The;GR: Council - Long Hot Summers: The Story Of The;GR: Council [LP]

UMC/Polydor

£31.30

Format: 3 x LP Set – Standard Black
Catalogue No.: 894119
Release Date: 30th October 2020
Genre: Pop

Double-gatefold wide-spine (2LPs in RH /1LP in LH)
3 x colour-printed inner bags
Remastered at Abbey Road
Pressed on heavyweight vinyl
Limited edition

When Paul Weller announced The Style Council’s arrival in March 1983, he’d come a very long way.

In fact, at the age of just 24, he was already a musical veteran with six albums and nine Top 10 singles under his belt with The Jam. As their leader he had become a deity-like figure and for his fans, The Jam’s split was unimaginable. But creatively restless and of inquisitive mind, Paul jettisoned them at their height to form a collective with an eventual core line-up of Paul with Mick Talbot, Dee C Lee and Steve White. In a quest for new sounds, the group travelled to realms previously unchartered for a pop group incorporating musical influences as wide ranging as Blue Note jazz and Chicago soul, Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, Chicago House and Jacques Brel.At the same time, as battle lines were drawn in a decade under Margaret Thatcher culminating in the miner’s strike of 1984-85, Paul’s lyrics spoke with the language of the activist and his state of the nation addresses were both fierce and eloquent. Over four albums and 17 singles, The Style Council made a stand and became the standard bearers of progressive soulful pop and social comment.

The Style Council was emblematic of its creator. Paul Weller, smart, fearless, audacious, with a social conscience and totally unafraid to push the possibilities of pop.

This is their story…

“We set out to have fun, document the times and at the same time we wanted to elevate pop to an art form – I think we did that.”
Paul Weller

A brand-new, definitive career anthology released to tie in with the new documentary about the band – TX details T.B.C.

Endorsed, approved and co-compiled by Paul Weller.

Includes all the band’s classic singles – 12 top-20 hits, key album tracks and fans’ favourites.

Also includes two unreleased tracks – an intriguing demo of ‘My Ever Changing Moods’ with strings, and the extended, 5-minute plus version of ‘Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse’.

Featuring an introduction by ‘super-fan’ Martin Freeman and a new essay by Lois Wilson.

Includes rare photos and memorabilia.

Side A
Headstart for Happiness
Long Hot Summer
My Ever-Changing Moods
Walls Come Tumbling Down!
Party Chambers

Side B
Wanted (or Waiter, There's…)
Shout to the Top!
It Just Came to Pieces in My Hands
Come to Milton Keynes
Why I Went Missing
Waiting

Side C
Ghosts Of Dachau
Down in the Seine
The Paris Match
Life at a Top People's Health Farm
Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse (Extended version)

Side D
Speak Like a Child
The Lodgers (Or She Was Only…)
Money Go Round
You're the Best Thing
How She Threw It All Away

Side E
A Man of Great Promise
The Piccadilly Trail
A Solid Bond in Your Heart
Sweet Loving Ways
Promised Land
It Didn't Matter

Side F
Have You Ever Had It Blue
Spin' Drifting
Here's One That Got Away
Changing of the Guard
My Ever-Changing Moods (Demo)