reviews / 2020

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL - Long Hot Summers: The Story Of The Style Council

Name: PAUL WELLER – JAM - STYLE COUNCIL - Long Hot Summers: The Story Of The Style Council
Item: JAM - STYLE COUNCIL - Long Hot Summers: The Story Of The Style Council
Rating: 8.5
Author: Claudio Lancia

2020 (Polydor)

pop, soul-jazz

by Claudio Lancia

8.5

Ampia retrospettiva, in doppio cd e triplo vinile, per una delle band inglesi di riferimento degli anni 80, per un progetto fortemente voluto da Paul Weller che, chiusa l’avventura Jam, decise di unire le forze con l’amico Mick Talbot, già tastierista nei Dexys Midnight Runners. Coadiuvati dalla voce femminile di Dee C. Lee (futura signora Weller) e dalla batteria di Steve White, produssero un sound che seppe muoversi dal raffinato soul-jazz degli esordi alle altrettanto eleganti derive house-garage di “Promised Land”, passando attraverso morbide ballate pianistiche e hit generazionali rimaste senza tempo, frutto del grande talento compositivo espresso da Weller.

“Long Hot Summers” contiene per gran parte materiale molto noto, e non soltanto ai fan degli Style Council, musica perfetta per fungere da ideale colonna sonora al decennio cool per antonomasia, un pop non necessariamente disimpegnato e sbarazzino, romantico e fatalista, bensì ricco anche di una forte coscienza sociale che esprimeva il disagio emerso durante gli anni contrassegnati dal governo conservatore di Margaret Thatcher.

La caratteristica peculiare di questa raccolta, rispetto ad altre pubblicate in passato, risiede nel fatto che è stata curata con la partecipazione dello stesso Weller, autore di alcune note incluse nel libretto, assieme ad altri contributi di Lois Wilson e dell’attore Martin Freeman e alla riproduzione di numerose foto piuttosto rare.

In scaletta, non soltanto tutte le hit del gruppo, da “You’re The Best Thing”, a “Shout To The Top!” (qui anche in versione strumentale), da “Life At A Top People’s Health Farm” a “It Didn’t Matter”, ma anche diversi brani meno popolari e un paio di inediti: il demo di “My Ever Changing Moods” e una extended version di “Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse”. Un percorso forse troppo breve ma decisamente significativo, attraverso il quale Weller si rivelò abile nel rielaborare nostalgie del passato per concretizzare una nuova estetica che fungerà da propulsore nello sviluppo della fortunata (e di poco successiva) scena acid-jazz.

A completamento del progetto “Long Hot Summers”, è previsto un documentario che verrà trasmesso durante il 2021 sul circuito televisivo Sky Arte.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

30/12/2020

Share on

This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Claudio Lancia, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition

Tracklist

Cd 1
1. Headstart For Happiness
2. Long Hot Summer
3. My Ever-Changing Moods
4. Walls Come Tumbling Down!
5. Party Chambers
6. Wanted (Or Waiter, There’s…)
7. Shout To The Top!
8. It Just Came To Pieces In My Hands
9. Come To Milton Keynes
10. Why I Went Missing
11. Waiting
12. Ghosts Of Dachau
13. Down In The Seine
14. The Paris Match
15. Boy Who Cried Wolf
16. Life At A Top People’s Health Farm
17. Homebreakers
18. Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse (extended version)
Cd 2
1. Speak Like A Child
2. The Lodgers (Or She Was Only…)
3. Money Go Round
4. You’re The Best Thing
5. How She Threw It All Away
6. A Man Of Great Promise
7. The Piccadilly Trail
8. A Solid Bond In Your Heart
9. All Gone Away
10. Sweet Loving Ways
11. Promised Land
12. Have You Ever Had It Blue
13. It Didn’t Matter
14. Spin’ Drifting
15. Here’s One That Got Away
16. A Woman’s Song
17. Changing Of The Guard
18. My Ever-Changing Moods (demo)
19. Shout To The Top (instrumental)

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL sul web

Official website

Facebook

Paul Weller – Jam – Style Council on OndaRock

Monograph

Paul Weller - Jam - Style Council

The last of the mods

From the glorious adventure of the Jam, poised between punk and mod revival, to the Style Council's Parisian-café soul-pop, all the way to a solo career that continues uninterrupted to this day: the saga of an intelligent songwriter, a genuine voice for the treacherous malaise of his own generation

Paul Weller – Jam – Style Council on OndaRock

Go to artist page

All Reviews on Ondarock

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

As Is Now

The Cappuccino Kid celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of the Jam's formation in the best possible way

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

Wake Up The Nation

Political proclamations and anti-technology slogans mark the Modfather's return, featuring Kevin Shields and ex-Jam man Bruce Foxton

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

Café Bleu

The manifesto of the Paul Weller-Mike Talbot duo, standard-bearers of the new British cool

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

Sonik Kicks

The modfather's mystical bender with kosmische musik

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

Saturns Pattern

The classic rock-and-soul blend on the Cappuccino Kid's twelfth solo effort

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

A Kind Revolution

The Cappuccino Kid's comeback, a fresh-faced 59-year-old, with his finest record in twenty years

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

True Meanings

The Modfather turns sixty with an album of refined songwriting

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

On Sunset

Ten tracks of refined art-pop and a fifteenth solo album for what is now a monumental career

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

Fat Pop (Volume 1)

Multifaceted, colourful pop on the Modfather's new tracks, released barely ten months after "On Sunset"

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

An Orchestrated Songbook

Eighteen songs performed at London's Barbican Centre with the support of the Bbc Symphony Orchestra

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

Will Of The People

An anthology of B-sides, rarities and alternate takes from the 2002-2021 period, curated by the Modfather himself

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

66

The Modfather turns 66 and gives us one of the most inspired works in his entire solo discography

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

Find El Dorado

The Modfather's eldorado: a treasure chest of songs to rediscover, from the Bee Gees to the Kinks, alongside Plant, Gallagher & co.

PAUL WELLER - JAM - STYLE COUNCIL

22 Dreams

The godfather of the mods celebrates fifty years in better shape than ever

VISIONS IN 33RPM

The Style Council - Our Favourite Shop, Paul Weller's internationalist emporium turns 40

Forty years of our favourite shop, between soul-pop-jazz sophistication and blistering political invective

SINGLES GOING STEADY

Best singles of the week - From Kings Of Leon to Paul Weller and Mgmt: the most interesting new releases

Plenty of new releases this week too, with the returns of Paul Weller, Kings Of Leon, Bat For Lashes, Sza and the collaboration between Mgmt and Christine & The Queens