The Style Council – Café Bleu

The Style Council – Café Bleu

Café Bleu is the 1984 debut studio album by The Style Council, bringing together former Jam frontman Paul Weller and keyboard player Mick Talbot in a strikingly cosmopolitan departure from Weller's previous work. Released on Polydor in March 1984, the album reached No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart and established The Style Council as a very different proposition from The Jam, drawing freely from soul, jazz, funk, pop and new wave.

Recorded between October 1983 and January 1984, primarily at Weller's own Solid Bond Studios in London, Café Bleu was produced by Weller and Peter Wilson. The album features an unusually broad supporting cast, including musicians and vocalists who helped give the record its sophisticated, richly arranged character. Tracey Thorn of Everything But The Girl provides the lead vocal on "The Paris Match", while Dee C. Lee appears on "Strength Of Your Nature" and "Headstart For Happiness".

The album moves effortlessly between styles. "My Ever Changing Moods" combines sophisticated pop with jazz and soul influences, "You're The Best Thing" became one of The Style Council's signature songs, while "Blue Café", "A Gospel" and "The Paris Match" demonstrate the group's willingness to move beyond conventional guitar-pop. The result is an album that feels distinctly early-1980s but draws heavily on older soul, jazz and R&B traditions.

For fans of Paul Weller, The Jam, The Style Council, sophisti-pop, British soul, jazz-pop and 1980s new wave, Café Bleu remains an important part of Weller's musical transition. Rather than simply continuing The Jam's sound, it established a broader musical vocabulary that The Style Council would develop further on their subsequent albums.

Tracklist

Side A

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

Side B

1. A Gospel
2. Strength Of Your Nature
3. You're The Best Thing
4. Here's One That Got Away
5. Headstart For Happiness
6. Council Meetin'