Reviews (page 3 of 8)
Interesting shift. Like the jazzy influence
This album felt like it didn’t really know what it was trying to be. Ultimately just felt a bit disjointed and slightly messy.
Oh Paul, what have you done? Major cringe on some of these songs
I can only imagine the uproar from The Jam fans when this was put out. Probably similar to when Radiohead lobbed out Kid A. Anyway, this to me just sounds like easy listening/smooth vibe across a variety of genres that just don’t float my boat. The rap was probably the best song, but purely because it stood out. Oh well.
Ikke for mæ. Hadde ikke blidd sur om æ hørte det et sted, men æ vil ikke aktivt høre på det.
Jazz pop rock. It's ok. Not my style. 2.5/5.
In no way should you feel like you need to listen to this album. I’m left with the question “what was that?” and if I had to answer my own question, the only words I can come up with are scattered and mundane. This album attempts to cover a few genres, some more contemporary than others, seemingly at random. None of it is done well enough for me to hold onto anything. A strange inclusion 2/5
Pleasant enough but didn't stand out to me.
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this, but it’s mostly great! The instrumental tracks really stand out. Favourite track: The Paris Match
…And yet another outing of British lads unabashedly copying from various styles (Bossa, Jazz, Funk, Soul, …) from all over the world, and the press going nuts about it. Euphemistically calling it Blue-Eyed Soul. In this instance, the apt way of cataloguing would be “copycats doing what myriads did better”. Then again, the „originals“ didn’t wear trench coats and hang out pretentiously in Paris cafés while making their music. So naturally the press lost its mind over The Style Council. Some even called it “progressive pop”, as if Paul Weller had somehow invented or meaningfully expanded these genres - which he plainly did not. a blatant case of cultural appropriation masquerading as music journalism. It’s nothing but an imitation game from start to finish - plus an atrocious take on hip hop. Yet journalists loved it, probably helped along by the fact that the creators were British and white. Can’t blame Weller though, he was just vibing with great sounds and apparently having a good time, but it’s oh so unsatisfying that this record gets praise for… well, for what exactly? Well, My Ever Changing Moods is a great song. + 1 for that one.
Words cannot adequately express the disappointment I felt being a huge fan of The Jam, and then hearing The Style Council for the first time. That said, taken as it’s own thing, it’s not bad.
I like this I misjudged it at first but now I see how much of a great band the style council is they’ve got various musical incorporations and their leftist political leanings are very pronounced and it’s rare to see that in a pop group at least it’s not that common!! My fav songs are: my ever changing moods / a gospel
Nice sound!!!
Dette var pinlige greier. A-siden er i det minste såpass intetsigende at man kan ignorere det, men B-siden... herreminhatt.
Interessant å høre, mye variert. Men likte egentlig kun de rolige jazzspora
Treeren her er ikke for at plata er mid. Det er fordi låtene spriker sånn i kvalitet. Veldig bra på sitt beste, noe skikkelig ræl og en del meh.
Stilig. Svak firer.
For en potpurri. Noe er jo ganske hyggelig, liker både bossaen og jazzen. Mye annet her som ikke er mulig å lytte til, som Strength of your Nature. Plata blir gradvis verre og verre.
Hadde aldri hørt om sophisti-pop før, men jeg liker det. Herlig eklektisk miks av jazz, pop og easy listening.
Um disco irregular, com peças instrumentais interessantes, mas sem as mesmas virtudes nos temas com vocais.
Startede jazzy og fint, men der gik 80'er i den. Nåede ikke helt igennem.
Fattar inte grejen här alls, känns som något som kanske kändes spännande när det kom men som inte riktigt håller idag
Någonting genomgående irriterande över det här.
Överlag härligt sound, lyssnar gärna igen!
Intressant blandning.
Intet at blive ophidset over. det er fint og jazzet
Det starter ret kedeligt frokost-jazzet ud for så at gå full blown weird med hvidmands-rap, funk og soul.
primera canción me encantó El resto lindas
Very random, but creative stuff. Very diverse set of songs I enjoyed listening to!
Accidentally listened to all of this with my grandad thinking it was the jazz album we were listening to from a few days ago. ...it was not. This is not jazz, but is fine.
Disco com uma diversidade de influências e ritmos
As a fan of the jam and some style council songs this was disappointing. No one needs half-baked jazz on this list.
This didn't make sense as an album to me. Sometimes (poor) easy-listening jazz, sure interesting-ish instrumental and about turn to rap halfway through? High 1 low 2
Who is this for, and when??? When would you want a protest song, rap, dinner jazz, 80s easy listening album. I'd rather listen to any album that better explored one of the ideas.
A complicated messy album that hasn’t worked out what it is yet
If I hadn’t read that Paul Weller was behind this I would never have put two and two together. There’s no point comparing this to The Jam, because the aims are so different. It’s an interesting ensemble piece with plenty of variety that would play well in a cafe. Some songs have stood the test of time better than others but never really gets better than “cute” or “listenable” for me, and at points “boring.” Overall I couldn’t work out why Weller went down this route at all.
I really enjoyed a couple of tracks and really disliked a couple, the rest varied from enjoyed to disliked and as an album it simply doesn’t work, landing at a high 2 for me
That was different
This is a mid-80s bland, at best.
I don't think an album could be blander than this one.
Bit of a rough go for me on this one, even as a big jazz enjoyer. Such a weird hodgepodge of an album, couldn't really find the through line of the project. Who was listening to this in 1984? Some OK instrumental tracks, but the rest delved deep into cheeseball territory. 2.5/5 from me.
2026.02.25
Ok. Funny story. I listened to the first 8 tracks of this record and wrote the review below. I wanted to finish it up before I got my next album, so I pulled up my phone, forgetting which track I was on. For some reason I wanted to check wikipedia instead of Apple Music, and I'm glad I did. Because none of the tracks in the Wiki matched up with what I had heard. The dangers of listening to the Special Edition! For some reason, the makers of the special edition made the first disc NOT the original LP, but instead the mini-LP titled "Introducing.....The Style Council." So I was listening to the wrong album the whole day. The mini-LP sounds like straight ahead synth pop to me. So imagine my surprise when I fired up disc 2 of the SE, the correct album for this project, and found that musically it is completely unrelated to disc 1! The first side of the REAL Cafe Bleu is light jazz. Then I got even more confused when the second side starts off with a terrible proto-rap song, and then spins off into all sorts of different directions before finally settling back on jazz-pop for the finale. PHEW. For all it's ambition, I have to say this album's eclectic nature is its downfall. What kind of record do I want to put on? Cafe Bleu will never be the answer to that question because it's too many genres all at once. Anyways. I'm not going to delete my review for, apparently, "Introducing...." because I like it and it's still valid even if its for the wrong album. THREE STARS ### The guy who wrote this book never met an English synth-pop band he didn't like. I think every single English synth-pop record will be on this list, quality be damned. Not that this is a bad record. But - Jesus. I'm guessing the author of "1001 Records to Hear Before You Die" is English (obviously) and had some kind of musical Awakening in the early to mid 1980s, which means he was probably born between 1960-68. He's white. Ok now I feel like I'm profiling a serial killer. But seriously. I think he pulled some obvious "best albums ever" from his own brain, then he grabbed every Album of the Year Grammy winner, as well as every Mercury Prize winner, and then he stumbled on a "Catalog of Synth Pop/New Wave" and just threw in the lot. And that's how we got this book. Which is fine, because I quite like that genre. But even for me it's getting a little tedious.
Felt like I was listening to a lot of different genres.
wow sure is something for everyone on this little album. Based on the ratings/ reviews I was sure I wouldn't enjoy it but heck this was fun. I liked the whiplash of each song. I don't know what makes this so special to be on this list but I enjoyed it!
5/10 Best songs: A Gospel, Strength Of Your Nature This is such a confusing album. It starts as sort of jazzy easy listening - mainly instrumentals with a few random vocals. Then suddenly A Gospel comes on and it's early rap/hip hop; then you have typical synth-y 80s music... It's a sort of schizophrenic album. Some parts are good, some are bad, some are dull... I'm not sure what to think about it honestly, but I like how experimental it is.
Para quien le agrade los géneros contenidos en el álbum le será placentero sin duda, en mi caso al no ser de mis estilos favoritos, ya que disfruto más de tipos similares de música cuando tiene toques o mezclas de ello más no es el rasgo principal de, me pareció muy disfrutable. Destaco como canciones favoritas: Me Ship Came In! A Gospel My Ever Changing Moods 3/5(?)
I’ve never been so disappointed in an album before. Not because it was all bad but I was really enjoying the first half and right when A Gospel started, that’s when it all went downhill. Shame.
enjoyed this so much more than i expected to
wth they got soul
Verriefun
leuk
Pretty backgroundy… is that the point?
Groovy
This one is a 2.9/5 for me to be specific.
Эклектика, в этом смысле немного напомнили поздних Битлов.
Good, started of really strong but tapered off to the end.
Experimental. Enjoyed
This is bad. I'm 550 albums in and haven't heard Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Erroll Garner, Bill Evans, Red Garland, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock (I could go on and on). So the suggestion that everyone should hear these amateurish performances of jazzish songs is hard to take. Even this version of Ever Changing World - the only song I hear worth listening to - lands flat when compared with the flared out single version. Oof.
551/1001
I thought I knew some Style Council songs, and when You're the Best Thing started I got what I thought they were. This was, however, the tenth song on the album so I had to wait a while to get what I was expecting. I didn't dislike the first nine songs, and some of them were quite fun (especially the more bopping jazz tunes). I even got into The Prophet though initially I was shaking my head at the attempt at hip hop. This was a good Sunday morning album. I added two songs to my 1001 songs playlist. The first was indeed You're the Best Thing. The other was The Paris Match. Not because I love the song, but because Tracey Thorn is on it and I'll be going to Paris in a week and I'm super excited about it.
I liked some of this a lot and found other parts a little grating. Almost a 4!
So I knew a few a few Style Council songs, and they all made me think "ok so Paul Weller broke up The Jam and then went blue eyed soul." Which is kind of a natural evolution, honestly. I was not prepared for how fucking all over the place this album was gonna be (like I'm sure the rapper you recruited was top of his trade as far as early-80s British white guys go, but what bar are we setting here?). Quite a bit disappointed with it. Still love "Your the Best Thing" and "My Ever Changing Moods," which are right up there with the best Jam tunes. But I have genre whiplash and I'm not ok.
Very good
3rd floor please- legit, I mean elevator music has a place but the vocals are cringey. Another I def dont need before I die. It was 2 stars until the rap…just please no.
Not even Tracey Thorn could save this. Such a huge step down from The Jam.
not sure if there will be a funnier album to imagine someone posting a furious review of. hearing an absurdly goofy '80s rap next to some corny jazz and immediately popping a blood vessel in my forehead alternatively, i'm going to tell my kids this was geordie greep
not sure what genre this is, but i found it interesting.
First half was okay, but the second half lost me completely
They should really change the name of this whole thing to "1001 Albums BRITISH PEOPLE Need to Hear Before They Die." Paul Weller was definitely involved in some essential music, but I do not consider The Style Council to be part of it. I had never heard of this band or album. I actually kind of like it but I certainly don't find it essential listening. I like how eclectic it is and I really liked a couple of the instrumentals. I ended up liking this a lot more than I expected to. Still not essential though, lol.
2.4 2x a few good tracks but all over the place
Not much to get excited about here. A little cheesy and didn’t catch my interest.
Quite good easy listening album, the swing and early jazz influences surprised me, this being an album made in the 80s. Sure it has a couple of cheesy 80s rap/italo disco drivel songs, but if you delete/skip them, this is actually one of the finest elevator music albums ever made, and I mean that as a compliment.
Prefiero a The Jam pero hay que reconocer que hay buenas canciones en este disco, aunque sean muy pop-jazz. Paul Weller se merece un respeto por toda su carrera.
This record embodies everything about mid 80s adult contemporary music. Little soulful, lots of drum machines, synthesizers etc. so very 80s. So very average.
I was hoping by the fact this is from 1984 that it would be cool new wave or 80's pop music. Turns out it's a weird mix of piano ballads and some boss ass jazz that sounds like it's straight out of a black band from the late 50's. Did I hate this? Fuck I could not tell. This thing is a genre bender the whole way through. I was taken well out of whack when I heard a fucking Vanilla Ice ass rap song right after the jazz music of Dropping Bombs (best song on the album. And holy FUCK did that show its age. I had to skip it, it was terrible. Then Strength Of Your Nature sounds like a fucking ad for a Buzz Lightyear toy? What is this album, seriously? There's too many skips on here and a complete lack of continuity for this to be rated higher than a 2.
In both a derogatory and non-derogatory way, this feels like it was commissioned by a cafe chain for background music to play on the PA. If you hate this, you'll say it's inconsistent; if you like it, you'll say it's got variety. Not an album you NEED to listen to before you DIE unless you are part of the large community of dozens of die hard fans of BOTH The Jam and Everything But The Girl, in which case I am sure you would want this played as your love ones pull the plug on you and they breathe a sigh of relief as they can clear all the clutter you have accumulated over the years that has been hanging like the sword of Damcoles over your family's collective head as they all know one of them is going to have to sort out the utter mountain of shit you have clung onto over the years. A 3 in this case, is a completely neutral score. Highlights: The Paris Match
Quirky, entertaining, sophisticated-sounding montage from the mid-80s. Not everybody's thing, to be sure, so can't claim you gotta hear it.
One of those albums with a hot song that sounds nothing like the rest. A spirited jazzy, lounge-y sound that throws a lot at the wall, but not a lot sticks. “You’re the Best Thing” is lively but goes on too long. “Headstart for Happiness” features a woman vocalist whom I wish had been featured more. “Ever-Changing Moods” is a kick, but even that is lower-energy than I remember. A band that sort of couldn’t get out of its own way.
Decent music but I'm just not that into Paul Weller
Album 40 Top 3 favorites off the album: Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse, The Paris Match, Here's One That Got Away Strong start. I love some jazz. It stayed fairly strong throughout with the exception of the rapping. Tracey Thorn has a lovely voice, and then The Paris Match is followed up by a dude whose voice I don't like all that much. Oh well. Funniest song title goes to Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse for sure. Much to everyone's shock I'm sure, I didn't vibe as hard with the bouncier tracks. It may be because I am sitting at a desk rather than driving or cleaning my house (definitely the case with Here's One That Got Away), but I'm unwilling to seek those tracks out again later to test that theory. Another album I wish I could give half stars.
Schon ziemlich durchwachsen. "Strength of Your Nature" und vor allem "A Gospel" (Paul Weller rappt und es wie zu erwarten ist furchtbar) sind einfach nur Unsinn, sonst gefällt mir dieser seichte und angejazzte Sound recht gut. Catchy, gefällig, aber nicht sehr tiefgründig, auch wenn es teils politischer wird.
Their debut album. New Wave / Pop. A bit of a strange mess this one. The album is all over the place. A Gospel is an embarrassment really. Some odd choices all round.
The instrumentals are nice, but some of the soul tracks are bad and the rapping is laughable. 2.5/5.0: Mixed
the instrumentals are very enjoyable. once he starts singing, all bets are off. most of the songs go from great to ok, some go to downright awful. the rap song was especially hard to listen to.
i was excited to hear this because this is Paul Weller's band after The Jam (guy on the right). i never heard them, so it really peaked my interest. well, now, with the good things said.....what the F**K was he thinking? it's a mish-mosh of songs from a thousand different genres, crumpled together with no flow or reasoning. One of the global reviews was "Easy listening music for pretentious twats". might be the truth. put them with Roxy Music in that ranking. i wont give out alot of one stars because just to make the list, you might be doing something right. just dont know what that was...two reluctant stars
What the heck did I just listen to?? This band was all over the place. Sounded like 5 different bands on a mid eighties compilation album. Very talented though.
Entertaing. A nice change of pace. Nothing special but a fun listen.
quite varied, a lot of genres and well executed. I couldn't connect with it despite that, sadly
Council Weller is a million miles away from Jam Weller. Smooth jazz vibes sprinkled with some songs that I knew and grew up listening too. Me, I enjoyed it and have continued to listen to it over the last few days.
Interesting to say the least...I thought it was so hilarious because I definitely know "You're the Best Thing" and didn't expect the album to be jazz, pop, even a rap song?!
7/10
The first half of this album was okay and I really enjoyed Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse. But then right in the middle of the album it morphed into something weird. There were a couple of songs that sounded like an early glimpse of skits for In Living Color. The last half of this album is way too cheesy.
If ADHD was an album... Like, what genre is this album? It starts off with 1980s Pop, then it's easy listening, some Rock, Jazz, oh, a rap song, back to 1980s love ballads, and then some more easy listening. Somehow, I enjoyed this mess. Favorite Track: "A Gospel".
Eerder gewoontjes
Feels European Has all the sound of someone who "thought their punk band couldn't do something this complex" and left the band, causing it to completely dissolve, and create this piece drawing from American culture. Sounds good I guess He was so busy being inspired by ther genres he forgot to do something new and creative...I hear a lot of other bands like Beastie Boys and Depeche Mode more than an original sound
This album is gorgeous and I love it!
Nice
What surprise! Liked this!
Büro, Heidenheim, Deutschland. Ganz okay.
Listened previously. Expectations: Mid - Verdict: Alright - In the words of Tears For Fears: "Kick out the style, bring back The Jam!". This is a good album but I much prefer Weller writing sharp rockers (and his later groovy rollers) to jazzy pop.
It's a nice enough album to listen to, and the musicianship is superb. Weller's rapping is, indeed, a bit of an embarassment, but overall, I enjoyed the listening experience.
This one took me by surprise. I kind of see how they took rock a little more R&B but it seemed more jazzy to me than that. Good overall.
Half of it sounds like phone hold music. Pretty good hold music, but still.
Muy experimentales los muchachos, metieron varios géneros en el mismo álbum, La que más me gustó fue la de Café Bleu No lo repetiría, pero no estuvo mal 2.5
not my type
Definition of versatile
This album started hot. Lost a little bit of steam after Me Ship Came In! But overall I didn't mind this at all.
This was pretty average, but an easy listen.
Café Bleu by The Style Council has been on my “I really should give this a proper go” list for a long time. I love Paul Weller, I love The Jam, and I want to love this album too. I already knew the hits You’re the Best Thing is an absolute belter, and My Ever Changing Moods is rightly loved but sitting down with the whole record, Café Bleu is a strange one. It’s wildly eclectic: jazz, soul, folk, funk, pop, even a bit of rap thrown in for good measure. At times it’s genuinely brilliant and adventurous; at others it’s pretty hard work. A Gospel is a good example of where the experimentation tips over into something that just doesn’t land for me at all. That said, even when it misses, it’s never boring. You can hear Weller deliberately tearing up the rulebook and refusing to stand still after The Jam, and for that alone the album deserves credit. It’s inconsistent, occasionally annoying, but also bold, stylish and very much its own thing. Favourite tracks: You’re the Best Thing; My Ever Changing Moods Least favourite track: A Gospel Album artwork: Classic. Absolutely love the cover its effortlessly cool and very of its time.
All over the place, but kinda fun
The great songs are great - ‘My Ever Changing Moods’, ‘You’re the Best Thing’, and ‘Headstart for Happiness’. And then there’s just the fact of Paul Weller. However, the bad songs are bad. I’m still going with 4 stars - 3 for the release itself and 1 for 80s nostalgia.
Started off jazzy and fun with that opening track. Fell into a sad maelstrom of meh. I found their jazzy elevator music tracks at least somewhat enjoyable. Although the rap song out of left field was interesting
I have this album on vinyl (the American release titled My Ever Changing Moods). Not by choice, mind you. I took a chance on an ebay offer for a grab-bag of random vinyl for a low price. You were able to choose genres or decades. I chose 80s & 90s and this was one of the records I got. I don't care for it. It is all over the place. Often I see albums like this heralded for exploring multiple genres, but this one doesn't meld at all - it's a hot mess.
First half, it was a one star, but the last four songs pushed it to a two
Dropping Bombs on the Whitehouse kinda rules but the rest ranges from mediocre to insultingly bad
Paul Weller has made a lot of music (The Jam, The Style Council, his long solo career). I loved The Jam and much of his solo work, but I've always found The Style Council to be the most interesting portion of his discography. I would say this isn't my favorite Style Council album - it loses some of its charm around "A Gospel" and "Strength of Your Nature" - but otherwise it's a good outing.
I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it. This album ia kind of all over the place, which isn't such a bad thing for 1984.
The No-Style Council
Love this album. Catchy pop tunes with a soul backbone. And powerful vocals from Paul Weller… as always..
Pretty boring pop 2
It was Ok, though it's not particularly impressive and didn't wow me in any way.
Don’t care for this
Jazzy lounge act? What is this? The best part of getting this album was reading the bio in Spotify. Rovi's Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a hero. He referred to the bands musical pretentiousness twice, referred to the leads career trajectory as "from hero to has-been" and their "self-important and pompous music." What more do I need to say after that?
dzaan damevasa
Is that Jesse Eisenberg on the cover? The other day, I got to listen to Graceland by Paul Simon which is an all-time favorite of mine. I've listened to that album thousands of times and despite hearing Simon name-check Clifton Chenier, I've never once bothered to check out Chenier's music. Curious, I did. And it was fantastic. Haven't been able to get enough of it over the past few days since hearing it. And now I've listened to this and I don't understand why this is on this list and something like Chenier isn't. I mean, I get it by now...the Brits have to be overrepresented on here...you'd think the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and The Who would have been enough but here we are. This album started off pleasantly enough, it was jazz instrumentals and while I'm not a big jazz fan I thought this could have been good kitchen music. And then someone started singing on a track which was kind of a turnoff, her voice wasn't great, the lyrics weren't memorable and then there was that rap song which didn't fit the rest of the vibe followed by the ultra 80s pop song that followed and the one I'm listening to now that's titled You're The Best Thing. And now there's one that's poppy and upbeat called Here's The One That Got Away. This album is the one that got away, that's for sure. Went from being a pleasant jazz album that had a timeless feel to it (wouldn't have known it came from 1984) into just an average, disjointed mess. I was gonna give this a 3, which is my standard rating for something I listened to, appreciated it, understood why it was on here, wouldn't seek it out on my own again but would be fine with listening to it if someone else was playing it. I was thinking this was a 4 to start, then the vocals knocked it down to a 3. And now we're at a 2 as another average pop song has started. But back to Clifton Chenier, go listen to him if you want to skip past this album. Way more interesting.
Not your usual album regarding compositions and tone, but it is quite unique in its boheme style.
On va mettre les choses au clair tout de suite. Si tu regardes ma discothèque, entre un vinyle de Sunn O))) qui fait trembler les murs et une cassette usée de Godflesh, tu vas tomber sur ça : "Café Bleu". Et tu vas te demander si je n'ai pas fait un AVC ou si je n'ai pas perdu un pari bourré un soir de 1998. Moi, l'amateur de bruits industriels, de larsens contrôlés et de noirceur abyssale, je me retrouve à hocher la tête sur du Paul Weller en col roulé qui sirote un cappuccino en terrasse. Mais voilà, on est en 1984. J'ai 14 ans, le monde est en train de changer, la Cold Wave bat son plein, mais Paul Weller, lui, il a décidé de faire le plus gros bras d'honneur de l'histoire du rock anglais. Le mec avait l'or dans les mains avec The Jam, il était le porte-parole d'une génération, le roi du revival Mod, l'énergie punk canalisée dans des hymnes prolétaires. Et qu'est-ce qu'il fait ? Il saborde le navire en pleine gloire. Bam, terminé, plus de Rickenbacker qui sature, plus de costumes étriqués noirs. Place aux mocassins, aux imperméables beiges et à... l'Europe continentale fantasmée. C'est là que "Café Bleu" débarque, comme un ovni dans un champ de mines. Avec mon background de disquaire indé, j'ai vu passer des tonnes de disques "de rupture", mais celui-là, il a une saveur particulière. C'est un suicide commercial qui s'est transformé en triomphe artistique (et commercial aussi, paradoxalement). Weller s'associe avec Mick Talbot, et ensemble, ils montent The Style Council. Rien que le nom, ça sonne comme une réunion tupperware organisée par des étudiants en art aux Beaux-Arts de Paris. Alors, pourquoi 4 sur 5 ? Pourquoi je ne brûle pas ce disque en écoutant "Unknown Pleasures" ? Parce que c'est brillant, bordel, c'est d'une arrogance magnifique. Weller a compris avant tout le monde que le "punk", ce n'était pas un son, c'était une attitude. Et quoi de plus punk, en 1984, quand tout le monde veut faire du rock héroïque ou de la synth-pop glaciale, que de sortir un album à moitié instrumental, blindé de jazz, de soul, et de références à la culture café parisienne ? Ce qui frappe d'entrée, c'est cette "pléiade d'invités". Weller, ce n'est plus le frontman qui gueule devant son micro, car ici, il s'efface, il laisse la place. On croise par exemple Tracey Thorn d'Everything But The Girl sur "The Paris Match". Rien que ce morceau, c'est une tuerie de mélancolie jazzy avec la voix traînante, le piano de Talbot... On est loin de la furie de "Town Called Malice", mais on est en plein dans une classe internationale. C'est doux, c'est feutré, c'est "sophisti-pop" avant même que le terme ne devienne une insulte dans les années 90. L'album est un fourre-tout génial et c'est ça qui me plaît. C'est le bordel organisé d'un mec qui a décidé d'écouter sa collection de disques de Blue Note, de Soul Motown et de chanson française, et de tout mixer. Il y a des instrumentaux qui frôlent la musique d'ascenseur (mais l'ascenseur d'un hôtel 5 étoiles, attention), comme "Mick's Blessings". Il y a ce groove indéniable qui traverse l'album. Et puis il y a "My Ever Changing Moods" et je défie quiconque, même le plus puriste des fans de post-rock, de ne pas reconnaître que c'est une composition pop parfaite. La ligne de piano, la basse qui roule, la voix de Weller qui n'a jamais été aussi soul. C'est drôle mais quand je bossais à la radio dans les années 90, on avait tendance à mépriser un peu cette période de Weller. On attendait son retour au rock "sérieux" avec "Stanley Road". Mais avec le recul, "Café Bleu", c'est l'album de la liberté totale. Il y a même un morceau de rap, "A Gospel". Bon, soyons honnêtes deux secondes, le flow a mal vieilli, on dirait un prof d'anglais qui essaie d'être cool à la kermesse du collège, mais l'intention y est ! C'était audacieux pour un petit blanc-bec anglais de l'époque. Ce disque, c'est un carnet de voyage immobile. On passe de Paris à Londres, on flirte avec le cool jazz, on touche à la bossa nova, c'est un album "lifestyle". En l'écoutant, j'ai pas envie de pogo, j'ai envie de mettre une écharpe en soie et de lire Sartre en fumant des Gauloises (ce que je ne fais absolument pas dans la vraie vie, rassurez-vous, je préfère lire des fanzines obscurs). Il y a un côté "œuvre d'art totale" dans la démarche du Style Council. Les pochettes, les fringues, les clips, tout était pensé. Et musicalement, ça tient la route parce que les mélodies sont là. Weller n'a pas perdu son talent d'écriture, il l'a juste habillé différemment. Au lieu du denim et du cuir, il a mis du velours et du lin. Bien sûr, pour mes oreilles habituées à des sons un peu plus"extrêmes", c'est une sucrerie. C'est léger et ça s'écoute "sans déplaisir", c'est même plus que ça, c'est un disque qui fait du bien. C'est une parenthèse enchantée dans une discographie souvent tendue. C'est la preuve qu'on peut être un "Angry Young Man" et avoir envie, parfois, de juste se poser et de claquer des doigts sur un contretemps. C'est aussi un album qui a ouvert pas mal de portes car sans le Style Council, est-ce qu'on aurait eu toute cette vague acid-jazz des années 90 ? Pas sûr. Weller a défriché le terrain pour des groupes qui allaient venir dix ans plus tard. Il a rendu le jazz cool pour les kids qui venaient du rock. Alors oui, 4 sur 5. Parce que c'est un album courageux, élégant, parfois un peu prétentieux (on ne va pas se mentir, les titres en français, c'est un peu "too much"), mais terriblement attachant. C'est la bande-son idéale pour un dimanche matin pluvieux, quand on a la flemme de mettre un disque qui demande une concentration intellectuelle intense. On laisse couler, on apprécie la virtuosité de Mick Talbot aux claviers, on se laisse porter par la voix de Weller qui n'a jamais été aussi versatile. C'est peut-être ça vieillir, finalement. Apprécier la douceur autant que la fureur ou alors c'est juste que Paul Weller est un génie qui peut tout se permettre. Probablement un peu des deux. En tout cas, "Café Bleu" reste une pièce maîtresse, non pas du rock, mais de la pop sophistiquée britannique. Un indispensable, même pour les vieux cons comme nous.
Just way too jazzy for my vibe
I'm a Paul Weller. I loved the raw energy and scruffy lyricism of the Jam. And I like his more mature and sonically-adventurous solo work. I didn't get Style Council when it first came out in the 1980s. I didn't get why he turned down his guitar and started playing what sounded like Middle of the Road Am pop. But this is a lot better than I realized. No one's going to mistake Weller and the keyboardist Mick Talbot for Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith, but it's an honest effort to adopt American jazz and modern R & B sound to an English setting. I particularly liked some of Talbot's Ramsey Lewis-style instrumentals. Weller has some good songs at the beginning of the album and the end, especially "My Ever Changing Moods." But then there are some embarrassing stinkers like a hip-hop-style effort called "A Gospel" and a banal tune called "Strength of Your Nature.," It ain't bad, but if I was goikng to introduce someone to Weller I'd start with Setting Sons or Stanley Road.
What a interesting combination of genres. Jazzy rap at one point. Kind of catchy but nothing I would turn back too
Wow what a wild variety of music. Sometimes jazz, sometimes funk, sometimes hip hop, Some songs really felt like Prince. Fun listen.
7/10 Favorites: My Ever Changing Moods Headstart For Happiness
uber posh and unmistakably british jazzpop music from the center of the 1980s. it's very clean and very beachy. sophisti-pop is a genre that emphasizes '80s contemporary pop clichés and cheesiness, and while it may not be for everyone, this album is a neat little gem if you're wanting something quirky.
Meh
Really good vibe, made me feel hapoy and motivated
Ziemlich abwechslungsreich, Rap, Jazz, Gesang. Auf jeden Fall interessant, kann man nochmal hören?
There are a couple of gems on here but too many instrumentals plus a guest appearance from Everything but the Girl (who I do like) push this album down to a 3 for me
4.2
Didn't do a lot for me, but it is okay. 3 stars or C.
Cafe Bleh! It all sounds a bit like a pastiche of cafe music to me.
I love Paul Weller's solo work as well as all the Jam albums, but this is boring as fuck.
Feels like listening to tracks from three separate albums on shuffle
The instrumentals were pretty good but the rest eh
It was fine, I would re listen to a few!
Didn’t enjoy this album. Not really to my taste. A few moments I did enjoy as a fan of Paul Weller. Better music was to come as the Style Council developed on later releases. I felt this album was trying anything and everything including some questionable rapping. 2 stars. Favourite track - you’re the best thing.
No direction, kind of lame really.
A bit hit and miss, some nice background tunes, some boring..
Really enjoyed this, possibly an album with the biggest range of genres packed into 40mins that i've ever heard i think i enjoyed it despite, rather than because of that. We open with a bit of honky tonk piano, move through instrumental jazz and hip hop stylings that brought beastie boys to mind, and not even sure where we finish.
This comes across as Weller having lots ideas and wanting to get them out rather than a coherent album.
Sounds pretty fun.
Ok, this whole time I thought the Style Council was new wave. Nay! Sophisti-pop, indeed. I felt very ‘80s chrome bar, martinis and powersuit and heels listening to this. Kinda loved the vibe and the piano, jazzy and soulful stylings going on. It exists on the same planet of Sade, if not at the same level. Unfortunately, at about the halfway mark there is a four-minute record scratch of truly horrible white man “rapping.” This might be entirely unfair but I now can’t remember anything after that. It was that horrific a train wreck. It possibly could have been a 4 but I cannot.
Great album, but very much of an age, some songs remain firm favourites but overall hasn’t aged well
Album #23 The Style Council: Cafe Bleu I did go into this album already being a big fan of The Jam and Paul Weller in general, so it was only a matter of time before I listened to The Style Council, as they were already on my radar. So, going in assuming that I would enjoy it, I was surprised to see just how poorly it has been reviewed on this site. Some of the reviews here are absolutely vitriolic, calling it boring, tasteless, and nonsensical. So I grew even more curious to hear how Paul Weller could create something so divisive, as for the most part, The Jam is universally loved. And to my not-so-great surprise, this is actually good, and you guys are tripping. Yes, this won’t be for everyone, and the changing of styles could be a put-off (especially the rap track), but in my opinion, it was never too jarring; everything seemed to belong amongst one another. And the highlights here are some absolutely wonderful songs. The ‘boring’ parts are simply pleasant and short instrumentals that don’t derail the momentum in any way. I suppose if you aren’t a fan of sophisti-pop in general, this might seem obnoxious, but I’ve never been too put off by pretentiousness, unless it was laced with arrogance. Weller’s influences in Black music culture have been well established, with a lot of The Jam songs being heavily influenced by Motown; so it’s not a surprise to see him dip his toes into soul a lot here, and even be an early adopter of hip-hop (though how successfully he adapted it is up for debate. Overall, it wouldn’t rank amongst the best Jam albums, but this is a very solid effort from Weller, and proves his talent to alter his style so drastically and create something nice. Best Tracks: My Ever Changing Moods, Here’s One That Got Away, You’re The Best Thing Worst Track: A Gospel Score out of 10: 7.5
This was fine - the 80s "be yourself!" optimism was really grating on me by the end though. Definitely not one I would ever listen to again. More of a 2.5 album for me.
Some of it's fun and jazzy, the rest is cheesy
Well, if Paul Weller intended to try a sound that was different than The Jam, he certainly succeeded. And I sorta dig it. Some really good stuff on here, albeit with a bit of what feels like filler.
I liked it, although the first half was a little better than the second
disjointed
Late night TV/lounge act vibes. Not bad, just gotta be looking for something in the vein. Until the rap, that is. Interesting addition, that, but in an eclectic compilation like this album, fits right in
-saw the genre listed as sophisti-pop and the Tracey Thorn feature and got kind of excited.. all for naught unfortunately. thought this was a pretty nothingburger album, i’m not sure exactly what sound or vibe they were going for. that random rap song was. a bizarre choice -had some decent moments i guess but they weren’t enough to save the album -Favorites: The Paris Match, Strength Of Your Nature
A wide variety of styles here! some instrumentals i didn't care about that much and some that I loved, same with the vocal tracks, wish they got that Tracey Thorn back for more I loved her contribution. Highlights: The Paris Match Blue Cafe My Ever Changing Moods You're The Best Thing High 3
Forgot it was on tbh
Smooth sophisticated Style
The transition from The Jam at the time was tricky and some people reacted against Paul Weller and The Style Council. I wasn't one of them. Great album
Stylish
Great to get back to this album after such a long time. Back in the day I quite liked it. And the tracks I quite liked I now think are really very good. But boy are there some stinkers. Especially around what we used to call the start of Side B and we now call the bit where we might drift off if the material isn't good enough. I'm still at a loss to understand why Welller would invest in this project overall, but on balance I'm glad he did if only for the gift of the better songs here. 3* as a package (though a slack handful of 4* and 5* individual outings
It starts out like a jazz album, but very quickly (and smoothly) moves through itself semi-eclectically.
For me, it’s an almost perfect album for the last day of the year. Chill, jazzy, funky, unexpected British rap ahahahah. In a world full of New Year madness, it’s a piece of heaven, an island of the calm. I’ll relisten to it later, it’s great. And I want to listen to their next album “Our Favourite Shop” too. I added the first 7 songs to my playlist and then something happened. The first half of the album is 5 out of 5, the second half is worse, unfortunately. I added nothing to the playlist. It was really nice to listen to every song, but A Gospel (the rap song) was a turning point song. Firstly, wtf, it’s fucking strange, nigger rap style, but by a white dude. East Coast style, but British wrap. They’re copying Black East Coast style like Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy or Run-DMC. It’s not Bronx rap, it’s London rap that copies the Bronx, and it feels weird in a bad way. Well, at least Paul Weller has balls to do that and probably did it one of the first in the UK, respect+. It’s a new band and an experimental album for Paul Weller after The Jam band is over. I think Cafe Bleu is a fantastic change of music style for Paul, this album is much better for me than Sound Affects by The Jam. So, overall… 4/5 —————————————— Liked: — Mick’s Blessings — The Whole Point Of No Return — Me Ship Came In! — Blue Cafe — The Paris Match — My ever Changing Moods — Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse
Café Bleu is an album that wears its ambitions very openly. It wants to be sophisticated, cosmopolitan, and forward thinking, blending soul, jazz, pop, and politics into something cooler and more refined than straightforward pop. At times, that confidence works, creating moments that feel stylish and self assured, but just as often it tips into self consciousness, as if the album is trying a little too hard to signal its own tastefulness. What I find frustrating is how uneven the experience is. There are tracks that glide along beautifully, full of warmth and melody, and then others that feel like sketches or mood pieces rather than fully realised songs. The spoken word moments and instrumentals add atmosphere, but they also disrupt the flow, making the album feel more like a collection of ideas than a cohesive statement. Paul Weller’s songwriting is sharp when it lands, but here it does not always commit strongly enough to either emotion or melody. In the end, Café Bleu is an album I like in parts rather than as a whole. I enjoy dipping into it, appreciating its textures and its sense of curiosity, but it does not quite hold me from start to finish. It feels transitional, caught between pop immediacy and artful experimentation, succeeding just enough to be interesting without fully pulling everything together.
I din't know about this band until it appears at the list. And it's really good. The blending of pop and rock with other rhytms worked really well. Amazing!
Once again, not wowed by any of the songs or the artists.
Good duo from the 80’s. Good sound, and music. Still good listening today.
A bit too all over the place for me. Some is instrumental, some 80s pop, some rap, some slow ballads. Never coalesced to something I wanted to be listening to. 2/5
first half was great, A Gospel was ... weird. The second half was like you were listening to a whole diffrent album suddenly. Overall an enjoyable album
don't care for it, it gave me so much whiplash, i even find the well liked tracks uninteresting.. but at the same time i can't discount it's spirit idk really
Good for background
Good lyrics, and nice jazzy feel to it. Largely ambitious album with good instrumentals. A few duds, such as the rap attempt in "A Gospel." I listened to Cafe Bleu first while drunk and thought "wow, 4 stars!" Listened sober the next morning and thought "meh, there are some duds here.
interesting conglomeration of a bunch of different elements that make it a much more engaging and fun listen than most of the other 80s english albums on the list, but those elements don't really come together to make anything special. the jazz parts are pretty uninspired and very lacking compared to what you'd get from talented, dedicated jazz musicians, the soul is a pretty pale imitation, and the less said about the embarrassing rapping, the better. fun and weird, but not particularly good
Seems like a band in search of their sound and, damn it, they can’t find it at all…
might satisfy my ever changing mood...
Feel like several half cooked songs
Decent bluesy album.
Absolutely wild album. Jazz, funk, pop, country, rap, rock. It has a little bit of everything. It's a wild ride but every song has something good about it. A couple songs are coming to my playlists. 6/10
Beep boop?
Solid album. A lot of pretty music here. Not a ton to say about it, but it sounds hood
I like some songs but seems uneven
Interesting album. Not what I expected, but also not something up my alley.
First half was great, second half not so great.
Can't believe I'm about to listen to Paul Weller rap. This should be deleted from existence rather than anyone listening to it during their lifetime.
Wonderful band, wonderful album, wonderful memories of my life when I heard them first the first time.
This was a fantastic album. It genuinely felt exactly like being in a little cafe in France…until suddenly there was a rap song? That was weird. The change was so sudden that I literally checked to see if I’d accidentally connected to someone else’s AirPods. It was still a great song, though, and it certainly made the album a lot more interesting. The instrumental tracks in this were also great—amazing piano and ambience.
6 - AVERAGE
Thought there was a lot of variation in this one. Not all of it was my thing but there were some songs I really liked and overall I enjoyed the album. Not sure I would come back to it, but I had a nice enough time listening. Fav song: My Ever Changing Moods Least fav: A Gospel
Had really low expectations for this for some reason but I really liked it. Had a good mix of genres and some serious bangers in there. Some songs had serious arrested development vibes in the best way possible. Minus 0.1 for serious white boy rap. Specific rating - 4.6 Fav song - You’re the best thing least fav- a gospel
Very neutral on this one
A lot of variety and yet I still found myself bored, at least on the songs where I wasn't actively annoyed. Feels like one of those cases where someone was in a famous band so their record label just lets them make whatever they want afterwards with no direction or comments. Not a fan. Favourite song: Here's The One That Got Away Least: Me Ship Came in
Nice and smooth one. Surprised to hear young Tracey Thorn here
surprise - had 1 hit but the rest pretty good
Fond memories of this album and a carefree summer of 84. I’d forgotten how good it was and why I liked it so much at the time. Lots of jazzy guitar and soulful vocals, producing some cool laidback grooves
Interesting
The majority of this is "jazz" for folks who don't like jazz-- milquetoast and bland. The blue-eyed soul is so derivative and try-hard it hurts. Both of the singles "My Ever Changing Mood" and "You're the Best Thing" were so forgettable I couldn't even remember their melodies when the next song started. Then the second side turns to rap. Big swing and a miss. "A Gospel" is so bad I couldn't finish it. On the bright side, this is followed by "Strength of Your Nature", which is better but just sounds like an impersonation of the Talking Heads on Stop Making Sense. Then we return to the forgettable easy listening, I never thought I'd appreciate the comfort so much. "Here's One That Got Away" is also irritating, feels like the worst aspects of Wham!, but at least the fiddle was a little memorable. The whole album felt like it went into one ear and out the other. It is perhaps overly ambitious. Which is a shame because this album list has previously introduced me to The Jam's All Mod Cons, which I really enjoyed. It sounds like Paul Weller formed this band to explore genres he liked-- maybe he should just stick to listening to them rather than performing them.
Weird
Paul Weller strikes again, ma this guy is all over the place. Weird album with some cool songs, never heard of this before either.
meh
Nice. I like Tracey Thorn's voice on this record.
This album is all over the place and I fucking love it. There isn’t a genre that they don’t kill and don’t bring their own unique style too. Not everything is a perfect song and this isn’t a perfect album, but it’s incredibly stylized and very unique.
7.5/10
3.5, musica de fondo buena, sirve cuando quiero escuchar musica pero no quiero escuchar musica (como recien que estaba ansiosa y necesitaba ruido)
Mostrei uma dose sadia de entusiasmo quando gerei este álbum. Achei linda sua capa, achei o título do disco e da banda bem descolados, e ao ler a Wikipédia vi que o pioneiro desse grupo é um dos integrantes do The Jam, uma das minhas descobertas favoritas deste projeto até então. Minha expectativa estava alta, e então fui ouvir o álbum. Rapidamente percebi que precisava recalibrar minhas expectativas, visto que o disco não era nada do que eu esperava. É um LP bizarro. Fica claro que Paul Weller buscou se distanciar o máximo possível do que ele havia feito com o Jam. As canções aqui são da natureza de easy listening, umas pitadas de Jazz aqui e ali, e até mesmo uma faixa de Rap (bem vergonhosa, por sinal). Eu achei uma escolha confusa, e o resultado não é ao todo agradável. Há bons músicos empregados aqui, e é perceptível a sensibilidade e qualidade do material gravado. Na parte técnica, não há muito o que reclamar, é um bom disco. Mas na parte conceitual esse álbum falha completamente. O resultado aqui é uma escuta bem cinzenta e entediante, música de fundo. Não sou o maior fã de easy listening então é claro que o disco não me agradaria plenamente, mas de todo modo, foi uma escuta grandemente decepcionante. Uma faixa ou outra são salváveis, então o disco não é um completo desperdício de tempo. Mas fazia tempo que eu não sentia tamanha decepção com um álbum, o contraste da minha expectativa com o produto final. 2.5/5
I quite enjoyed this, some of it was a little too meh, but there were some great instrumental pieces.
If Dissociative Identity Disorder was an album
Perfectly fine some songs I liked and thought it was interesting but never had me feeling things
Better than Coldplay
Should be listened to on public transport at late hours(especially the jazzy part) Takes surprising turns, contains several different atmospheres
Essential.
After The Paris Match I thought hmm okay maybe there’s something to this thing, and then Gospel happened and I changed my mind
The band name, album cover, and release year lead me to guess that I'd hear some corny synth-pop new wave (prejudging albums by their covers is my favorite morning game). I was pleasantly surprised to get something a little different when I pressed play. Side one is a pretty straightforward jazz record. Not experimental jazz, it's the kind of basic smooth jazz you learn when your teacher doesn't trust you to play outside of 4/4 yet; the kind of jazz I learned to play when I was 14 years old. Jazz is complicated - you show off too much and you sound pretentious, you don't show off enough and it also sounds pretentious, but in a way that makes you look like a poseur (pretend-tious? let's coin that). On second listen, I could be convinced that "Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse" shows off enough to prove their jazz chops; I don't care enough to dig deeper on it though. Side two is a little more dynamic and maybe could have been a separate album. "A Gospel" (Track 8) is a rap song that I never need to hear again, but after that we get some jazz new wave fusion! I was unaware of the concept of jazz new wave, but it seems inevitable that someone would try it. Whether intentional or not, this record does capture that plastic soul quality of the early Bowie new wave recordings. I do feel like these guys were genuinely trying and didn't mean to leave it so soulless. This was a side project from Paul Weller (of The Jam) and Mick Talbot. I previously reviewed one The Jam album and was thoroughly unconvinced that it was doing anything new/different/exciting; I guess I can't say the same about this record. I still just can't get over all the pretense here. Even dropping the "The" and calling the band "Style Council" might have done loads to lighten things up, but I get the feeling that's not what they were going for. Wherever I land on my rating, know that it got a full star removed for "A Gospel". If I owned a physical copy, I might intentionally scratch it in a way to make that track forever unplayable.
I try to cut the editors of this book a lot of slack. Different things speak to different people and sometimes music needs to be put into context with the space and time in which it was produced. Those caveats fully considered, WTF were they thinking? There is nothing particularly bad about this album, but there is also nothing particularly memorable either. Café Bleu alternates between jazz and soul, and there are many MUCH better examples of whatever they were trying to accomplish on this record. Oh yes, I forgot about the very shitty attempt at rap (The Gospel), that definitely did not age well, LOL. The Jam were much bigger in the UK than the US and this was a major departure for Paul Weller, so maybe this is what makes the album interesting? Sometimes fame cuts some slack for artists. Generally this is a good thing because it allowsthe freedom to explore new things. However, novelty alone does not make an album an essential listen unless the artist is exploring new sounds. Not new for them, but genuinely new, which is certainly not the case here. I struggled with how to rate this one. With a couple of exceptions, there isn’t anything horrible, it is an average album. Yet, if I compare the familiar subgenres any given song explores, the offerings here just don’t hold up. There is nothing here influential to later music, so I decided that it needed to stand on its own.
Oh no, no thank you. No no no.
This album was kind of all over the place. Not specifically a bad thing, but I did feel like it had a pretentious air about it. Mick's Blessings feels like it was recorded with Peanuts in mind. Me Ship Came In! is a fine enough little jazzy detour that Blue Cafe continues in a languid way that feels a bit generic tbh. Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse is among my favorites here with its swinging lounge jazz feel. But things take an unexpected turn into 80s hip-hop on A Gospel. Love the clean licks on You're The Best Thing, but otherwise it's kind of a boring song. Eh / 5
Sophisti-pop sounds so pretentious. This was a fun and funky adventure. Lotsa different sounds had me grooving.
I guess I really like Sophisti-Pop as a genre if this is what it is all about. Straight out with some really nice jazzy songs that I was not expecting at all. Middle got a little weird with some strange 80's cheese sounding hiphopish music. But then ended very strongly with a couple nice songs. Totally unexpected 4
I thought I was actually starting to get into this album with "Dropping bombs on the White House," and then "A Gospel" came on. WTF is this transition. This ain't it for me.
The Jam is one of my favourite bands of all time. When I first got into them, I learned about Weller’s transition into Style Council and tried listening to the first album. To say I hated it might be an overstatement, but the sentiment was there: it was nothing like the Jam. This was my first time revisiting the band, with a new set of ears and an open mind. I absolutely love it!
I’m a big Paul Weller/Jam fan but this album has a mixed feel to me. The jazz part feels like smooth jazz and not really a dive into the genre. But the ballads tunes are great and could stand as smooth jazz standards. It’s a weird contradiction but that’s the Style Council.
Extra points for being an unexpected sound for that era. Interesting blend of jazz, hip hop, and pop.
Their best songs are sans vocals, but the entire album felt too safe to be on this list.
Not my style, but it's quality music for its genre. Rare 4* that I'm unlikely to revisit, but I certainly don't mind listening to it.
This shit is wild, in a fun and good way.
Upbeat pop with some good Jazz-ish bits
This was a great airplane album, didn't know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised at each turn of genre. Really well written songs of totally different styles that still somehow pull together into a logical set.
Very nice
This was an odd likable album. It took me on a journey through classical, rock, weird hippie.
Started out jazzy and smooth, and then kind of jumped all over the place. Wasn't expecting the rap song. Not a bad album, but nothing to write home about.
Impressive amount of variety.
I was really enjoying it until the ‘rap’ started.
it was not the best thing that ever happened to me
I hated it immediately, but can't put a finger on why
Pop, Jazz, 1984 -> 4
Pop, which winds it's way through multiple other genres
Cafe Bleu was certainly an interesting album. I went into this album thinking that it would be a punk rock album but after reading the genre tags and listening to the album, it was this odd mix R&B, Jazz and Rap held together by a central new-wave sound a bit reminiscent of Everything But The Girl which make sense because it's members did help out on this album (and by the album, i just mean the song The Paris Match) I have pretty mixed feelings on this album, part of me likes the variety on offer but the other part of me thinks its a little unfocused. This is an album that i didn't really love or hate so its kinda in the middle. Best Song: You're The Best Thing Worst Song: Mick's Blessings
Surprising
4/10 Sounds so lame. For Weller to produce this is one of the most baffling turnarounds in rock. The jazz is horrible and almost all the songs suck
6.5/10 Enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. Lots of variation with a lot of instrumental tracks. The political lyrics should be cringe (especially when they are in rap form) but somehow feel earnest and hopeful. Highlights: My Ship Came In The Whole Point of No Return Headstart for Happiness A Gospel
Hmmm… I’m a big fan of Weller. But I guess we had to go through this in order to get ‘Stanley Road’. It’s a big step down from The Jam though.
Honestly pretty nice for the most part. I like jazzy instrumentals more than most, so having those little interludes is always welcome. Seems like Weller should probably leave the rap to the experts, but I'm sure his heart was in the right place.
Na de vorige plaat zakte de moed me al in de schoenen bij het zien van (alweer!) het jaartal 1984. Ten onrechte gelukkig. De plaat heeft pit en is met talent gemaakt. Wel lijkt het alsof je een 'Het beste uit de Top 40'-LP hebt opgezet, want qua genre schiet het alle kanten op. Van jazz tot hiphop, van soulballad tot popsong. Blues, funk, een gastzangeres, het is er allemaal. Een echte knaller staat er niet op, maar het klinkt verzorgd.
Het is een mooie zondagmiddag, midden in de jaren '80. We gaan stappen vandaag. Maar eens rustig beginnen. In dit café wordt vrolijk op de piano gespeeld. De muziek is vrij jazzy en luistert, zoals het hoort in de kroeg, vrij makkelijk weg. Er komt af en toe een zanger of zangeres naast staan om de beleving compleet te maken. Een prima begin van de avond. Maar vanavond willen we meer. Er zijn zoveel cafés te verkennen in de stad. We zullen dansen op de synthesiser-disco klanken van deze tijd. We zullen de lokale rappers bezoeken. De avond wordt van ons! En af en toe komen we weer terug in dit prachtige kleine cafeetje om begeleid door de piano weer even met elkaar het goede gesprek te voeren. Op het leven! Proost!
Paul Weller hebben we hier eerder al gehad als onderdeel van mod-revival bandje the Jam. En daar werd ik wel vrolijk van, tot twee keer toe 4 sterren. Hier gaat hij de overduidelijk de iets te vrolijke 80s kant op. Jazzy sophisti-pop, met hiphop-uitspattingen, een goede scheut newwave en zelfs een soulnummer. De jazzy stukken vind ik nog wel ok, maar ik haak toch een beetje af als hij de rest vd 80s gaat verkennen. Ik heb toch het idee dat anderen dat beter of in ieder geval overtuigender hebben gedaan. Ik weet hier met veel moeite nog maar net een kleine 3 uit te persen, omdat de beste man natuurlijk wel een aardig potje kan musiceren.
Not what I expected at all. Where jazz meets pop.
I thought some of these songs were a lot of fun, some were a bit wank, like that it tried something.
Don't let the bubbly first song fool you, this album moves effortlessly better getting so boring I could call asleep, to so annoying you'll wish you never started it
Being a teen in the 80s I was surprised I hadn't heard of this group. This isn't an album 15 yr old me would have been drawn to. However, 56 yr old me loves it. It's all over the place, jazzy instrumentals, 80s rap vibes, some smooth soul-type songs, which I find more engaging than all songs sounding alike.
"The Paris Match" and "My Ever Changing Moods" were really good tracks. The rest of the album was just a meandering mess. As much as I appreciated them going for variety of sounds and styles, there wasn't any point to it. No cohesion, no direction. Cafe Blow.
This album is all over the place. Was not anticipating rap on a song titled “a gospel,” especially after it started with jazz and then followed it with an aggressively new wave song. It’s like they spun a wheel of genres before writing each song.
My first impression was that this reminds me of Joe Jackson... but without any hit songs. I didn't latch on to any songs that I would immediately want to keep repeating. There are a couple songs that might work better as singles by other artists. I was surprised that there was a rap song. The genres seemed to be all over the place. I thought at one point possibly the genres were changing intentionally as if a character was moving into different settings which caused the genre and music to change. I was surprised that this was a Paul Weller band. I was a little familiar with The Jam but did not know what else Paul Weller had done. I kept thinking this was possibly a George Michael band before he was known in the pop genre.
interesting mix of blues, jazz, and hip hop
This was very interesting. In the best way possible. It was all over the place sonically. But I actually really enjoyed it.
I would say that tone-wise this album was a bit all over the place, but what it is consistent in is quality. I found this album to be really fun. At one moment I was being soothed with beautiful melodies, the next nodding my head to the guitar, and the next dancing along. As far as being cohesive goes, this album is not that. What it is is a great listening experience, and I appreciate that.
Not what I expected at all, in a good way. Some funky stuff here. Some of is it perhaps a tad cheesy by today's standards, but overall pretty nice. Favourite tracks: Mick's Blessings, Me Ship Came In!, The Paris Match, Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse, Strength Of Your Nature.
not my thing
Had a blast - really varied in style and musically fantastic
I really enjoyed this album, although I've never heard this band before, but there was at least one familiar song on this. Great background music.
It's sophisti-pop, but without synthesizers. The Style Council lean more toward jazz than other artists in the same sub-genre. The problem I have with this album is its forced eclecticism. There are just too many styles converging in every song. At the very least, they should have left out the rap number.
I'm not really sure what I just listened to. Rap, jazz, pop, it was all over the place
This bruh was in the jam? I guess that’s a little surprising. I would rather a jam album be on this list (maybe there is one? Idk)
Never listened to Style Council before but I did quite enjoy this. It’s a little bit all over the place but I enjoyed that. It’s quite good reading music. Still think Paul Weller is a bellend though. 4.0/5.0 Best Song: that one where they tried being really cool
I didn't like this album, its a bit cheesy and muzaky for me. It feels like listening to a slightly better simply red. A Gospel was a low point as well. I'm not a Paul Weller fan at the best of times, but that was a hard listen. Best Song: Headstart for Happiness.
This album is all over the place in the worst way possible. I like albums with wide sonic palettes, but I also like some element of cohesion. The first half of this album is fine, and I enjoy the instrumental jazz songs (the ones with vocals are a little generic). However, the second half has, a hip hop songs, a new wave/synth pop song, a song with a fiddle, a wannabe Steely Dan son, and more weird jazz soft rock. This is really close to a 2, but I will round up. Low 3.
Lots of different styles on this album, but in my opinion only tracks 4 and 5 work well. The rest is mostly a mess
Totally unfamiliar with The Style Council, but I really enjoyed the jazzier songs, but as a whole the singer's voice bugs me, and this whole thing suffers from confused identity; rap, soul, and a mess of other ideas clutter the second half. Not sure why this is essential.
Incredibly cheesy in a way that I could sometimes accept and sometimes went too far. The jazzy bits were ok, You’re The Best Thing is fun, but the rap song was unforgivable
This did not catch me at all.
A bit too 80s in the wrong way. Musically well done, but it made me feel sad about my life choices that led to having to listen to it.
Fun and well-performed, but the material is mostly lackluster.
Dripping with style and cool. This is an excellent set of tunes which is the measure of any jam album. My ever changing moods still sounds excellent and you're the best thing is arguably wellers best song. The style council are slept on because they are not the jam, however this is weller singing and sounding better than anytime before and after this excellent collection of songs.
Wow, this is what Paul Weller decided to do after the jam? Not that I'm a jam fan really but what in the Phil Collins is this? I really can't get on board with that overproduced 80s pop sound with all the brass and the style council have it in spades. Does feel like they were trying to latch on to what was popular at the time. Can't see past a 1 here, very much not for me.
A mood board of an album - the mood is, "wind-up merchant". Naff, pretentious, and confusing. Mick's Blessings sounds very East-End. Chas and Dave lite.
Have heard of that style council before, but couldn't have named any songs. Expected it to be very 80s synth pop, but it wasn't so much. Was very 80s in parts, but also had some jazz thing going on too. Knew you're the best thing, and don't particularly like it. It's ok but not really for me. Won't be back
Paul Weller must have been soul searching and decided to make an album with any genre you could possible imagine on it. Unfortunately he's not paricularly good at any, and this very definitely does not work as an album. What on earth is this? A real pity because Paul Weller has also made good music in his life. One star extra because there is skill involved and I believe he wrote his own songs. Will very definitely not listen to this again and I also doubt this belongs on the list.
mid af lol
Great!
"he shares my hatred of the rock myth and the rock culture": too bad, Paul, but now you just suck. The Jam were transcendent. This is as bad, if not worse, than Michael Jackson. No matter what you do, don't this ever again. 0 stars rounded up to 1 star.
nope...
Quite boring music. Pop
Oh. Weller. Hmmmmm.
Really good traveling music
Not really for me except the song The Paris Match. Random weird 80s rap song in the middle.
Some fun stuff.. It's all over the place.
Love the slightly ragtime-y piano at the start
What an album... it was so unexpected. Everything is here, pop, rock, jazz and even rap. It all works together perfectly. Incredible album, a 5/5
3.5
The piano is nice, and the “cafe” descriptor is accurate. But there’s so much here (basically all of side 2) that doesn’t work. At least all of those songs suck in their own unique ways.
Oh wow had no idea this was Paul Weller, but it’s great to see quite a lot of artistic development from the Jam stuff, which I guess would become stale after a while. I feel like they probably took inspiration from a load of places here, and this must have been really interesting to hear back then. I also think you realise one it’s stripped back a bit how great his singing voice is, and it’s also great to break things up with the guest singers and stuff. The rapping stuff is also quite good if you ignore the cultural appropriation. The funky stuff is great as well. Think this is also influential as quite a lot of more modern pop sounds quite a lot like this. Just overall very well written and interesting songs. Favourite songs: all. Overall around 8/10
Both not to my taste and not particularly well-executed.
A lot of sounds trying to happen here. Not all of them bad, but it makes for a very inconsistent album.
Abwechslungsreich, Fahrstuhl, Hip-Hop?
Surprised this came out in the 80s. There were points that almost reminded me of Burt Bacharach. Not my favorite, but maybe it just has to grow on me.
3 belting songs. I like it