The Style Council

Once he split The Jam, vocalist and guitarist Paul Weller abandoned rage and Rickenbackers and formed The Style Council with keyboardist Mick Talbot, from London Mod band The Merton Parkas, and drummer Steve White. They returned to the Soul and Jazz Weller had visited in The Jam's final days, and their upbeat debut 'Speak Like A Child' (1983) married social commentary to brassy R and B. Their dreamy 'Long Hot Summer' from 1983's 'Paris Match' EP and 1984's Jazz-tinged Cafe Bleu (issued in a slightly different form as My Ever Changing Moods in the USA) underlined Weller's rejection of his Beatles/Small Faces roots. With keyboards, horns and harmonies replacing the trademark bluster, Paris Match and Cafe Blue were grounded in African-American music: soul, jazz, blues, R&B and (with less success) hip hop.

Their debut gig was at 1983's May Day Show For Jobs And Peace in Liverpool. In 1984, they played with singer for Wham! D.C. Lee (now a Syle Councillor and later to be Weller's wife) at a striking miners' benefit in London. Paul Weller sang with Band Aid and the band made 'Soul Deep' as Council Collective in aid of the miners.

Our Favourite Shop (1985) stretched Weller's musical vocabulary, and the group appeared at Live Aid and were involved with the ill-fated Red Wedge- a 1986 tour to raise awareness of England's Labour party among young voters. The negative press reaction dissuaded Weller from any further political involvement.

After the live Home And Abroad in 1986, 1987's The Cost Of Loving continued the group's success, but began Weller's fall from grace with the music press, who condemned its earnest themes. The obscure short film JerUSalem (1987) drew a blank with press and fans, 1988's Musak-like Confessions Of A Pop Group was eclipsed by 1989's hits set The Singular Adventures Of The Style Council, then their label Polydor took exception to their latest direction- slick Chicago House- and refused to release Modernism: A New Decade (1989). They were dropped and soon split.

Paul Weller continued solo with 'The Paul Weller Movement', while Talbot has contributed to albums by Galliano and The Young Disciples, and made two albums with White. After she left Weller, Lee resumed her solo career. Polydor released the band's retrospective Here's Some That Got Away (1993) and The Style Council Collection (1996).