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Tuesday 19 November 2019

I Know As Much As The Day I Was Born


In the 1980s Paul Weller's decision to keep moving and jump several steps ahead of where his audience were (and his band) led to The Style Council. Out went parkas, targets and guitar- drums- bass post- punk/mod rock, in came jazz and soul and funk, Dee C Lee and Mick Talbot. Looking back at Weller's writing in The Style Council a lot of the lyrics that shows the same concerns- The Style Council's love songs are more lovey (Headstart For Happiness and Long Hot Summer for instance) and debut single Speak Like A Child was brilliant soul pop in a way that The Jam could never have been. Weller never avoided politics in his Style Council songs, if anything he was more overtly political than he had been in The Jam. Second single Money Go Round is as powerful as The Eton Rifles but its sung over 70s wah wah funk instead of driving post punk. And as relevant today as it was in 1983.

'Too much money in too few places
Only puts a smile on particular faces
Said too much power in not enough hands
Makes me think "get rich quick; take all I can"
They're too busy spending on the means of destruction
To ever spend a penny on some real construction'


Or how about this one, The Internationalists, from 1985's Our Favourite Shop?


'If you believe you have an equal share
In the whole wide world and all it bears
And that your share is no less or more than
Your fellow sisters and brother man
Then take this knowledge and with it insist
Declare yourself, an internationalist
If your eyes see deeper than the colour of skin
Then you must also see we are the same within
And the rights you expect are the rights of all
Now it's up to you to lead the call
That liberty must come at the top of the list
Stand proud as an internationalist'
Walls Come Tumbling Down- governments crack and systems fall/Cause unity is powerful- goes without saying. If anything, these songs go further than Weller ever did with The Jam, overtly socialist and calling for change.
On Saturday night a friend had a spare for a gig by The Style Councillors at Gorilla, a nine piece band playing the songs of Weller's second band. I never saw The Style Council back in the day so was hearing many of these songs live for the first time, loud and up close in front of an enthusiastic audience. The political songs mentioned above were all played, the words cutting through from the mid- 80s to 2019 and a world where Johnson, Rees Mogg, Farage et al are all at a top people's health farm and pulling the wool over people's eyes. This one, a 1986 single, Weller's own brand of self- realisation and positive thinking...
Have You Ever Had It Blue? was a single in 1986 but first appeared on the soundtrack to the film Absolute Beginners, Julian Temple's much maligned attempt at Colin MacInnes' 1950 novel. The soundtrack version of the song has an extended jazz intro before Weller comes in. 

6 comments:

Martin said...

Ah, TSC... and The Style Councillors, always worth a look.

Brian said...

Not a popular statement in these parts, I imagine, but I listen to TSC at least as much as I do the Jam. Those early years, 1983 to 1985, are perfection. I suppose my age has something to do with it. If I had been 14 when All Mod Cons came out instead of Café Bleu, perhaps I would feel differently.

Webbie - FootieAndMusic said...

I'm trying to remember how Smash Hits referred to Weller in their mag. Aah what was it...? It might be my faulty memory but I'm sure it was something jokey. I'll have to dig through the archives now.

drew said...

I'm with Brian, I listen to the Style Council more than the Jam

Soundtrack version of Have You Ever Had It Blue, is the version

The Swede said...

Because of my age I guess, I'm more of a Jam man, but that doesn't detract from the strength of The Style Council's best material.

Echorich said...

I'm with Brian, for me TSC get's just as much love as The Jam. It's because Weller was still at the top of his form. TSC allowed him make music that spoke to many personal issues as well as the broader politic.