The Style Council - Café Bleu Special Edition
★★★★
UNIVERSAL
Having blended soul with punkish pop in The Jam’s final year, Paul Weller used the initial phase of his subsequent group to return to the original Modernists’ first principles - jazz - and alienated followers who thought My Generation was Year Zero. Covering the period between March 1983’s Speak Like A Child and May 1984’s Groovin’ EP (six singles and an LP), the expanded boxset finds Weller and new wingman Mick Talbot frequently producing jazz-inflected pop classics (Headstart For Happiness, The Paris Match) yet underlines why few today champion their jazzier output (Me Ship Came In).
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READ MORE: Every Style Council Album Ranked
Previously released material makes up the first three CDs here, but the other three contain a host of rare finds: demos highlight the struggle it was to find a sound; sessions and live shows for the BBC make obvious the joy Weller was finding in new directions - despite unwanted “We are the Mods” chants.
Songs To Drink Pastis By: MOJO’s pick of the previously unreleased tracks on Café Bleu Special Edition
Long Hot Summer (pre TSC demo)
An early demo of what would become TSC’s third single recorded in August 1982, when Weller was still in The Jam. Unlike the stomping, four-to-the-floor version of A Solid Bond In Your Heart also cut that day which surfaced on 1992’s Extras, the troubled, at times discordant, anguish prodded at on the piano here bares almost no resemblance to the sparkling finished product.
Boy Hairdresser
Taking its name from a novel by Joe Orton, Weller co-wrote Boy Hairdresser for teenage protégé and Respond Records signee Tracie Young. Musically, this run-through lands pretty close the B-side of Tracie’s 1983 single Give It Some Emotion, but Paul’s vocals lend a far more soulful depth to its Orange Juice-like pop squelch.
Up For Grabs
Although performed live (as captured on 1997’s In Concert), Up For Grabs was never completed in the studio. Pity, as it’s a joyful burst of soul pop, with Mick Talbot’s gleeful Fender Rhodes bashing choogling into Supertramp territory. Perhaps the topline was considered a little too close to Café Blue’s A Solid Bond In Your Heart.
Take It To The Top
The Jam’s 1982 single Precious had shown Weller could do the funk when the feeling took him. This demo, however, is more New York warehouse than Westbound Records. The pared-back production, liquid groove and synth squiggles place Paul and Mick in a remarkably similar lane to Talking Heads offshoot Tom Tom Club, or even ESG.
Summertime Song
A session jam that finds Paul languidly strumming and humming the chords and melody to George Gershwin’s Summertime while Mick’s fingers dance through lines of twinking electric piano improv. You can hear the genesis of their collaboration with Tracey Thorn, The Paris Match, in the smoky late-night vibe here, a track also included in a jazzier six-and-a-half-minute version.
Café Bleu Special Edition is available to stream now. Physical copies will be available to purchase in May 2026.
LISTEN/PRE-ORDER: Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon | Rough Trade
Tracklisting:
CD1 - Introducing Expanded
1 Speak Like A Child
2 Party Chambers
3 Money-Go-Round (Parts 1&2) (original 12 inch version)
4 Headstart For Happiness (early version)
5 Mick's Up
6 Long Hot Summer (extended version)
7 The Paris Match (early version)
8 Party Chambers (instrumental)
9 Le Depart
10 A Solid Bond In Your Heart
11 It Just Came To Pieces In My Hands
12 My Ever Changing Moods (long version)
13 Spring, Summer, Autumn
14 Mick's Company
15 Money-Go-Round (Parts 1&2) (bert bevans remix /club mix)
16 Long Hot Summer (club mix aka 12" mix)
CD2 - Original album
1 Mick's Blessings
2 The Whole Point Of No Return
3 Me Ship Came In!
4 Blue Café
5 The Paris Match
6 My Ever Changing Moods
7 Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse
8 A Gospel
9 Strength Of Your Nature
10 You're The Best Thing
11 Here's One That Got Away
12 Headstart For Happiness
13 Council Meetin'
CD3 - Post album released singles, b-sides, single edits and remixes
1 You're The Best Thing (7" version)
2 You're The Dub Thing
3 The Big Boss Groove (12" version)
4 Money Go Round (Dance mix)
5 Long Hot Summer (Don't Matter What I Do) (7" single)
6 A Solid Bond In Your Heart (instrumental)
7 My Ever Changing Moods (7" version)
CD4 - Demos, outtakes and alternate versions
1 Long Hot Summer (pre TSC demo)
2 Party Chambers (alternate version)
3 Up For Grabs (demo)
4 Take It To The Top (demo)
5 Mick’s Demo
6 Funk Interlude
7 The Big Boss Groove
8 Summertime Song
9 The Paris Match (with Tracey Thorn) (long version)
10 Come Away With Me (demo)
11 Me Ship Came In! (alternate version)
12 Dropping Bombs on The White House (alternate version)
13 That One In D’ Minor (demo)
14 Boy Hairdresser
15 A Gospel (alternate instrumental version)
16 A Gospel (outtake)
17 Mick’s Company
18 I’m In The Mood For Gazza
CD5 - BBC Sessions & Live
Radio 1 Session 5/5/83
1 Headstart For Happiness
2 Mick's Up
3 Here's One That Got Away
4 The Paris Match
SBH: In Concert 11/6/83. Recorded as part of the Respond Package night at the Paris Theatre London
5 Head Start For Happiness
6 Here's One That Got Away
7 The Paris Match
8 Times Are Tight
Saturday Live 31/12/83 In Session
9 My Ever Changing Moods
10 Mick's Blessings
11 Paris Match
12 Head Start For Happiness
13 Long Hot Summer
BBC Live at the Dominion Theatre Pt.1 14/3/84
14 Meeting Over Yonder
15 My Ever Changing Moods
16 It Just Came To Pieces In My Hands
17 Mick's Up
18 Here's One That Got Away
19 Up For Grabs
20 Dropping Bombs On The White House
21 Long Hot Summer
CD6 – Live versions
BBC Live at the Dominion Theatre Pt.2 14/3/84
1 Money Go Round
2 Speak Like A Child
3 Headstart For Happiness
4 Hanging On To A Memory
BBC Sight & Sound In Concert - Live At Goldiggers Chippenham 10/3/84
5 Meeting Over Yonder
6 My Ever Changing Moods
7 Speak Like A Child
8 The Whole Point Of No Return
9 Le Depart
10 The Paris Match
11 Party Chambers
12 Money Go Round
13 Head Start For Happiness
14 Hanging On To A Memory
15 Dropping Bombs On The White House
16 Long Hot Summer
3LP Vinyl
LP1 - side A
1 Speak Like A Child
2 Party Chambers
3 Mick's Up
4 Headstart For Happiness
5 Money-Go-Round (Parts 1&2) (Bert Bevans remix/club mix)
LP1 - side B
6 Long Hot Summer (Extended Version)
7 Le Depart
8 The Paris Match
9 Spring, Summer, Autumn
10 Mick's Company
LP2 - side C
11 Mick's Blessings
12 The Whole Point Of No Return
13 Me Ship Came In!
14 Blue Café
15 The Paris Match
16 My Ever Changing Moods
17 Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse
LP2 - side D
18 A Gospel
19 Strength Of Your Nature
20 You're The Best Thing
21 Here's One That Got Away
22 Headstart For Happiness
23 Council Meetin'
LP3 - side E
24 My Ever Changing Moods (Long Version)
25 A Solid Bond In Your Heart
26 The Big Boss Groove (12" version)
27 You're The Dub Thing
LP3 - side F
28 Long Hot Summer (pre TSC demo)
29 Party Chambers (alternate version)
30 Up For Grabs (demo)
32 Mick’s Demo
32 Take It To The Top (demo)
33 Dropping Bombs on The White House (alternate version)
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