Song of the Day: 'The Paris Match' by the Style Council (Featuring Tracey Thorn)

I can remember playing this song on a loop in my bedroom as a high school boy, dreaming of one day roaming the streets of the City of Lights. (And I have!) Today I hear it through a different filter, with my boyfriend in gay Paree now with his family and me, home alone, wishing I were there, too. 

Song of the Day: 'Boy Who Cried Wolf' by the Style Council

I really resent being put in a position to defend anyone in a MAGA hat, but has anyone examined what actually transpired in this viral video seen around the world? A group of young tourists standing around the Lincoln Memorial waiting for their bus unwisely wound up listening to a mentally ill “preacher” as he screamed about “faggots” for two hours — his biggest issue with Trump seems to be that Donnie once kissed Giuliani “on the mouth” while the mayor was in drag — then these kids danced, sang school chants and looked generally bemused as a Native American man from a separate gathering wandered into the middle of their group without saying a word thinking he was defusing a potentially fraught situation and started to play his drum. 

I suppose the “MAGA monster” could have moved from where he was already standing once he was approached by Omaha elder Nathan Phillips, but it’s hardly the atrocity it is being made out to be. And Phillips’s contention that the young men were in any way a threat to the crackpot preacher — who demeans a woman who tries to engage him early on ("Where's your husband?) — and his associates is clearly debunked in the video. (Watch the two hours of video and you’ll see who was being taunted and mocked.) 

I first posted this yesterday on Facebook and things quickly heated up with everyone insisting I didn't get it, yet offering no evidence to support why. I understand that wearing a MAGA hat is an inherently provocative move -- especially in Washington, D.C. -- yet I keep going back to the fact that they were verbally assaulted for it (fine with me) yet never took the bait. So far, most of the arguments "against" them seem to be fueled by misinformation or "gut feelings" people have about the young men rather than what actually transpired. (Nowhere do I hear anyone chant "build the wall" and no, they DID NOT crash an indigenous peoples event. Phillips singled the young man out and stood directly in front of him.) And the explanation the main kid in the viral video gives tracks far more with the 120 minutes of video I watched than any of my Facebook friends' insights, which by and large seem to have been watched through a "virtue filter."

The left is known for its critical-thinking abilities, so where have they gone here? Another 120 minutes of my life I will never get back thanks to people rushing to pat themselves on the backs for not being racists and this idiotic internet mob mentality. (I’m guilty too, having hit “like” on dozens of posts ripping these kids before taking the time to investigate.) Honest to God, people. We must do better than this before we become the party of boys who cried wolf ...

Song of the Day: 'Shout to the Top' by the Style Councillors

Since Paul Weller is far too stubborn to ever reunite his Style Council, might I have to fly to the U.K. to see this adorable cover band?

Song of the Day: 'Walls Come Tumbling Down' by the Style Council

This one's for Damian, who doesn't understand my fascination with the former Jam/Style Council leader. Does this help? He's singing "our song" here!

I need a T-shirt that says: "Paul Weller Made Me a Socialist" 

Walls Come Tumbling Down

The Style Council

You don't have to take this crap

You don't have to sit back and relax

You can actually try changing it

I know we've always been taught to rely

Upon those in authority 

But you never know until you try

How things just might be 

If we came together so strongly

Are you gonna try to make this work

Or spend your days down in the dirt

You see things can change 

Yes and walls can come tumbling down

Governments crack and systems fall

'Cause unity is powerful

Lights go out, walls come tumbling down 

Yes they do, yes they do, yes they do, yes they do, hey)

The competition is a color TV

We're on still pause with the video machine

That keep you slave to the H.P.

Until the unity is threatened by

Those who have and who have not 

Those who are with and those who are without

And dangle jobs like a donkey's carrot 

Until you don't know where you are

Are you gonna get to realize

The class war's real and not mythologized

And like Jericho, you see walls can come tumbling down

Governments crack and systems fall

'Cause unity is powerful

Lights go out, walls come tumbling 

(Down) You'll be too weak to fight it

(Down) oh unless we're united

(Down) oh will you deny it?

Ooh

Are you gonna be threatened by

The public enemies No. 10 

Those who play the power game

They take the profits, you take the blame 

When they tell you there's no rise in pay

Are you gonna try and make this work

Or spend your days down in the dirt 

You see things can change 

Walls can come tumbling down

Governments crack and systems fall

'Cause unity is powerful

Lights go out, walls come tumbling down

Governments crack and systems fall

'Cause unity is powerful

Lights go out, walls come tumbling down

Governments crack and systems fall

'Cause unity is powerful

Lights go out, walls come tumbling down

Governments crack and systems fall

'Cause unity is powerful

Lights go out, walls come tumbling down

Song of the Day: 'My Ever-Changing Moods' (live) by Paul Weller

A little slice of heaven yesterday from BBC Radio 2. Am I the only weirdo who still thinks the Style Council was Paul Weller's finest hour?

Song of the Day: 'Long Hot Summer' by the Style Council

From HERE.

I was turning 16 when this summer classic by the Style Council came out. Although deep down I knew Paul Weller wasn't gay, I loved that he was willing to tease people, and do so in a less-obvious way than Annie Lennox and Boy George were at the time. We've come so far since 1983, but I still don't know whether to laugh or cry as I watch so many of our gains slip away.

Song of the Day: 'Long Hot Summer' (extended version) by the Style Council

Loving every second of Tom Pinnock article Paul Weller's 30 Best Songs. Although it's impossible to pick a favorite, I was especially impressed that he picked so many Style Council songs, which I felt was the Modfather's best era despite the fact that I'm in the minority. Perhaps my favorite TSC song, "Long Hot Summer," ranked No. 20 on Pinnock's list, yet I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry ...

Song of the Day: 'The Paris Match' by the Style Council

This one's for our friends in Paris.

Song of the Day: 'My Ever Changing Moods' by Paul Weller

Via YouTube: Paul Weller marked the released of his 2004 covers album , "Studio 150," with a special show at Riverside Studios, where this fab rendition of The Style Council's 'My Ever Changing Mood' was captured on film. 

Walls Come Tumbling Down?

Paul Weller doesn't do nostalgia, so this Twitter exchange certainly caught my eye, especially since I'm the rare fan who prefers the Style Council to the Jam. Let's just hope it's a real reunion, not the quasi one we got last time in '07.

(Slicked) Back in Style?

Details magazine has that declared slicked-back hair is back in style. But once Paul Weller did it, was there ever any need to try to top him? 

Song of the Day: 'Boy Who Cried' by The Style Council

Wonderfully understated single from the band's sophomore album, "Our Favourite Shop." Listen for the great Tracie Young on backing vocals. She'd just released her debut solo album the year before after having sung on the Jam's "Beat Surrender" farewell.

Song of the Day: 'The Paris Match' by Kristyna Miles

I was introduced to Tracey Thorn of Everything But the Girl when she sang lead on this song on the Style Council's debut long play, "Cafe Bleu." (Paul Weller added a touch of French when he recorded it for the "A Paris" EP the year before.) To mark the song's 30th anniversary, former TSC drummer Steve White has produced this latest take, a jazzy interpretation by Kristyna Miles, complete with new saxophone accompaniment..

Song of the Day: 'Soul Deep' by the Council Collective

As a teenager in suburban Phoenix, I took many of my political cues from my music idols. Paul Weller -- and his Council Collective -- were the first to make me aware of the evil ways of Margaret Thatcher, with this charity single that raised money for striking miners. 

 

Move Over, Oprah

Paul Weller Special Collectors Edition

Sometimes I don't know what I would do without my blog friends -- who tip me off to cool stuff like THIS!

Yes, I'm a little bit obsessed ...

Music Box: Me Ship Came In!

Well, yesterday sure was a memorable return to the office! After being out sick since Tuesday, I got to my desk around 1 p.m. Monday to find an invitation in my inbox to a special performance by Paul Weller -- at 2 p.m.! For those of you who don't know, Paul Weller was my childhood idol -- the male Debbie Harry, if you will -- the musical genius behind some of the greatest songs of all my youth, from "Town Called Malice," "Beat Surrender" and "English Rose" by The Jam and "Speak Like a Child," "Long Hot Summer" and "You're the Best Thing" by The Style Council.

After belatedly RSVP-ing -- the host generously agreed to squeeze me in even though I was tardy to the (invite) party -- I ran over to the studio and suddenly found myself an inch away from The Modfather, the man whose look I emulated, whose voice I idolized and whose leftist politics I so greatly admired during those brutal Reagan/Thatcher years.

After his band did a soundcheck, Paul joined them on the makeshift stage and performed a blink-and-you'll-miss-it set of "When Your Garden's Overgrown" and "That Dangerous Age," two of the singles off his latest solo album, "Sonik Kicks" which hit No. 1 in the U.K. charts when it came out in March.

Afterward, WSJ pop critic Jim Fusilli did a short interview, and then everyone followed the Style Council-or's command to "get back to work!" Well, almost everyone. Having waited more than 30 years for this moment, having spent endless nights watching a shirtless Paul and Mick picnic in Venice, I wasn't ready to return to the assembly line just yet. So I walked up to Paul -- who was chatting with his wife, backup singer Hannah Andrews, and one of the boys from the band -- and introduced myself. He was as gentlemanly as could be, shook my hand, and thanked me as I told him I'd been a humongous fan since I was a kid. He seemed surprised and pleased when I told him I'd recently had dinner with his former backup singer and protege, Tracie Young. And when I asked for a photo, Hannah quickly offered to play camerawoman, even rearranging us for better lighting and taking multiple shots. ("She's such a perfectionist," Paul fake groaned.) As I scurried back to my desk, I felt like a teenager whose wildest fantasy had just come to life. So giddy was I, in fact, that there was a moment when my bad back and plantar fascists barely even registered ...

Paul Weller performs this Friday and Saturday at the Best Buy Theater in Manhattan. For details, click HERE.

Music Box: 'Shout to the Top' by The Style Council

Wow, I love YouTube! First time I've ever seen this clip of my childhood hero Paul Weller performing "Shout to the Top" with his Style Council on some show back in 1984. How I idolized the Jam man -- did everything in my power to look and dress just like him. Nothing can take you back in time like a song can, and I just set foot in my childhood bedroom in Mesa, Arizona, and set the needle on the 12-inch import single my brother brought home from college. The song is as hypnotic today as it was then, as is Paul's fringe ...

Riding the subway in Toronto, 1985

Music Box: The Style Council Version 1.0

An early look at The Style Council, with Paul Weller, Mick Talbot, Tracie Young and The Questions. It was Paul's original idea to have the group be a revolving collection of players and singers, and on this track he, two of the Questions boys and a very young Tracie take turns on lead vocals on the cover of the Isley Brothers' "Harvest for the World," which was never released on any of the band's albums. If anyone has this song as an MP3, please contact me!

Happy Labor Day!

Don't know whether to laugh or cry, the long hot summer just passed me by ... (From the groovy sounds of The Style Council, 1983) 

 I'll be back to regular blogging tomorrow -- I promise!

I HEART Tracie Young

How fantastic to come across this 1983 clip of Paul Weller and the Style Council performing "Speak Like a Child" alongside teen queen Tracie Young, Paul's Respond Records protegee. I've read that Tracie is now a successful DJ in England, but I'll always be "Far From the Hurting Kind" pretending it's 1984. If anyone has any old Tracie tunes I'm missing ("Harvest for the World," anyone?), please contact me.

See also: Paul Weller's House of Soul