Introducing The Style Council (1983)

And here we are, on to the TSC period, and if I'm being honest, I have a hard time separating the songs I really like from this period from Jam songs like Beat Surrender, Bitterest Pill (I Had To Swallow), but in part this is because The Jam and TSC both recorded Solid Bond In Your Heart, a song which really epitomizes a romantic notion of determination and the bonds that connect us that runs through a lot of Paul Weller's songs. Anyway, the other members of the Jam went on to different projects, and Paul and Mick Talbot, ex-Merton Parka and Midnight Runner, connected over a mutual love of soul music.

Long Hot Summer is either a really bad song that I cannot help but like, or a really good song that I cannot help but dislike. Probably both. Whereas the Jam's videos were all essentially them playing live, the Style Council's videos are all essentially Mick and Paul acting out silly adventures. No one knows why. This one is truly awful.

Speak Like a Child and Solid Bond in Your Heart are great songs, both featuring drums by Zeke Manyika, who was also playing with Orange Juice at the time, and who would later join The The. After these first couple tracks, the Style Council lineup would settle on Steve White playing drums and DC Lee (formerly of Wham!) providing backup vocals.

I'm fuelled by the idea
That this world was made to share
But it never seems to work out
And all we seem to share
Is doubt and misery
I just want to build up
A solid bond in your heart

I like the sentiment. The parts of the Style Council I really like are the themes that often dominate Paul Weller's songwriting - loneliness, misery and doubt, married with a persistent optimism and an absence of despair. The world may be awful, but we can make it a better place. To push the earlier comparison, the Cure went deeper down the well of doubt and angst, and so did The The, and from a lyrical perspective, I miss the slice of life aspects of the Jam, which were replaced by a more philosophical outlook in the Style Council. And whereas by 1983, The The had recorded Giant, and the Cure had recorded Faith, two perfect 7 minute songs, TSC had recorded Long Hot Summer, and, like I say, I have rather "mick's feelings" about that song.

It does feel right to compare Paul Weller's output to Matt Johnson's, or Robert Smith's, or perhaps Edwyn Collins from the Orange Juice or Elvis Costello. They're all part of the 80s british invasion, but not quite new wave or new romantic. They all had an impact on the C-86 and BritPop sound.