The Style Council - The Singular Adventures of the Style Council

MINE

Aaaagh... I've already used my Style Council story in the Paul Weller review... what to do?  OK, OK, just put the CD on, maybe something will come to me.  Ah!  Of course.

Paul Weller has written two of my top-three love songs of all time.  George Harrison has the honour of taking the number one spot, with Something (on the Beatles' Abbey Road album, if you need to find it).  But it's closely followed by two of the Modfather's own - You Do Something To Me from his solo album Stanley Road, and this compilation's opening number: You're the Best Thing.

I can't imagine my life without this CD as it delivers hit after hit after hit... and I can really only find two songs that haven't stood the test of time for me.  So I just skip over It Didn't Matter and Waiting, and immerse myself in all the other songs.  No doubt the completists will tell me I should have all the albums, and they're probably right.  But this CD has always been a favourite of mine, and it always will be.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (and SHOUT to the top!)

YOURZ

This is the incarnation of Paul Weller I'm not hugely a fan of but then I've never been a big fan of this kind of British soul.  While I'm probably gonna earn the wrath of Mine for saying this, I think a lot of the songs on this collection have aged pretty poorly.  (Mine says: So this is Girl Music, huh?) This is not to take away from Paul Weller's song writing.  It's more about the sound of the record rather than the songs themselves.

Having said this, tracks like Walls Come Tumbling Down and Shout To The Top still sound every bit as vital as they did when first released.  And Weller's voice is just fuckin' awesome, no doubt.  But given I only knew four of the songs on this this collection, I can't really find anything more to say about it except I hope the pointy stick lands on The Jam, so we can complete the Weller triumvirate.

Given Mine's love of all things Weller, I'm not going to risk it by saying "Throw It Out", so I'll just say...

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

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In our collection, we also have Confessions Of A Pop Group