The Style Council

Long Hot Summer The Story Of The Style Council Greatest Hits / Anthology Released On Polydor / UMe

“We set out to have fun, document slew of U.K. chart hits, The Style the times and at the same time we And now, finally Long Hot wanted to elevate pop to an art form - I Summers - the long-awaited and eagerly think we did that.” anticipated definitive career anthology Paul Weller teaming with all the greatest hits and more is released on October 30th. “The Style Council gave so much Named with a nod to the band’s biggest to my youth. Who am I kidding? Yes, hit, Long Hot Summers is endorsed and and to my adulthood as well”. co-compiled by Paul Weller himself. As Martin Freeman well as the huge U.K. hit “Long Hot SANTA MONICA, CA - Septem- band’s sterling debut top 5 U.K. single ber 10, 2020 - The Style Council was “Speak Like A Child” as well as other emblematic of its creator. Paul Weller, masterpieces such as the languid “You’re smart, fearless, audacious, with a social The Best Thing,” “Ever Changing conscience totally unafraid to push the Moods” and dance floor filler “Shout To possibilities of pop. With their generous The Top.” Summer,” the album also includes the Council were one of the defining pop Long Hot Summers includes two bands of the 80s. And they didn’t need unreleased tracks - an intriguing demo of big hair to get there. the U.K. top 5 single “My Ever Chang84 Rock and Blues International • December 2020 ing Moods” with strings, and the extended, 5-minute plus version of “Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse.” Of course, it also Includes all the band’s classic singles -12 U.K. top-20 hits including the debut single “Speak Like A Child” and the utterly sublime “Long Hot Summer.” The album also features key album tracks and fans’ favorites such as “Headstart For Happiness” (full tracklisting for format details below).

A demo version of the U.K. Top 5 single “My Ever Changing Moods” will be released as an ‘instant grat’ on September 10th; https:// TheStyleCouncil.lnk.to/ MyEverChangingMoodsDemoPR Long Hot Summers features rare photos, an introduction by Paul Weller, a new essay by Lois Wilson, and sleevenotes from ‘super-fan’, actor Martin Freeman. The album was remastered at Abbey Road Studios.

When Paul Weller announced The Style Council’s arrival in March 1983, he’d come a very long way. In fact, at the age of just 24, he was already a musical veteran with six albums and nine U.K. Top 10 singles under his belt with The Jam. As their leader he had become a deity-like figure and for his fans, The Jam’s split was unimaginable.

But creatively restless and of inquisitive mind, Paul jettisoned them at their height to form a collective with an eventual core line-up of Paul with Mick Talbot, Dee C Lee and Steve White. In a quest for new sounds, the group travelled to realms previously unchartered for a pop group incorporating musical influences as wide ranging as Blue Note jazz and Chicago soul, Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, Chicago House and Jacques Brel.

At the same time, as battle lines were drawn in a decade under Margaret Thatcher culminating in the miner’s strike of 1984-85, Paul’s lyrics spoke with the language of the activist and his state of the nation addresses were both fierce and eloquent. Over four albums and 17 singles, The Style Council made a stand and became the standard bearers of progressive soulful pop and social comment. And it’s all here on this exceptional anthology.

Format details: As well as digitally, the album will be available on triple album vinyl: limited editions of both vinyl formats: black vinyl and a highly covetable colored vinyl version. All format details and tracklistings below:

Digital 1. Headstart for Happiness 2. Long Hot Summer 3. My Ever-Changing Moods 4. Walls Come Tumbling Down! 5. Party Chambers 6. Wanted (or Waiter, There’s...) 7. Shout to the Top! 8. It Just Came to Pieces in

My Hands 9. Come to Milton Keynes 10. Why I Went Missing 11. Waiting 12. Ghosts Of Dachau 13. Down in the Seine 14. The Paris Match 15. Boy Who Cried Wolf 16. Life at a Top People’s Health

Farm 17. Homebreakers 18. Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse (Extended version) # 19. Speak Like a Child 20. The Lodgers (Or She Was

Only...) 21. Money Go Round 22. You’re the Best Thing 23. How She Threw It All Away 24. A Man of Great Promise 25. The Piccadilly Trail 26. A Solid Bond in Your Heart 27. All Gone Away 28. Sweet Loving Ways 29. Promised Land 30. Have You Ever Had It Blue 31. It Didn’t Matter 32. Spin’ Drifting 33. Here’s One That Got Away 34. A Woman’s Song 35. Changing of the Guard 36. My Ever-Changing Moods (Demo) # 37. Shout To The Top (Instrumental)

3LP Standard black vinyl Disc one

Side 1

1. Headstart for Happiness 2. Long Hot Summer 3. My Ever-Changing Moods 4. Walls Come Tumbling Down! 5. Party Chambers

Side 2

1. Wanted (or Waiter, There’s...) 2. Shout to the Top! 3. It Just Came to Pieces in My

Hands 4. Come to Milton Keynes 5. Why I Went Missing 6. Waiting

Disc two Side 1

1. Ghosts Of Dachau 2. Down in the Seine 3. The Paris Match 4. Life at a Top People’s Health Farm

5. Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse (Extended version) # Side 2 1. Speak Like a Child 2. The Lodgers (Or She Was Only...) 3. Money Go Round 4. You’re the Best Thing 5. How She Threw It All Away

Disc three Side 1

1. A Man of Great Promise 2. The Piccadilly Trail 3. A Solid Bond in Your Heart 4. Sweet Loving Ways 5. Promised Land 6. It Didn’t Matter

Side 2

1. Have You Ever Had It Blue 2. Spin’ Drifting 3. Here’s One That Got Away 4. Changing of the Guard 5. My Ever-Changing Moods (Demo) # # previously unreleased

3LP - coloured vinyl (Blue, pink & orange discs) Same tracks as standard black

vinyl edition, above December 2020 • Rock and Blues International 85