The Style Council - The Paul Weller Creation Discussion, Pt. 2

She Was Only a Grocer's Daughter in 1987, title sounds familiar,eh? About Maggie T of course , Public Enemy No 10. Birds of the Red Wedge variety do work together. Celebrate came out the same year COL did and Dr Robert did meet Curtis through the Red Wedge.....that tune sounds like Superfly meets Move on Up on crack sideways with some other Impressions song thrown in for good measure . It sounds more like Curtis than the Style Council track that featured Mayfield's involvement did! And that as only on mixing BTW......

 

Speaking about the bottoms, I have just ordered Shrine on CD. Got tired trying to find a "promo", so just bought it, despite I expect this will be the REAL bottom Cant't fight my curiosity though...

 

Think of it as Sade lite if you will minus alll the mystique and charm of Sade Adu. If you a Stylist maniac then by all mean indulge in it . You all know how I enable that at every bloody turn then some. Despite my misgivings regarding the project, Camelle Hinds plays some really nice bass though.........

 

Superpulse meets the Stylists

Superpulse



SUPERPULSE
rhythm motion picture 1 and 2

Who sends vocal recordings from San Francisco to London?
...the guys in superpulse.
The result is a worldclass soundtrack missing the movie:
VISIT VENUS meets TONY BENNETT - SINATRA goes electronic.
Singer Jon Archambault, (Dread Zeppelin, disjam) was recorded between drinks in his "Audio Cafe"
studio in San Francisco. Sascha Panknin held the strings in his hand (producer of
disjam, etc. bassplayer with Fantastischen Vier, Fettes Brot, butter)
Ted Orenstein is working as remix maniac and soundtrack musician
(worked with Galliano, LaLa Bytes and disjam). Under the moniker superpulse they recorded
this beat laden, athmospheric album: rhythm motion picture.
Personnel:
jon archambault- vocals, piano ted orenstein- synthesizers sascha panknin- keyboards, programming





rhythm motion picture track listing:
1.4:49 water polo & meeting deadlines
2.3:57 address of the sun
3.3:53 pick up the phone
4.4:00 french riviera
5.3:28 hard drive
6.4:42 don«t stop the boogie
7.3:42 theme from superglue
8.4:37 paris match
9.4:23 cut down on the hero factor
10.4:18 misty morning
11.0:48 effervescent
12.3:57 elvis said
13.4:22 superfly
14.3:48 cappuccinoism
15.2:27 televisione cinque

rhythm motion picture 2 track listing:
1. Devious Cha Cha 4:19
2. How's It Swinging 4:12
3. The Paris Match 4:38
4. Beach In My Mind 4:03
5. Towards The Edge 5:02
6. Nice People 4:17
7. The Whole Point Of No Return 3:44
8. All You Say 2:51
9. Butterflies 2:57
10. Sunday Morning Music 6:17
11. Mono 1:19
12. My Everchanging Moods


superpulse tracks on Brazil 5000:
the paris match (rmx)
the whole point of no return (feat. Cynthia Lucci)
how s it swinging
butterflies (feat. Dominique Levack)
all you say
beach in my mind
mono
sunday morning music

For the Stylistmania collectors "in the crowd" and the insanely curious here is a group that were definitely Style Council/Paul Weller fans judging by the titles alone. Titles like Cappuccinoism , French Riviera and their version of Curtis Mayfield's Superfly. They also have one of their covers drenched in Orange crime of all crimes , how shameless indeed. They actually had the gall to perform covers of Paris Match, My Ever Changing Moods and in particular The Whole Point of No Return. What Superpulse does with MECM is a variant on the acoustic version/LP version. And the little twist they apply to Paris Match and The Whole Point of No Return is that they both receive the bossa nova treatment. As a matter of fact , Whole Point becomes a pseudo/kinda/sorta Astrud Gilberto number in Portuguese! They didn't go half way with this they went all the way. They also remake Paul Weller's Amongst Butterflies as Butterflies which sounds like an outcast from Chill FM mixed in with a tinge of samba! Here is a link of the Whole Point reimagining for your listening pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNIo...DB1C80089&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7

A lot of their tracks are also available to be listened to at Lala.com and Rhapsody.com ( where you have up to 25 free plays a month BTW).

 

Gotta check this Superpulse thing!

 

To bring it somewhat full circle, Sascha Panknin is credited as having worked on some of Dr Robert from The Blow Monkeys' solo output. IIRC, he did some remixes for singles from DR's "Birds Gotta Fly" album.

 

very interesting, I've not heard of these at all, but these sound most interesting.

 

I had lost interest in TSC after Our Fav Shop and I had never heard anything from the orange LP. This thread made me curious about it so I just won a M- copy on ebay for only $8.50. It can't be as bad as you all say it is. Can it?
I didn't dislike the first single from the LP.

 

There's definitely some BAD material on it, Bitbanger, but there's a few winners for sure too. Did you buy a copy in the all orange cover, or the photo sleeve?

 

The all orange sleeve. 2 45 RPM LPs. Is this the one to get?

 

For sonics, absolutely!

 

its a lovely cover...of which I think I am the only fan of the cover...hahaha...I'm sure Butch will be lascerating it in his upcoming assessment of that album, which I do believe commences sometime today...

I can hardly wait for the drubbing...

 

Linkies, you shall see the wayward errors of your ways in an absolute fashion. As always, I hope to open up real debate and and really fiery discussions with this one. Believe it or not I had a blast doing it, even though my love of the Orange Period is lacking to say the least!

 

I like the orange cover, too!

 

Power in numbers....

 

Count me in. I never owned an orange copy originally (I had the US pic sleeve version on vinyl and CD), but when I finally got one, I thought it was pretty cool.

 

Not sure how many of you like/know of Ben Sherman clothes (I'd wager my man Butch does, as well as all the UK folks here), but a few years back, they went with this as their standard label/tag look... note the colors.



Coincidence? I think not.

I do, in fact, own a shirt called "Weller" from them (it is navy, not orange/black though).

 

I was never anti the orange jacket and I am sure that if the music inside was more agreeable then a lot more people would look favourably on it.

I only bought a standalone release of this album last year, before that I just had the box set. The cover I have is the black and white picture with THE COST OF LOVING in a huge font across it. To be honest, I would prefer the original cover to that.


I would prefer


Or even;


I find the large font, very ugly, on mine, but at least it is an 80s edition like all my other TSC originals.

 

Yeah, that top version is the worst of the lot; I've got the other two (all orange on 2x45; the bottom on CD and US LP.)

 

I love the Ben Sherman clothing line I have to say. funny I'm always 5 lbs overweight and use a Ben Sherman shirt (when it fits) to know I'm at the right weight...haha....

Definately hip mod clothes for kids as it is all so slim fitting, but whenever I'm down in Soho I hit the NYC Ben Sherman shop...

 

Orange Album Part 1

The Cost of Loving AKA The Orange Album : The Good,The Bad and the Ugly
TSCLP 4
Highest Chart position on the UK charts # 2


A1 It Didn't Matter
Mixed By - Valentine Brothers, The
A2 Right To Go
Mixed By - Jezar
A3 Heavens Above
Mixed By - Matthew Kasha
A4 Fairy Tales
Mixed By - Curtis Mayfield
B1 Angel
Mixed By - Valentine Brothers, The
B2 Walking The Night
Mixed By - Carl Beatty
B3 Waiting
Mixed By - John Valentine
B4 The Cost Of Loving
Mixed By - Alan Leeming

B5 Woman's Song


The Cost of Loving is an album which divides many Style Council fans. Many see it as a sort of downfall in terms of the band's direction and pointing to their eventual demise. As I had stated in back in the Jam thread, there are three albums in Weller's career that have a sort of consistency in terms of musical genre or style : In The City, COL and Heavy Soul. In no way am I intimating that COL measures up to those albums in terms of quality in any way, shape or form BUT that inherent consistency of style in COL (which was a strength in the case of the other two albums) ironically proved to be a fatal flaw in the case of COL. The mind numbing lethargy and lack of enthusiasm that pervaded the album was in stark contrast to the passionately extreme and inspired genre jumping that TSC had achieved to great effect in prior efforts. In the end the album presented a quandary for diehard fans as well. Not only was the Style Council not the Jam BUT it sounded even less like the Style Council.

The Cost of Loving had its origins in Weller's current tastes at the time. Paul had a great deal of enthusiasm for young soul singers like Paul Johnson,Steven Duntaine and Pat Knight which hinted at the direction that TSC would take. In addition,the band recorded the club hits : Willie Clayton's Love Pains and David Sea's Night After Night (which has been well documented here as many know).Weller had stated that there was a brilliant new soul scene in America with all these independents soul artists : "When I was 18 I wasn't interested in singing tender songs, all that anger and frustration you don't know what to do with what was channeled through our music.I'm twenty eight now, ten years on and I'm not so frustrated." A quite ominous portent of things to come indeed. Gone was the youthful angst of the Jam replaced by the seeming comfort and "poshness' of the Style Council. The angry,bitter and frustrated young man have given way to a slick and contented soulster. The Rock Around The Dock special in Liverpool had hinted at what direction the Council would take. Forthcoming album tracks IDM and Angel were both performed there . Angel was originally performed by Anita Baker. The most glaring aspect of both of these tunes was the sophisticated and glossy production of the new American soul sound. According to John Reed, Dee C Lee's tastes could have been possibly rubbing off on Paul.

When released in Feb 1987, the Orange Album was greeted by a certain indifference much like its first single. It was packaged as a DJ friendly 45 rpm double album and of course contained 9 tracks supposedly because they were longer than before. An assertion which perhaps might be dubious indeed. As many Stylist fans know there were additional tracks on the album left on the proverbial cutting room floor. According to Weller: "there are at least 7 or 8 other songs in the can" . The rest of those eventually ended up on the rarities, B-sides collection : Here's Some That Got away, but more on that later. The album had a crisp anti-septic feel due to Paul Weller's production.. In addition there was none of the anger or eclecticism that made earlier records so unique.For the part Mick Talbot dropped the Hammond organ (with the exception of the title track The Cost of Loving). At the time Weller explained that:" the actual musicianship on this LP is probably our best so far, certainly the most confident." Once again was Paul weaving a tall tale with its requisite album dropping hype or was he really being sincere? His comments many years later reveal a far more revealing and simultaneously damning picture of the album: " The idea was that the album would be based on the modern soul, the indie soul stuff. Some of that was pretty obscure and it wasn't what people were expecting. It was badly recorded as well. I don't think there was enough love in that record to make it come through, to make it strong. I don't think my heart was in it because there were other things going on in my life at the time which took me away. I started going out with Dee at the time an all I wanted to do was go off and be in love and have fun and it's not the best time to make a record really. Also I think we were out of step with our audience or they were out of step with us, whatever way it works. The more you get out of step the more you get on a defensive thing and then you feel trapped and insular." The plot thickens not only was he in the throes of passion with Dee his heart wasn't in it. Even in an even more negative sense, his admission that it was not a good time to make an album answers why perhaps the relative diminution in quality occurred. The most irksome thing is that Weller admits to the half hearted job that was done with the album as a whole: " Say like with, 'The Cost Of Loving', I was writing and making it up as I went along which is always more laborious." Almost comical to note, that it just wasn't only was Wellie "making" it up as he went along BUT he didn't have much enjoyment while doing so. Not a total shock that such an album didn't have the forethought and insight previous productions did in spite of the slickness of it all. A seemingly a sputtered spectacle with no heart....However, when the prime mover calls into question the very worth of his own work it becomes a self fulfilling assessment/realization of sorts. As positive as he was initially, his unjaundiced eye many years later cut through the "deceit" and cloudiness of the then recent hype machine.He further heaps it on the group during this much maligned Orange period: "The Cost Of Loving" came more from what you'd call modern soul That's what influenced us - underground 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."In addition Wellie admits the status of the Style Council: "I think we became out-dated - an anachronism." In reference to why new rock acts who were ascending like The Smiths and REM (who were rock bands like the Jam) Weller responded: "No, we were still on course. But, objectively, I could see - 'That's f#$%n'' exciting. By that time, it [The Style Council] didn't have that same fire."


And that infamous cover which featured that inglorious hue of international Orange. It created quite a stir back in 1987. Obviously influenced by the Beatles' White Album, it also received a chilly reception from Polydor executives. Weller also had a cheeky promotional scheme for the album as well as featuring the glaringly obnoxious cover:" Me and Chalfy (TSC sleeve designer, Simon Chalfon) were talking about that last night and he
was saying, how up front a lot of it was. "All the adverts. Putting all the titles in there, foreign languages and writing our own reviews saying,'"it's s&*t!" You'd never get away with that now, the record company wouldn't let you do it now, they'd say it was a bad career move, which it was. Chalfy reminded me of that two page advert in NME and all it was just orange." Perhaps a simple case of innovative design, a homage to the Beatles OR career suicide? Quite possibly an impossibly irritating combination of all of the above! Was it just simply a "citric" colored version of the White Album cover? Weller rather meekly defends the cover saying: "The only thing I can say in its defence is that it's in some book as one of the top 100 album sleeves" The only thing? No rationale or method to Chalfon and Weller's madness? Well I suppose one reason is better than none!


It Didn't Matter: What hasn't been said about this tune that has literally been said before? One of my favorites quotes about this tune comes from Weller biographer , John Reed.: " 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. " And you thought your esteemed host was harsh on this tune. For those who come down on this tune there is very good reason to dislike it. The tune which is grafted from David Sea's Night After Night is quite honestly less real in terms of its soul credentials. When the nicked bits appeared on IDM, they seemed grafted on, not quite melded that organically. The mechanical drum machine speaks volumes more about Whitey's absence than anything else. But even in the event, that Steve White had contributed it probably would have been a lost cause just the same. Dee C Lee's vocal performance is not bad relative to what she had done on Shrine. Also of great note, cult soul legends the Valentine Brothers were enlisted to add a bit of soul authenticity. In their efforts, they were not entirely successful. Ultimately, the tune when compared to earlier Stylist singles is veritably on the lower end of the scale. Devoid of a clever lyric,replete with a repetitive rhythm and being ineffective its is ironically one of the better tunes on the album ! Irony of all ironies, it is an OK tune that becomes a world beater compared to some of the milquetoast concoctions on this album. I realize that I'm giving it a lukewarm approval BUT it's all about context. If this tune appeared on OFS THEN it would be one of its worst BUT on this album even the odiously trite seems like an unforgettable classic

Right To Go: For those you hated A Gospel from Cafe' Bleu, reconsider your definition of hate. Though eschewing politics to a great degree during this period with certain exceptions, the topic is broached in possibly one of the worst rap songs of all time. The original title to the song was called "The Right Must Go" referring quite directly to Maggie Thatcher and her regime. It was a clarion call for people to go and register to vote specifically against Maggie and her dismantling of British civilization. This might have had the opposite effect! Aided and abetted by the Dynamic Three, a Young London rap trio, TSC embarks on a misadventure comparable to the sinking of the Titanic!
Weller sums up his feelings very aptly and concisely : "No that's f$%^&$g awful." Need much more be said? Nick's cheesy synth line and at times interesting (for fleeting moments actually) piano work don't add much to the proceedings. The lyrics get lost in the shuffle due to the ridiculously performed rap and the distant lyrics:

It's a chance to show, that you can't be bought
Whatever you think - whatever you thought
You've got the choice, for what it's worth
You know a third terms gonna cut the earth
Disregard the cost is the party line
A nation filled with apathy, suits fine
To be unemployed and stay alive
No Torys gonna tell you one in five

In the past when TSC did politics there seemed to be some sort of wit involved. There is almost no sense of humor here and what seemed relevant on OFS and Cafe' Bleu seems hackneyed and charmless here. Insult adding to injury, the line proclaiming that "Ronald Reagan is the King Margaret Thatcher is the Queen" was beyond banal! Not expressing my political sympathies at the time, let's just say that as much as I loathed Ronnie and Maggie at the time, I was appalled at the artless and simple way in which they were characterized. I found this somewhat annoying including the rest of the rap rife with cliches up the ying yang. One note, Jezar , the engineer on their next album, Confessions of a Pop Group mixed this. He also engineered the album with Alan Leeming in which the recording was not well regarded by Paul. Not such a ringing endorsement judging from his work on this tune or on the album as a whole BUT Jezar ably acquitted himself nicely on the next album.


Heavens Above: What we have here is a bonafide Style Council classic. This song verily shines in such a lackluster pile of tunes. It is without question the veritable rose upon the dung heap. Quite impressive about the tune is Camelle Hinds' bass playing. This was just not a day session for Mr Hinds. His virtuoso nature comes through in spades stealing the show in no certain terms. No bass player since Hinds has had the chops, tastiness or virtuosity since his work with Paul in TSC and with Paul solo wise. There is one notable exception but that lone exception will come somewhere down the line. In addition, I must give a special mention to Steve White here. Those who doubted Steve's presence on a track listen to the ones where his contribution is extremely subtle. Or even ones where his presence is nonexistent. Whitey plays in a manner that is both simple and elegant at the same time. Playing in service to the song BUT at the same time improving it as well. I can't see a lesser drummer doing the self same job. For Stylist fanatics, Nick Brown who appeared on the next album (as well as Whitey) was no Steve White , not even in the same book,let alone chapter or page. Billy Chapman contributes a sax line that is not impressive in terms of complexity BUT is in terms of technique. His inimitable style really embellishes these simple intros lines. And Paul and Dee do a very credible job of duetting on this one. Boy, they actually sing with real conviction and passion this time around. Where was this skill displayed on the rest of the album?

Although it is not a lyrical marvel, it is laced with a tiny bit of political intent:

Surely by now we've paid the price
there left to sacrifice
You take the power - you take the pay
You steal the will and have the say
I'm sure by now there's not much left
One hand on heart - one on a breast
You steal the milk - you milk the land
But your time is up - your time is sand!

Love intertwined with a small smattering of politics, barely noticeable. The push and pull of emotional love with a bit of sticking it to the Man. A time honored tradition of TSC but very muted in this particular case. In addition, the reference to the album title is almost a cheap one BUT in works in spite of itself because of the strength of all of the song elements coming together:

Heavens above what have we done
Oh, we've killed off the thing we had so little of
True, love has no truth without a price
But the cost of loving has been blown sky high


The tune as mixed by Matthew Kasha , who had been a recording engineer working with artists such as Cameo, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Joe Walsh . According to Weller he gives the tune a somewhat lukewarm endorsement:"Heavens Above', is alright .". Here it is live for all to enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR3kYLBzkAA

Fairy Tales: while not a particularly special tune. Fairy Tales has an energy that betrays its album of origin. While not the greatest tune that they have ever done, it possesses a certain dynamism . In addition, it is more in a traditional mode of soul. Involved in the mixing is the one and only Curtis "Move On Up" Mayfield. a living legend Paul enlisted his services and the result is somewhat effective . In terms of the music, it is not a particualrly inventive song. There is not particular part that stands out as being exemplary. The epilogue at the end is a nice little touch which serves to add a little extra juice to the tune. What this song does have is energy though. No matter how univentive the horn section is and how facile the song is, there seems to be some enthusiasm here, which seemed to be sorely lacking from the rest of the album. Though not on part
with the excellence of Heavens Above, it gets points alone for some of its dynamism.

Lyrically , the tune was an attack on Maggie Thatcher and her merry men once again using the obvious analogy of a fable:

The giant towers over all
But from close distance she don't seem that big at all
In fact she's no more than you or I
Though we give him far more power than his size
Could such a land ever exist
Where those so many could be rendered oh so weak
And still be listening by the phone
To buy shares in things that we already own

Quite telling about this fable is that phones and shares intrude this mythical land. Not a particulary nuanced or revealing stanza, but the antagonist is hinted at in a very sublime fashion:

The giant towers over all
But from close distance she don't seem that big at all
In fact she's no more than you or I
Though we give her far more power than her size

Wellie cuts Mrs Thatcher down to size quite nicely. Not even by mentioning her odious name we comprehend who his target is. In essence, she is far punier than her perceived stature would imply. Not his most formidable critique of Maggie, but the message is sent just the same.

Angel: Absolutely putrid. An abject embarrassment. TSC took a tune from the hands of Sarah Vaughn wannabe, Anita Baker who already had made a piece of smoothed out mush with it. The Style Council did almost the impossible THEY made it even worse! The interplay on this one between Dee and Paul is very weak although Dee's vocal is better than what she accomplished on her Shrine album. Not even Steve's drumming , Camelle Hind's bass playing or Mick Talbot's keyboard musings can save this tune from oblivion. The original despite its obviously dubious origin at least highlighted the singer's strengths. Though I'm not a fan of Baker's , her version is at the very most pleasant whereas the TSC version seems to be lacking in a certain polish comparatively speaking.On the TSC's version, the musical arrangement doesn't fit the vocals and vice versa! I've heard much better covers from them and this one simply falls flat. It's almost as if an incompetent wedding band comprised of inebriated burned out teachers took a stab at this tune and this was the result. The Valentine Bros also mixed this tune. and they could nothing to dress up what was recorded. My sneaking suspicion is that they had added to the slickness of it all if anything. Here is Anita Baker's original for the strong of heart and stomach both! :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaVsQlEldzg&feature=PlayList&p=A62A2D75E6B1C98B&index=0&playnext=1

Walking The Night: A tune more akin to soul tunes of the 70s than anything modern in some sense. Upon revisiting this track, I was taken aback by the inventive horn arrangement. To be brutally honest ,it was much too good for this song! Weller's vocal delivery and the background vocals are good. Features John Valentine of the Valentine Bros on background vocals adding some authentic R & B presence. However there isn't much to this tune in terms of substance. No brilliant metaphors or insightful diatribes against the bosses. Just an old school soul song and a very tepid one at that. Some of Everything But the Girl's Language of Life album ( very much produced with certain smooth jazz legends at the time of its production) bears a passing resemblance to this tune. At that point, Ben and Tracey nicked all the slick bits from Wellie and went totally smoothed and suaved out as well.I remember a review I had read of Weller's As Is Now album and the reviewer singled out a tune called Bring Back the Funk Parts 1 and 2. For the uninitiated , it's Weller channeling the Style Council. The reviewer bemoaned the type of pop bass that used to permeate Style Council tunes. I heard that little itty bass pop in the tune and immediately thought of Walking the Night. I thought that the reviewer must have been scarred by the harrowing experience of remembering Walking The Night . His reaction intimated disgust. Though he did accomplish much by listening to this song and living to tell the tale?!?! . Mixed by Carl Beatty who's crowning achievement was working on The Smurfs' record! No I'm not kidding about that one, I wish I was. Here it is live:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFj69STx-hQ&feature=PlayList&p=1BB067B454641C22&index=0&playnext=1

Waiting: The neverending saga of Waiting goes on. Everyone knows that PW loved it. I'm at a loss for words as to why anyone would cover this as only a parody or to have a bloody laugh or even to spite Wellie! His friend Noel Gallagher should made it into an ersatz Beatle track and would have ruined it even further. Not exactly the nadir of the proceedings , that undistinguished honor goes to Right To Go! BUT these so-called songs reside in almost the small dishonorable place of indignity that only the worst tunes reside in........ A circle of hell where only the most irritating tunes are played over and over and over again!

The Cost Of Loving: The title track which Weller thought was "good. " There are bits and pieces that are intriguing in small spurts. Mick pulls out the ole trusty Hammond and performs a decent solo adding something extra to the tune. Steve's skillful drumming is on point. Paul and Dee's voices meld decently enough. There is one major caveat however. There is something intangible missing with this version. A certain something that is usually defined by a convergence of all a tune's elements coming together:melodically ,harmonically and lyrically. The best songs have it, this one has some of that in the melody and the harmony that is very intriguing but the arrangement doesn't suit the song perfectly. In short, the tune was better than the record that was produced. Funny considering how the songs were not of the highest caliber on this album. I feel that when Wellie revamped the tune and made it into a breezy Brazilian affair that it showcased how good this tune could be. He unlocked its potential in spades.
What was sorely needed was a change of venue that would highlight the vocal and the melody intrinsic to the song. There was something latent in terms of potential here But it was not expressed to its fullest in this form. In some small saving grace, the Wanted B -Side version is the saving grace of the song. In addition,Paul's guitar musings are very weak indeed. The tune was mixed by Alan Leeming who had worked with Patrick Moraz and Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues??!! Not exactly an apropos collaborator for the Stylists......

A Woman's Song: Dee does a decent job with this track. Oddly enough her singing here is better than on her first solo album. It's not terrible but it doesn't rank among her best efforts. It has more polish than Weller's demo which appeared on the Here's the Ones that Got Away. This is yet another tune that Weller claimed that was "good." Very akin to what the slick smooth jazzers Tuck and Patti were doing around the same time. Lyrically it doesn't have much going on truth be told:

Hush little baby don't you cry
Momma's gonna buy you a nursery rhyme
And if that don't send you to sleep
Momma's gonna have to find the key
All of our worries are not our choice
Someone sees to that, I know not why
Things that we've worked for they started to sell
Now heaven is for angels and earth is hell



A lullaby tinged with a hint of sadness....still not a very good one BUT a lullaby indeed. Dee imbues something into the lyrics but by and large can't polish a turd! Even though Paul hasn't gone the road of using spiritual or gospel imagery in quite some time there is a little allegory to heaven and earth.


Finally there is very little good on this album a lot of bad and much more ugly than good! Links, there are many different elements that conspired to sink this ship and they were well documented. Could have the result been different if different tunes were introduced into the mix? That is a hypothesis that would be worth delving into quite readily......see you in Part Deux!

 

Orange Album Part 2

The Orange Album, the album that might have been. The Style Council had a considerable number of other tracks that were left over for these sessions. Many of those tunes eventually appeared on Here's Some That Got Away. In some strange sense, It's not so much that some of those tunes are emblematic of a better standard BUT almost anything seems better than what was presented on the much eviscerated , loathed and derided record called COL. Love Pains was a cover of Willie Clayton's..... one of Wellie's most recently adopted influences. While not exemplary, there seems to be a touch more enthusiasm in this cover than the stiffness, mellowness and maddeningly mediocre mess we were subjected to on the Orange Album. There seems to be some emotion in Weller's vocal delivery and his vocal timbre is in absolutely fine form. A Very Good Friend sounded very 80s (therefore dated now) and hyper popish. While not an amazing tune , lyrically or musically, there seems to be some dynamism here, but the tune is not terribly clever. I Ain't Going Under This Time features arguably the most dominant guitar sound that Weller had employed during his Style Council tenure. However in your face as it was , it was not expertly played as his skills had lessened considerably from the time of the Jam. Not really impressive playing by any means. Not a bad tune.though.The Paul sung variant of A Women's Song is by no means of a noticeably higher quality than the finished version that appeared on the Orange Album. Dee's voice seemed to make it even more maudlin and sickeningly saccharine however. Waiting On A Connection (done in 88) was written for the London group called Push and it suspiciously sounds like it was spawned from the self same factory that unleashed the Orange Album upon the world. Very polished sounding, actually too much IMO and though not of the Orange album period it sounds like a COL castoff! April's Fool continues the smooth jazz/lite FM approach in spades,sort of reflective of the mindset of this era. . How toothless had they become to do a tune that exercised such little lyrical subtlety and blatant mellowness. Another tune that could have possibly been involved in an album realignment, All Year Round (not one of my preferred TSC tunes) took on a new life when Weller performed it live. While the tune itself was derivative of Big Boss Groove in a tiny way, it had none of its verve or passion of its antecedent. In its live arrangement,it came to life. If only the TSC version could have harnessed some passion to make this work on some successful level. Night After Night was the proverbial cover that should never have been. Lacking the soul and feel of David Sea's version it falls flat. A Casual Affair which was from 85 was classic B side material meaning that it was actually pretty decent indeed. Not one of their hidden gems per se, it features Wellie playing some really jangly guitar, I wonder if he used one of the Ricks on this one. There was also one song called Everlasting Love that was left unreleased (and not on this collection) however it was performed in concert by TSC. Not to be confused with the Andy Gibb's or the Robert Knight/ Carlton tune either. It is rather banal and Dee C Lee takes center stage here. Better than her Shrine album's rather MOR ditties ( a recurring theme with Dee it seems) but still the tune is not that strong. Her heart seemed to be into it, however that passion was still not enough to rescue the tune from its mediocrity. For those who are curious to how it sounded, listen and learn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymPDd6fKPOM

In terms of a debate, it's not that I think that the tunes left off were demonstrably better. It's more of a case where I think almost nothing could salvage the Orange Album no matter what was excised or added on it .Ultimately, it might have been far more pleasant record if certain tunes were removed from the Orange Album proper and some of these tunes added. Two obvious deletions from the album would be Right To Go and Angel right off the bat. In their respective places , I would insert Love Pains and I Ain't Going Under This Time. In addition, Waiting would be exiled to the vinyl vomit bin and replaced with a jazzier version of All Year Round akin to the Paul Weller live version found on his self titled album's deluxe edition(plug ,plug!). Also, not every tune ( Waiting On A Connection and Casual Affair being the notable exception in that the former was from 88 and the later was from 85) is precisely from the Cost Of Loving album era . I just thought it would be interesting to see how those leftover tracks could have been used. I also wanted to add an interactive element with HSTGA, in where it would almost be actively used as a reservoir of posssibility of what could have been on the Orange album.

The album's sound was a bit different from before. Pete Wilson was no longer at the helm. Jezar came on board to engineer and mix along with Alan Leeming. John Reed intimates that Paul Weller's production might have been the culprit as to why the album sounded so slick for lack of a better word. Weller himself attributed the change in sound when Paul and Mick acquired a new sound board before the recording of COL. His claim was that the records sounded unique with his beloved old board, then subsequently speaking he felt the new board was the reason why the records started to sound like everything else! Weller had also commented on how DX7s and drum machines being hooked up on almost every record back then and that is what everything had a homogeneous musical quality as a result. In terms of the actual recording Weller's heart and passion is at stake: "Yeah, at certain times. It comes across on the Style Council Cost of loving album - it's good but there's something missing. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time but looking back. ..It's always easier to say these things in hindsight, but I lost it then. There's no life in it. It wasn't a joy to come to the studio. We were going through the motions. It's about timing though. Something makes it the right time and it's not always going to stay that way.

In terms of sonics the best bet is the British LP which is laid out on two 45rpm pieces of licorice pizza. Not as cold or clinical sounding as the CDs(the US or the Box set versions ) and as the American LP was . The mastering on the British variant doesn't mask the chilliness or slickness of the proceedings but presents them in a more listenable if not more bearable light as it were. And to be honest this album predated all this hysteria regarding 45 rpm remasterings, though in this case the intention was to target DJs' attention NOT audiophiles. All told, a music lover's poison is somewhat of a vinyl lovers' bonanza here. The American pressing LP was not that bad BUT it is trumped by the British one in terms bass, musicality and tames the slickness of the event a slight bit. Just for that almost impossible feat ,it deserves a gold star.

 

Record Labels from The Cost of Loving

Yet some more artistry from the Orange album.......

 

There's not really that much more that can be added after that grand evisceration Butch.

I'm caught in two minds about playing this one more time to analyse it next to your critique, as there's lots of great music to listen to and not enough time for me to be wasting it on multiple listens to this.

I do quite like IDM as i've said, but you are spot on about Right To Go. Absolute 24 carat crud. It sounds like those appalling rap jams that Prince & The Revolution used to play live where the band used to follow him around the stage hollering rubbish and banging percussion items to kill time as part of the Lovesexy show. Worked fine live as a spectacle but putting lightweight underwritten garbage like this on an album? Well it killed Prince's career post Lovesexy and Weller is even more embarrassing here.

I'll comment on the rest of the album later but it would have had to be some kind of career high water mark to withstand the inclusion of that abomination and it's not...not even nearly. Saw the double 45rpm version for £2 second hand at the weekend but didn't go for it. Just realised it's probably the best way to listen to this, 2 tracks at a time, side two being a decent listen.

 

I count three good tracks (IDM, Heavens Above, Fairy Tales), one really really really BAD track (Right To Go), and a bunch of middle-of-the-road stuff that ranges from merely pleasant to totally bland (everything else). Not a very high batting average there...

I gotta say, in retrospect, the album artwork might just be the best thing about this one.