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Rating: I confess I felt a certain emotion when I saw on the shelves the new deluxe edition, double with remixed versions and some unreleased tracks, of "Our Favourite Shop" by The Style Council.
In that crucial year, it was 1985, I was just over twenty and that was (and in some ways still is) one of my favorite stores. Some of the reasons for this can be inferred by taking a close look at the cover, perhaps of the LP for those with eyesight problems, where the dandy Paul Weller and his more reserved partner, Mick Talbot, are depicted in a sort of small bazaar probably located on Carnaby Street. In the emporium, there are very Old England patent leather shoes, button-down shirts along with improbable ties, which served to give that eccentric touch, dark suits with cigarette trousers and coats of sober elegance; all elements reminiscent of the Jam, the first highly successful band of the young Weller, by then disbanded, true standard bearers of the late '70s mod-revival culture, encapsulated in the motto "clean living in difficult circumstances." But in the store, besides these externally significant elements of continuity, there are other images and objects that catch the eye: a colorful tailcoat, a recognizable relic of the passengers of the yellow submarine, photos of Frank Sinatra, Alain Delon, Al Green, and the poster of "Another Country," a film set in the '30s, with the unfulfilled promise Rupert Everett, which became a manifesto against the respectability of the Thatcher era, against an increasingly sclerotic and motherland-like Great Britain, especially for the young generations of the working class.
They had already appeared before the year this album saw the light, not only its illustrious predecessor "Café Bleu," but also "Eden" by Everything But The Girl, "Diamond Life" by Sade; and still in eighty-five the awaited "Working Nights" by Working Week would come out. Undoubtedly, all these works had many points in common: reference to the best black-music and cool jazz in particular, return to traditional instruments after the synthesizer binge and also, for most of them, an explicit political commitment and an open aversion to the then Tory government. Some spoke, perhaps inappropriately, of a movement; but without a doubt there was a common feeling, shared aesthetic and social ideals: "Our Favourite Shop" is perhaps what best represents that cultural-musical mood.
It manages to hold together something that may escape those who do not know English or do not have the lyrics at hand: catchy melodies, never taken for granted, sophisticated in some cases, which, however, have come to terms with the punk tabula rasa, and committed lyrics, explicit, strongly political, in the best sense of the word. Exemplary in this respect are tracks like "Homebreakers," an elegant R&B and realistic picture of the catastrophic consequences caused by the Thatcher government's restructuring policies in the industrial areas of the country; or "Internationalist," a nervous song, almost funky, with horns and Mick's acidic Hammond in the foreground, which urges class solidarity that transcends borders and the firm assertion of one's rights. The description of a depressing historical-social picture that the younger ones were able to know thanks to films like "Full Monty."
Among the fifteen tracks, which in this rich double version become many more, with the addition of some pearls never released on CD being B-sides of vinyl singles, I remember only one for all, the intense and moving "Ghosts Of Dachau," there are also some of the best singles of the era like "Boy Who Cried Wolf," "The Lodgers," "Shout To The Top" and the proto-acid jazz of the rhythmic "With Everything To Lose." Not only that: references to French chanson are not lacking either, the despair that fades into slight melancholy, of "Down In The Sein," to the bossa nova of "All Gone Way," another short circuit between sunny music and problematic lyrics. Furthermore, another merit should be recognized of the Weller group: that of being prescient, intuitively sensing the end of the Iron Lady's experience in "Walls Come Tumbling Down." However, I don't know if Blair has lived up to the great expectations Paul had at that time; I don't think so.
Anyway, "Our Favourite Shop," besides having now become a classic, and the present deluxe edition definitively confirms this, is another essential piece to know and understand the richness and quality of '80s pop music, an era in which, much to the chagrin of detractors, songs of such strong political and social commitment managed to also climb the charts: from the "top" it was still possible to send a "shout."
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Homebreakers (05:06)
Good morning day, how do you do
I wonder - what will you do for me?
I should be on my way, I should be earning pay,
I should be all the things that I'm not -
And I've tried on my own, now there's nothing to keep me at home,
Like my Brother has too - gotta leave to get out of this view,
You see they, tell you to move around -
If you can't find work in your own town.
As I rise from my bed I can hear the old man
Blaming Heaven and Mother for this
30 Years with one firm, 13 months redundant,
Yes I'd say that's unlucky for some -
Now our tears fall like rain, as my Mother walks me to my train,
With a kiss and a wave - "Come home weekends" - that's if I can save.
I swear I'll take it out on the man -
Who ever devised this economy plan.
All the love in the world - can't put -
Dinner on the table -
All the hate that I feel no love could put right
Good morning day, how do you do
I wonder - what will you do for me?
I should be on my way, I should be earning pay,
I should be all the things that I'm not -
And I've tried on my own, now there's nothing to keep me at home,
All the love and the strength has been taken by this Government,
You see they, tell you to move around -
If you can't find work in your own town.
Father's in the kitchen, counting out coins,
Mother's in the bedroom, looking through pictures of her boys,
One is in London, looking for a job,
The other's in Whitehall - Looking for those responsible!
03 Come to Milton Keynes (03:03)
May I walk you home tonight
On this fine and lovely night tonight -
We'll walk past the luscious houses,
Through rolling lawns and lovely flowers -
Our nice new town where the curtains are drawn
Where hope is started and dreams can be borne.
Let us share our insanity
Go mad together in Community
Boys on the corner looking for their supper
Boys round the green looking for some slaughter -
We used to chase dreams now we chase the dragon
Mine is the semi with the Union Jack on.
In our paradise lost we'll be finding our sanity
In this paradise found we'll be losing our way -
For a brave new day.
May I slash my wrists tonight,
On this fine Conservative night tonight -
I was looking for a job so I came to town
I easily adopt when the chips are down -
I read the ad about the private schemes
I liked the idea but now I'm not so Keyne.
04 Internationalists (03:12)
If you believe you have an equal share
In the whole wide world and all it bears
An' that your share is no less or more than
Your fellow sisters and brother man
Then take this knowledge and with it insist
Declare yourself - an internationalist!
If you lay no blame at the feet of next door
An' realise this struggle is also yours
An' that without the strength of us altogether
The world as it stands will remain forever
Then take this challenge and make it exist!
Rise up as - an internationalist!
If your eyes see deeper than the colour of skin
Then you must also see we are the same within
An' the rights you expect are the rights of all
Now it's up to you to lead the call
That liberty must come at the top of the list
Stand proud as - an internationalist!
If you see the mistake in having bosses at all
You will also see how they all must fall
For under this system there is no such thing
As the Democracy our leaders would have us sing
No time for lies now as only truth must persist
Rise up now and declare yourself - an internationalist!
06 The Stand Up Comic's Instructions (01:31)
Get 'em laughing - keep 'em there,
You hold your own and they'll hold their's,
Hold their glasses - can't hold their beer
Tell 'em the one about the fucking queer.
Do the one that always works,
'Bout the lazy blacks that don't like work,
And once you got 'em, keep 'em there
Raise their spirits! Raise their cheer!
Do that one that never fails,
'Bout the gang of white thugs and the Asian male,
And once you got 'em, they'll be with you!
See this lot's loyal, through and through.
Tell Irish jokes and you can't miss,
Do the building site one and how they're all thick.
Keep 'em laughing - you'll have it made,
We're a friendly lot and you'll be well paid.
But keep 'em laughing don't let it stop
Or the truth might catch up and spoil the plot.
07 Boy Who Cried Wolf (05:15)
As the rain comes down, upon this sad sweet earth
I lie awake at nights and - think about me
All those usual things like what a fool I've been
I curse the awful way - that I let you slip away
For what was forged in love, is now cooling down
With only myself to blame for playing that stupid game
I thought I need only call and you would run
But that day you never showed honey - well I sure learnt -
That it seems I need you more each day
Heaven knows why that it goes that way -
Now it's far too late - an' I've lost this time -
Like the Boy who cried Wolf
An' yes - I know it's far too late
To ever win you back -
No tale of nightmare's at my gate -
Could make you turn -
My lost concern
And now the night falls down, upon my selfish soul
I sit alone and wonder - where did I go wrong?
It always worked before you kept the wolf from my door
But one day you never showed and honey - Now I'm not so sure -
That is seems I need you more each day
Heaven knows why that it goes that way -
Now it's far too late - an' I've lost this time -
Like the Boy who cried Wolf
10 The Lodgers (03:57)
No peace for the wicked - only war on the poor
They're batting on pickets - trying to even the score
It's all inclusive - the dirt comes free
And you can be all that you want to be
Oh an equal chance and an equal say
But equally there's no equal pay
There's room on top - if you tow the line
And if you believe all this you must be out of your mind
There's only room for those the same
Those who play the leeches game
Don't get settled in this place
The lodger's terms are in disgrace
Getcha brains blown out - in a captain's mess
Stand for the queen if you can stand the test
It's all thrown in and the lies come free
And you can be all that they want you to be
Oh if you work hard you can be the boss
But if you don't work at all then that's nobody's loss
There's room on top - if you dig in low
And the idea is what they reap you sow
With an old school tie and a reference
You can cover up crimes in their defence
It's all thrown in and the lies come free
And you can be all that they want you to be
11 Luck (02:36)
Luck fell in the right place for me
The day you happend to come by -
You caught me feeling all was useless
And left me feeling ten feet high
Now nothing again will be quite the same
You gathered my fears and threw them away
Luck dropped in just at the right time
The time when I felt most alone -
All my dreams had seemed to vanish
Now my nightmares have upped and gone
I'm not scared of farewells, nothing's the same twice
I stride through the day and I float through the night
How much choice do we have in this?
Like some almighty hand smashing your life into pieces
One day you're washed and drowned -
And the next minute you're put back on land
Now nothing again can be quite the same
I gather my fears and I throw them away
Luck - when you hold me closely
Ooh - feels like summertime
Luck - when you hold my hand
I - want it all the time
Luck - in your country kisses
Ooh - I love your outlook
Luck - in your hills and valleys
Go on talking my babbling brook!
12 With Everything to Lose (03:54)
From the playground to the wasteground
Hope ends at 17 -
Sweeping floors and filling shelves
Forced into government schemes -
11 years spent to dig out ditches,
Forget your schoolday dreams -
Guarantees and lie-filled speeches,
But nothings what it seems -
Qualified and patronised and with everything to lose.
No choice or chance for the future
The rich enjoy less tax -
Dress the girls in pretty pink
The shit goes to the blacks
A generation's heart torn out
And covered up the facts
The only thing they'll understand
Is a wall against their backs
The only hope now left for those - with everything to lose.
In desperation empty eyes,
Signed up and thrown away -
There's drugs replacing dignity,
The short sharp shock repaid -
There'll be no money if you dare to question
Working the Tory way -
The truth is up there carved in stone,
Where 21 dead now lay -
A family's loss for a few pounds saved -
With everything to lose.
14 Walls Come Tumbling Down (03:23)
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 an' walls can come tumbling down!
Governments crack and systems fall
'cause Unity is powerful -
Lights go out - walls come tumbling down!
The competition is a colour TV
We're on still pause with the video machine
That keep you slave to the H.P.
Until the Unity is threatend 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 realize
The class war's real and not mythologized
And like Jericho - You see walls can come tumbling down!
Are you gonna be threatend 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 an' make this work
Or spend your days down in the dirt -
You see things CAN change -
YES an' walls can come tumbling down!
15 Shout to the Top (04:21)
I was half in mind - I was half in need,
And as the rain came down - I dropped to my knees and prayed
I said "oh Heavenly thing - please cleanse my soul,
I've seen all on offer and I'm not impressed at all".
I was halfway home - I was half insane,
And every shop window I looked in just looked the same
I said send me a sign to save my life
'Cause at this moment in time there is nothing certain in
these day's of mine
Y'see it's a frightening thing when it dawns upon you
That I know as much as the day I was born
And though I wasn't asked (I might as well stay)
And promise myself each and every day - that -
When you're knocked on your back - an' your life's a flop
and when you're down on the bottom there's nothing else
but to shout to the top - shout!
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Other reviews
By lovetojour
This seems like a more cohesive album in its stylistic intentions with 'heavy' lyrics that make me think of this work as the Style Council’s Sandinista!
‘Walls Come Tumbling Down’—Masterpiece of Post-Work for the working masses—that would make even Fassino tap his feet.
