Café Bleu Explained

Café Bleu
Type:studio
Artist:the Style Council
Cover:The-Style-Council-Café-Bleu.jpg
Released:16 March 1984
Recorded:October 1983January 1984
Studio:Solid Bond and CBS, London
Genre:Sophisti-pop
Length:43.57
Label:Polydor
Geffen (USA)
Prev Title:Introducing The Style Council
Prev Year:1983
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Next Year:1985

Café Bleu is the official debut album released by the English band the Style Council. It was released on 16 March 1984,[1] on Polydor Records, produced by Paul Weller with Peter Wilson. It followed four non-album singles in the UK, the first three of which (and their B-sides) were released outside the UK as the album Introducing The Style Council in North America, Australasia, Japan and some European countries. The album was mainly recorded at Solid Bond Studios (owned by Weller) except for the strings which were recorded at CBS.[2]

Café Bleu included a large number of extra musicians, known as Honorary Councillors, including Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt from Everything but the Girl. The album represented a huge shift away from Weller's previous group The Jam and towards incorporating his favoured elements of classic soul, jazz and rap. The album received mixed reviews on its release, but became the band's biggest success on the UK Albums Chart, spending 38 weeks on the chart.[3] The singles "My Ever Changing Moods" and "You're the Best Thing" both reached the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart. The single version of "My Ever Changing Moods" is a different recording to the album version.

Café Bleu was renamed My Ever Changing Moods in the United States to capitalise on the success of the single of the same name, and featured a slightly different track listing.

Critical reception

Contemporary critics were divided. Sounds dismissed the record as "dispensable dross", while others were more favourable.[4] In Smash Hits the album was given a rating out of 10, Peter Martin writing: "Paul [Weller] clearly wants to win fans not on reputation but on musical worth. Me I never liked the Jam but this, c'est magnifique."

In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic found that Café Bleu, although being indicative of "the group's fatal flaw – a tendency to be too eclectic and overambitious", is nonetheless "one of their better efforts", praising Weller's "solid soul-tinged pop songs, including 'My Ever Changing Moods,' 'Headstart for Happiness,' 'You're the Best Thing,' and 'Here's One That Got Away.'"

Café Bleu was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[5] Treble included it in a 2014 list of 10 essential sophisti-pop albums, saying that while it does not feature synthesisers like the other albums on the list, "a mix of blue-eyed soul, jazz, and modern influences (for the time at least) made this record a sophisticated, progressive piece of pop."[6]

Track listing

All songs written by Paul Weller, except where noted.

Side one

  1. "Mick's Blessings" (Mick Talbot) – 1:15
  2. "The Whole Point of No Return" – 2:40
  3. "Me Ship Came In!" – 3:06
  4. "Blue Café" – 2:15
  5. "The Paris Match" – 4:25
  6. "My Ever Changing Moods" – 3:37
  7. "Dropping Bombs on the Whitehouse" (Weller, Talbot) – 3:15

Side two

  1. "A Gospel" – 4:44
  2. "Strength of Your Nature" – 4:20
  3. "You're the Best Thing" – 5:40
  4. "Here's One That Got Away" – 2:35
  5. "Headstart for Happiness" – 3:20
  6. "Council Meetin'" (Weller, Talbot) – 2:29

Additional track listing

Personnel

The Style Council

with:

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1984)Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[8] 27
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[9] 23

Year-end charts

External links

Notes and References

  1. . . London, England . 3 . 10 March 1984.
  2. Interview with Peter Wilson (Producer: Café-Bleu). Home Studio Recording. 1. 9. June 1984. 30.
  3. https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/20231/style-council/ Style Council
  4. Steve Malins Paul Weller. The Unauthorised Biography Virgin Books 1997, p.128
  5. Book: Welton, Jaime. The Style Council: Café Bleu. 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Dimery. Robert. Universe Publishing. 2006. 978-0-7893-1371-3. 523.
  6. Web site: 10 Essential Sophisti-pop albums. Treble. 24 April 2014. 23 July 2017. Terich. Jeff. Blyweiss. Adam. Bossenger. A. T.. Prickett. Sam.
  7. The Style Council - My Ever Changing Moods (LP release). Accessed September 26, 2020.
  8. Book: Kent, David. Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. illustrated. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 299.
  9. Book: Okamoto, Satoshi. Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Oricon. 2006. 978-4-87131-077-2.
  10. Web site: Top Selling Albums of 1984. Recorded Music NZ. 2 February 2022.