627 Goodbye The Style Council - Promised Land

Chart  entered :  18  February  1989

Chart  peak : 27

Though  abrupt  and  unexpected  at  the  time,  the  demise  of  The  Style  Council  proved  to  be  symptomatic  of  the  changing  economics  of  the  record  industry. Regular  chart  placings  in  the  UK  were  no  longer  enough  to  keep  a  major  label  happy.

In  1983  Paul  Weller  seemed  to  be  everywhere, his  every  move  intensely  scrutinised  in  the  wake  of  The  Jam   split  and  The  Style  Council  scored  their  biggest  hit  with  "Long  Hot  Summer". The  following  year,  they  scored the  US  hit  that  had  always  eluded  The  Jam  when  "My  Ever  Changing  Moods"  reached   number  29. Its  parent  album  "Cafe  Bleu"  reached  number  56  there. The  line  up  expanded; joining  Paul  and  keyboard  player  Mick  Talbot   were   drummer  Steve  White  and   vocalist  Dee  C  Lee  poached  from  Wham !  who  became  Mrs Weller  in  1987 . In  1985  their  second  album  "Our  Favourite  Shop"  reached  number  1  in  the  UK.

For  all  that, I'm  not  sure  the  group  made  any  significant  number  of  new  converts  ( outside  the  US ); their  success  seemed  to  be  based  on  holding  a  gradually  dwindling  proportion  of  the  Jam  audience. and  their  singles  fell  into  the  same  pattern  of  charting  high  ( though  not  as  high  as  The Jam )  and  then  falling  away  quickly. 1985's  "Come  To  Milton  Keynes"  was  the  first  Top  40  hit  I  missed  since  The  Dead  Kennedys's  Too  Drunk  To  Fuck  in  1981. In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighties  Paul  was  a  prime  mover  in  the  Red  Wedge  movement  to  try  and  turn  young  voters  on  to  the  Labour  Party. Paul  has  since  conceded  that  this began  to  have  a  detrimental  effect  on  his  music. Steve  quit  the  band  halfway  through  the  sessions  for  1988's  "Confessions  of  A  Pop  Group"  which  sold  poorly  compared  to  its  predecessors.

By  that  time  Paul  was  listening  to  deep  house  music  and  decided  to  go  in  that  direction."Promised  Land"  was  recorded  during  the  sessions  for  their  fifth  album. It's  a  cover  of  a  track  by  Chicago  DJ  Joe  Smooth  released  eighteen  months  earlier, an  MLK-evoking  plea  for  universal  brotherhood. The original's  backing  track  owed  a  lot  to  UK  synth-pop,  in  particular  Bronski  Beat's  Smalltown  Boy.  This  version  strips  out  most  of  the  synths  in  favour  of  Paul's  rudimentary  piano  and  an  organic  bass  line  supplied  by  long-time  collaborator  Camelle  Hinds  from  Brit-funkers  Central  Line. Dee  is  helped  out  by  a  couple  of  other  singers  to  provide  the  gospelly  backing  vocals  behind  Paul's  loose  lead . It's  not  a  great  record  but  at  least  it  sounds  like  they're  having  fun  compared  to  the  joyless , flatfooted  attempts  at  soul  that  preceded  it.

Polydor  then  stepped  in  and  insisted  on  the  release  of   a  compilation  The  Singular  Adventures  of  The  Style  Council  before  the  next  album. A  rather  perfunctory  re-mix  of  "Long  Hot  Summer "  was  released  as  a  single  and was  their  last  singles  chart  entry  and  reached  number  48. The  album  reached  a  healthy  number  3.

The  band  then  prepared  to  release  a  new  single  "Sure  Is  Sure"  a  rambling,  directionless  jam  co-written  with  Hinds. They  played  a  gig  at  the  Royal  Albert  Hall  billed  as  The  Style  Council  Revue  in  July  1989 . Coming  just  a  month  after  the  compilation, the  audience  were  expecting   a  greatest  hits  set; instead  they  got  a house  set  and  weren't  shy  of  showing  their  displeasure. That  seems  to  have  been  the  cue  for  Polydor  to  pull  the  single  and  announce  that  they  weren't  going  to  release  the  album  "Modernism : A  New  Decade"  as  it  didn't  have  enough  commercial  potential. It  eventually  came  out  as  part  of  a  box  set  in  1998.

It's  hard  to  believe  that  the  album  wouldn't  have  at  least  recovered  its  costs  given  the  Weller  fanbase. You  suspect  Polydor  just  wanted  to  clear  the  decks  of  an  awkward  artist  who  wasn't  bringing  home  the  bacon  any  more. The  band  obligingly  broke  up  and  Paul's  twelve  year  association  with  the  label  which  had  produced  four  number  one  singles  and  two  chart-topping  albums   came  to  an  end.

The  third  coming  of  Mr  Weller  will  be  covered  in  the  near  future.

Steve  and  Mick  popped  up  again  the  following  year with  Steve  producing  a  compilation  LP  "A  Certain  Kind  of  Freedom"  featuring  various  artists. Mick  contributed  a  typically  jazzy  organ  instrumental entitled  "That  Guy  Called  Pumpkin" while  Steve  drummed  on  a  couple  of  tracks  by  saxophonist  Scott  Garland  and  former  Communards  singer  Sarah  Jane  Morris. Mick  then  became  a  busy  session  player  with  Young  Disciples, Carleen  Anderson, Sounds  of  Blackness  and  Graham  Parker  among  his  clients. Steve  meanwhile  patched  up  his  differences  with  Paul  and  became  his  regular  drummer.

Nevertheless  the  two  combined  in  1993  to  re-launch  themselves  as  a  recording  duo  imaginatively  named  Talbot  White. They  released  an  LP  "United  States  of  Mind" in  1993  with  the  help  of  guest  vocalists  like  Linda  Muriel  on  the  vocal  tracks  and  former  Level  42  drummer  Phil  Gould  helping  out  with  some  of  the  lyrics. The  music's  feet  are  firmly  in  the  early  seventies  but  as  an  exercise  in  retro-soul  it  isn't  that  bad, Alas  the  album  got  little  attention ; it   passed  me  by  completely. Three  years  later  they  released  "Off  The  Beaten  Track"  an  album  of  acid  jazz  instrumentals  ( though  it  sounds  pretty  close  to  prog  rock  in  places )  that  makes  for  reasonable  background  music. They  probably  weren't  expecting  it  to  sell  millions.

Both  went  back  to  session  work  for  a  few  years, Steve  mainly  with  Paul  but  in  2003  they  came  together  again  in  the  group  Players  also  featuring  Damon  Minchella  of  Ocean  Colour  Scene  ( with  whom  Mick  had  been  working  extensively  since  the  turn  of  the  millennium ).  Their  2003  album  "Clear  The  Decks"  carried  on  where  their  earlier  collaboration  left  off  with  another  eleven  jazz  rock  instrumentals  perhaps  given  extra  urgency  by  Minchella's  bass  playing.  In  2005  they  released  another  LP  "From  the Six  Corners"  which  was  comprised   of mainly  vocal  tracks  in  a  jazz-funk   vein,  some  of  them  featuring  guest  vocalist  Kelly  Dickson . "What's  Your  Problem ? "  was  released  as  a  single  and  is  a  Stevie Wonder-ish  ( (though  female- sung ) burbling  urban  funk  number  with  no  hooks. I've  heard  live  versions  of  about  half  the  tracks  and  again  it's  OK.

By  this  time  Mick  was  also  involved  in  the  re-launch  of  Dexy's  Midnight  Runners  which  we  covered  earlier. That  took  up  most  of  his  time  - though  he  also  toured  with  Candi  Staton  in  2009 - until  the  end  of  their  tour  in  2013. He  was  not  involved  in  their  most  recent  album. His  most  recent  work  has  been  with  Wilko  Johnson  and  The  Who.

When  Mick  went  off  to  Dexy's  Steve  continued  working  with  Minchella  as  Trio  Valore  with  new  keyboard  player  Seamus  Beaghen. They  ploughed  a  similar  musical  furrow  and  released  one  album  "Return  of  the  Iron  Monkey  "  in  2008. It  included  an  instrumental  version  of  Amy  Winehouse's  "Rehab"  which  was  released  as  a  single. It's  lively  enough  but  can't  escape  sounding  a  bit  muzak-y.  Seven  years  later  he  and  Minchella  got  together  again  with  Weller-wannabe  Matt  Deighton  and  produced  a  Weller-esque  album  as  The  Family  Silver , "Electric  Blend ". Steve  continues  to  work  with  the  man  himself.

 Blow  Monkeys  frontman  Dr  Robert  had  joined  The  Style  Council  for  their  fateful  gig  at  the  Royal  Albert  Hall  and  he  and  Paul  had  started  dabbling  in  the  studio  before  the  Council  shut  up  shop. The  results  were  released  under  the  name  Slam  Slam  on  MCA  with  Dee  as  frontperson. The  first  single  "Move ( Dance  All  Night )" , written  by  Dee  and  Robert, came  out  in  the  summer  of  1989  and  is  as  generic  a  club  track  as  you  could  hear  anywhere. The  second  "Something  Ain't  Right"  was  written  by  Paul  and  came  out  over  a  year  later. It  proves  that  Paul  could  write  an  authentic-sounding   house  track  but  the  problem  was  the  charts  were  full  of  similar  sounding  records  and  with  Dee's  unremarkable  voice  to  the  fore  it  didn't  cut  through  the  pack. In  March  1991  they  re-mixed  "Move"  and  put  it  out  to  no  more  effect. The  next  single  "Free  Your  Feelings"   was  co-produced  by  The  Young  Disciples  and  has  a  mellow  funk  groove  ( incorporating  a  rap  from  one  of  The  She-Rockers )  but  there's  no  song. It  was  the  title  track  of  the  album  finally  released  in  May  1991. I  think  "What  Dreams  Are  Made  Of " and " You'll  Find  Love"  with  their  higher   melodic  content  might  have  stood  a  better  chance  of  becoming  hits  but  it  wasn't  to  be.

After  that  Dee's  recording  ventures  became  more  sporadic  as  she  and  Paul  had  two  kids  to  bring  up.  In  1993  she  appeared  on  a  solo  single  by  Gang  Starr  rapper  Guru  "No  Time  To  Play"  singing  the  repetitive  refrain. It  reached  number  25 making  it  her  last  hit  to  date.  In  1994  she  released  her  second  solo  album  "Things  Will  Be  Sweeter "  a  set  of  songs  which  owed  much  to  the  shuffling  soul  sound  of  Soul II Soul.  The  title  track  was  released  as  a  single. It's  not  unpleasant  but  again  she  just  doesn't  have  the  voice  to  compete  in  that  market. The  same  year  she  released  a  one-off  single  for  Mo'Wax  "New  Reality  Vibe"  which  is  in  much  the  same  vein.

Dee's  relationship  with  Paul  deteriorated  and  they  were  finally  divorced  in  1998. That  year  she  released  her  last  solo  album  to  date  "Smiles"  but  only  in  Japan. I've  heard  a  couple  of  tracks. "I  Will    Wait" is  the  sort  of  mellow, noodly  jazz  funk  that  they  obviously  still  enjoy  over  there  while  "When  You  Were  Mine"  is  a  generic  club  track.

After  that.  Dee  disappeared  into  family  life  for  a  number  of  years. In  the  late  noughties , she dabbled  in  acting  in  a  couple  of  independent  films  and  has  made  the  odd  live  appearance. She's  also  contributed  to  documentaries  about  her  ex. In  2013  she  released the  compilation  LP  "Shrine". She  has  talked  about putting  out  a  new  album  recently.