OUr favOUrITE TraCk
a maN Of grEaT prOmISE
‘a man Of great promise’ is one of the greatest songs ever; a song of sadness and understanding. kevin payne.
CHaNgINg Of THE gUard
I've been listening to Confessions Of a pop group a lot recently; I didn't realise how much, until apple music gave me my list of most played songs in 2024, and two tracks from it were in my top five. Those two tracks were ‘Changing Of The guard’ and my choice, which is ‘It's a very deep Sea’. I love the feel of the song, and like so many of paul's songs over the years, I listened to it and related to it immediately: ‘what is it in me that I can't forget/I keep finding so much that I now regret’ is just me and a little painful, but despite that, it's a beautiful song. kevan Hackett.
SpEak LIIkE a CHILd
my pick is ‘Speak Like a Child’, the first single from the Style Council and a great way to start on a new journey for all weller fans. with horns and mick’s magic fingers it carries a jazzy 60s vibe, which some may say has similarities to the Small faces. but we all know they were a big influence on paul. This is a tune that should be up there as one of weller’s greatest songs. definitely in my top ten, and there’s a lot to pick from. gary white.
wITHOUT wHOm
paul weller • polly birkbeck • Craig Cowan • Nick roylance
julie Love • dad & jane • my two beautiful daughters aimée & mia
marcanthony • paul Huckerby • alan anderson • Eric Traa • john Speirs
S & gar • daniel ferguson • michael vinton • paul Thompson • Colin atter gordon waring • paramjit bhogal • Stevie mochrie • bruno vanessi
garry Hutson • Luke peppard • max Thomas • keith Cranfield • kevan Hackett
karl mcShane • Steve wilson • Simon Clements • paul bennett • kevin payne
andrew brignell • Neil Langridge • Curtis Tappenden • Nick Young
kevin dodd • ross Nimmo • Col Hawksworth • Simon farren • wayne Spencer
paul Hodgkinson • Simon fielding • perry pring • beat fretz • robert burton
gary white • paul Cook • andrew Toulcher • david douglas • john Speirs
gary Coulson • paul Homer • joel Hull • john kitching • Christopher marklew
Neil Copper • rick Thomas • andy farrell • Sean bell • debora barker
Ian blanckley • phil Swainston • allan gibson • robin morgan • rachel Trevor michael Stewart • ash Cowen • Edward mcgrath
From here to modernity
This issue is dedicated to the memory of kay Thompson. all mod Icon Editor: drew Hipson Email: allmodicon@hotmail.com assistant Editor and bellissima: julie Love all photographs by alamy Stock Images. disclaimer. All rights reserved. this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the publisher. the publisher assumes no responsibility to any party for the content of any advertisements in this publication, including any errors and omissions therein. By placing an advertisement, the advertiser agrees to indemnify the publisher against any claims relating to the advertisement. All mod icon © drew hipson.
great work! I’m flattered and impressed! paul weller. a stylishly designed must-have weller publication. mOjO. an impressive piece of work. john wilson, bbC4. amazingly thorough! I love it! Steve Cradock. I love it! dylan jones, gq. a riveting read! I love the mag! gary Crowley, bbC London. well written and immaculately designed. john reed, author. It’s absolutely brilliant! Lois wilson, journalist. Top stuff! a real labour of love. Tim vickery, Sky. man, drew can write! zeke manyika. a real labour of love. rhoda dakar. It’s brilliant! record Collector. I love drew’s writing; he’s really articulate. Steve diggle, buzzcocks. brilliant! beautiful well-observed writing. barry Cain, author. great work! Shaun Hand, author. drew is an exceptional writer. jason brummel, author. by far the best weller fanzine. andy Crofts. really thorough and beautifully put together. daniel rachel, author. It’s a work of art. Trevor Neal, actor. I hold drew in very high regard as a writer. derek d’Souza, photographer. I love it! It’s the best magazine ever! It’s amazing! jodie marsh. Love it! Nice work! johnny Harris, actor. a must-have publication second to none! Tony beesley, author. a masterpiece! Up & atom magazine. One of the best things I’ve ever read on paul weller. darren bennett. great informed writing; just fantastic stuff! Ed Chapman, artist. a great tribute to a great career. Claire mahoney, detail magazine. fab stuff! alan anger, zigzag magazine. a high-quality production that is stylish and cool. Neil allen, author. a fabulous magazine. L.g. Thomson, author. a thrilling read all round! addicted To London.
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