The band showed a diversity of musical styles. Singles "Speak Like a Child" (with its loud soul-influenced style), the extended funk of "Money-Go-Round", and the haunting synth-ballad "Long Hot Summer" all featured Talbot on keyboards and organ. Near the end of 1983, these songs were compiled on Introducing The Style Council, a mini-album initially released in Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States only. The Dutch version was heavily imported to the United Kingdom.
In 1984, the single "My Ever-Changing Moods", backed with the Hammond organ instrumental "Mick's Company", reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The song remains Weller's greatest success on the American charts (including his efforts in The Jam and as a solo artist), while the group reached the peak of its success in the United Kingdom with the 1985 album Our Favourite Shop.
To Weller's fans, the decision to split up The Jam at the height of their commercial success was met with considerable controversy[citation needed]. Weller deliberately distanced himself from The Jam's sound and style, with his use of new musical arrangements and instruments in a much slicker, more heavily produced style. In the place of the Bruce Foxton-Rick Buckler rhythm section were drum and bass parts done entirely on synthesisers.
Structurally, many of the band's early singles were not far removed from The Jam's latter-day soul-pop efforts such as "Town Called Malice" and "Beat Surrender", but they were often criticised as overproduced, despite Weller's impressive songwriting[citation needed]. Also, many observers saw even the early albums as indulgent and overly experimental; Trouser Press called Café Bleu "too schizophrenic to be a good album".
The Style Council took a more overtly political approach than The Jam in their lyrics, with tracks such as "Walls Come Tumbling Down", "The Lodgers", and "Come To Milton Keynes" being deliberate attacks on 'middle England' and Thatcherite principles prevalent in the Eighties. Weller was also instrumental in the formation of Red Wedge with Billy Bragg. However, he later said that this began to detract from the music: "We were involved with a lot of political things going on at that time. I think after a while that overshadowed the music a bit"
In 1986, the band released a live album, Home and Abroad, and, in 1987, the album The Cost of Loving was launched, followed later in the year by the upbeat non-album single "Wanted", which reached #20 in the United Kingdom. However, Confessions of a Pop Group, released a year later, sold poorly. This led to their record label Polydor rejecting their final album (Modernism: A New Decade), which was heavily influenced by the contemporary house scene. A greatest hits album, appropriately called The Singular Adventures of The Style Council, was released internationally in 1989; it included the non-album single "Promised Land", which had reached #27 in the United Kingdom earlier that year.
In 1989 members of The Style Council went under the name of King Truman to release a single on Acid Jazz titled "Like A Gun". This was unbeknown to Polydor and the single was pulled from the shops only 3 days prior to release. Acid Jazz founder Eddie Piller said "The pair offered to make a single for my new label, which I'd just started with Radio 1 DJ Gilles Peterson as a side project. Mick and Paul took pseudonyms Truman King and Elliott Arnold." [1]
The Style Council broke up in 1989. The cover of "Promised Land" (originally by Joe Smooth) was the only release which surfaced from the Modernism sessions at the time; however, the entire album was released in 1998, both independently and in a 5-CD box set, The Complete Adventures Of The Style Council. After the split, Weller embarked on a successful solo career (still featuring Steve White on drums, who had left The Style Council by the time Confessions of a Pop Group was released, having only played on a few of its tracks). Talbot and White released two albums as Talbot/White — United States of Mind (1995) and Off The Beaten Track (1996). More recently, Mick Talbot and Steve White have formed The Players with Damon Minchella and Aziz Ibrahim.
All of The Style Council's UK releases (including singles, 12" maxis, albums, compact discs and re-issues thereof) featured the work of graphic designer Simon Halfon, who often collaborated with Weller to hone his ideas into a graphic form. Weller and Halfon began working together at the end of The Jam's career, and continue to work together to this day on Weller's solo material.
Since 2007, the song "Walls Come Tumbling Down" has been used as the theme song for the German TV series Dr. Psycho – Die Bösen, die Bullen, meine Frau und ich.
All Gone
The Style Council Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Having free reign with the town so bleak
Like everything else, it's all gone away
The Town Hall clock gives forth its chime
For no one there to ask the time
Like everything else, they've all gone away
The sign say's closed it's a sign of the times
Like everything else, they've all gone away
But somewhere the party never ends
And greedy hands rub together again
Shipping out the profits that they've stolen
But somewhere the party never ends
And greedy hands rub together again
Shipping out the profits that they've stolen
An eerie wail comes from the pit
The ghosts of the men take the morning shift
Just like clockwork rusting away
Come take a walk upon these hills
And see how monetarism kills
Whole communities, even families
There's nothing left, so they've all gone away
In The Style Council's song "All Gone Away," the band paints a bleak picture of an abandoned town where everything that once thrived has disappeared. The lyrics describe a desolate scene where the wind blows whispers down the street and the town hall clock chimes for no one there to listen. The grocer's shop hangs up its sign, the sign saying, "closed," which is a sign of the times where everything has gone away. It is a world where the forces of greed and monetarism have decimated entire communities and families.
The lyrics suggest a kind of modern wasteland where capitalism has run roughshod over the lives of ordinary people, leaving them bereft and abandoned. The refrain of the song, "like everything else, they've all gone away," is a dire prediction of what might happen to us as individuals and as a society if we fail to resist unchecked capitalism. The song suggests that somewhere else, however, the party never ends, and greedy hands rub together, shipping out the profits that they have stolen.
Overall, The Style Council's song "All Gone Away" is a powerful statement about the human cost of unchecked capitalism. The song warns against the devastating effects of greed and monetarism on both individuals and communities. It is a haunting reminder that we must never forget the real cost of profit and power.
Line by Line Meaning
The wind blows whispers down the street
Softly, pieces of conversation hint at the deserted state of the town
Having free reign with the town so bleak
As the town is abandoned, the wind has full control and reminds us of the emptiness
Like everything else, it's all gone away
Even the familiar sounds and sights of the town have vanished
The Town Hall clock gives forth its chime
Despite the lack of inhabitants, the clock continues to tell the hour
For no one there to ask the time
But there's nobody around to hear it or enquire about it
Like everything else, they've all gone away
Yet, even the clock is alone with nobody to answer to
The grocer's shop hangs up its sign
The shop is closed, its sign reveals the hard-hitting reality
The sign say's closed it's a sign of the times
Its meaning purposefully echoes the tough circumstances of the era
Like everything else, they've all gone away
Once again, the emptiness is reinforced with the repeat of the same statement
But somewhere the party never ends
Despite the melancholic image painted, there's still a thriving elite that's distant from the suffering
And greedy hands rub together again
Powerful players with money interests carry on with their business, disregarding the damage done
Shipping out the profits that they've stolen
They take away the fruits of the labour without giving back to the community
An eerie wail comes from the pit
The sound of misery echoes as a reminder of the suffering inflicted onto the working class
The ghosts of the men take the morning shift
The invisible presence of the dead miners haunts the space and adds to the overall forlorn aura
Just like clockwork rusting away
The equipment is slowly deteriorating and becoming obsolete, just like the men that used it
Come take a walk upon these hills
Explore the abandon, and witness the impact of economic policies on communities
And see how monetarism kills
Observe the devastating effect of economic policies on the lives of people
Whole communities, even families
Families and neighbourhoods have been completely destroyed by massive unemployment rates
There's nothing left, so they've all gone away
The emptiness is pervasive, and there seems to be no remedy in sight
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: PAUL JOHN WELLER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind