Customer Reviews

In Concert

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If you're a Style Council fan you must own this album. Phony musicians stink when recorded live but The Style Council sounded even better live than in the studio ("Home and Abroad" is also a necessity). This disc spans several years and features covers of some soul gems along with their own songs. They groove so hard on One Nation Under a Groove, Meeting (Over) Up Yonder and Hanging On To A Memory to justify the cost. The only downers are some snippets of Mick Talbot singing lead (oy vey) and a couple mediocre tracks, but those are minor trifles with this gem for us Council fans.

The Style Council was one of the more difficult bands of the 1980's to categorize. A little bit new wave pop, some jazz, some house, some blues, some ballads, some rock and roll and all thrown together with excellent musicians and political lyrics. Band leader and singer Paul Weller has always been one of the more talented songwriters, from The Jam to his solo work today, his band the Style Council was his most experimental and unrestrained musical period. What more can you ask for from the 80's?

This CD is a compilation of hits and unreleased tracks recorded live. This is a gift in that the Style Council rarely played live in the States. Included are the super hits (in Europe anyway) like "Long Hot Summer", "My Ever Changing Moods", and "Money Go Round". This is the slow version of "My Ever Changing Moods" from the Cafe Blue album, as opposed to the pop US hit version.

What makes this a classic and wonderful release though are the unreleased tracks such as the blues inspired Curtis Mayfield hit "Move on Up", the Parliament song "One Nation Under a Groove" and the underrated classic "Heavens Above". The musical styles on this CD are typical of them, a little bit of everything.

In addition, the liner notes and insert are excellent. If you are unfamiliar with the Style Council, check out this rare chance to hear them play at their best, live.

For those of us who follow all of wellers work from the jam to present day- we know wellers quality of songwriting (great lyrics- diverse music- and true belief in his own talent. For some the council betrayed the working class ethics of the jam but to some this was the bravest and lasting statement of the eighties. though the style council lost the plot"as weller would say" after the our favourite shop album- this live album which includes only few songs after that period" mainly "heavens above" which is excellent indeed. what you get here is all those older classics delivered in a horndrenched wah wah guitared juggernaut that is superbly recorded and played with a buyount energy seldom seen today. Live weller and crew sound better than the album versions- songs like my ever changing moods are delivered in a faster more passionate style- weller actually has abit of that anger lingering. Big boss groove actually grooves- ( the mantra of "get on up' is growled by weller in his best soul voice) the original sparseness of the whole point of no return is flushed out in a full jazz number that transcends the original. The playing and arrangements are all top class and guitar wise paul has never sounded more confident and skilled. there are a few tunes that dont work mostly cuts that are unfamilair in the first place or covers-though the move on up mayfield tune is great. most interesting is the guitar and voice driven version of a stones throw away (without the melancholy string arrangment) that comes off like a raw jam tune. Otherwise you get all the soulpopfunkr&b delivered with wellers sharpedged political tongue that sings bout love-uniting-about youth and self-empowerment with some bitterness and that angry young man vibe that made wellers experiment more success than failure. A very good if not great album that outshines any jam or solo weller live album ive heard( and ive heard most of them.) strings-horns-wah-social commentary- DC LEES soaring vocals- steve whites superb drumming- the fingerskills on the keys with mickey talbot- and a youthful weller who believed in it all without any regret. Essential for style council-weller fans- and proof that all eighties music wasnt synthsized soulless bombast.

One of the best Live Style Council recordings (Home and Abroad being the very best).
It has rare recordings of covers like "Meeting over yonder", "Up for Grabs," and "One nation under a groove", which is a song to the exact same tune of Mick Talbot's instrumental "Dropping bombs on the white house" used in Cafe Bleu.
Great music.
Great collectors item.

After The Jam came to an abrupt halt while still releasing absolutely outstanding material, Paul Weller did not miss a beat with his new project, the Style Council.

And while The Jam was so miscast in the U.S. - on one tour, opening for Blue Oyster Cult, which featured a drummer wearing a Godzilla mask while pounding out a pointless, endless solo - Weller, by the time of his new project, had built up an already legendary musical career that did not need to play the UK-USA studio release game.

But as with The Jam, the R&B and rock electricity live from the Style Council made for memorable moments and demonstrated that Weller's lyrics touched on issues that reached out to fans everywhere.

The selections are from 1983 to 1987 and highlights band classics like My Ever Changing Moods, while setting down the beat in One Nation Under A Groove. But it is the medley featuring Money Go Round/Souldeep/Strength Of Your Nature that shows the band at its R&B best, with the sadness in Long Hot Summer even more powerful and cutting.

Weller understood how lyrics can sing like poetry and music can make for a timeless package. If there is one Style Council CD that captures the complete presentation by a true artist and his band, it is In Concert.