19 February 2007

National Treasure

Paul Weller is a national treasure.

Unfortunately, that nation is the United Kingdom.

The Jam was the UK’s most popular group by the time Weller disbanded them at the height of their popularity, a move that ensured that the band from the “class of ‘77” (The Jam, The Sex Pistols, The Clash) that seemingly had the most distant affiliation with the precepts of punk would nevertheless be the only one to stay true to those precepts. The Jam had simply become too popular for the band to have the type of impact of which Weller dreamed.

Enter The Style Council, a radical departure from the musical style (and the clothes) of The Jam, but not from the socially relevant messages. Only now those messages were presented in an array of soul, jazz and funk-inspired pop grooves by Weller and a lineup that included Mick Talbot, (future Weller wife) Dee C. Lee, Steve White (still drumming with Weller to this day) and a loose assembly of “honorary councilors.” And they were all QUITE stylishly dressed!

To this day, history shows that The Style Council was a step down for Weller, though increasingly, Weller’s critics are apt to acknowledge that it was an honorable step down.

Sure, “Down in the Tube Station at Midnight”, “That’s Entertainment”, “Going Underground” and “Town Called Malice” are great songs, but so are TSC’s “Long Hot Summer”, “You’re the Best Thing”, “My Ever Changing Moods” and “Speak Like a Child”. And the album Our Favourite Shop (originally released in the states as Internationalists) can stand proudly alongside such Jam classics as All Mod Cons and Sound Affects as albums any artist would be proud to have created.

For a few years in the early to mid-‘80’s, The Style Council was good enough to justify their self-proclaimed assertion of being “Probably the best pop band in the world.”

Unfortunately, in the UK, the word “pop” didn’t sit well with Weller’s fans. He had been hardcore since ’77 and many wanted him to stay that way. Meanwhile, over here in the colonies, The Jam’s breakup came just when they were starting to gain traction on the U.S. charts. The Style Council built on that traction, so, ironically, Weller’s greatest commercial success here came with The Style Council, not with The Jam.

Sadly, the overall quality of They Style Council long-players became somewhat hit and miss and the choice of singles not always the most wise and by 1989 the band’s label, Polydor (the only home Weller’s music had ever known) were rejecting the band’s latest album and Weller knew the end had come. Unlike The Jam, who were at the top of their game when Weller made the call, The Style Council seemed to have overstayed their welcome, and Weller, himself, was without a record deal for the first time in his career.

As I don’t live in the United Kingdom, I never had the opportunity to see The Style Council perform live and I was too young to see The Jam, so when the announcement was made in 1991 that that Paul Weller would be playing a show at the Variety Arts Center in downtown Los Angeles, I gladly paid top dollar for tickets. The show was billed as an evening of his music with The Jam, the Style Council and “the debut of his solo material.” Tickets sold out so fast that Weller ended up playing four sold-out nights.

The first night, Weller and band opened with the title track from perhaps The Style Council’s most ill-executed effort, “The Cost of Loving.” On this night, Weller came out with guitar blazing and he was clearly a man with something to prove. That song suddenly WORKED for the first time. It didn’t hurt that Weller’s voice had fully matured into the soulful instrument now regularly on display. In their review, noting Weller’s lack of a record deal, Variety referred to it as the “audition of the year.”

Now, more than fifteen years later, it’s clear the audition was a success. Weller’s status as both a best-selling and influential artist was firmly cemented this past year when he was awarded the Brit (the UK’s equivalent to the Grammy) for “lifetime contribution to music.” Here in the states, where his releases usually reside on the indie label Yep Roc, Weller continues to have a following that is loyal, if not exactly legion. Sadly, his “national treasure” status has never extended to these shores. So, it is always a genuine thrill, and an all too rare one, when Weller plays live in the U.S.

In support of the just-released, career spanning retrospective box set Hit Parade, Paul Weller (and his now long-running lineup of Steve Craddock on guitar, Damon Minchella on bass, and Steve White on drums) played three nights at the Irving Plaza in New York City, followed a few days later by three dates at the Avalon here in L.A. In addition to the intimacy of the venue, and the rarity of playing several nights at the same venue (rather than “one offs”), what made the Irving Plaza gigs so special, was that on night one, he opened with the spotlight on his work with The Jam, before moving into his solo material.

Night two was even better, magical really, for he opened with the spotlight on his work with The Style Council, before moving into his solo material, and even worked in a few Jam songs for good measure. Weller’s not a nostalgic individual, not prone to revisiting material that no longer speaks to him (even if it’s what the audience might be clamoring for). So, I actually felt honored to be present at those shows, and that night in particular was special for two reasons. First, Weller, himself, seemed far more relaxed and the audience energy more consistent throughout the show. Second, I was sharing the experience with my oldest friend, Michael Paul Stewart.

The Stew and I have been friends for some 34 years, and there was a time, back in high school when we were known as The Dynamic Duo. If memory serves, we each claimed to be the “intelligent, good-looking half” of the duo. History has proven us both to be correct in that claim …

It felt so good to stand beside him in that crowd, both of us nattily attired in our suits, both of us enjoying well earned pints of Guinness. I thought of the fairly amazing journeys that had led us from the streets of Cupertino, cruising around in his MG, listening to TSC’s Café Bleu on audio cassette in the mid-‘80’s, to New York City more than twenty years later. Gratitude swept over me.

The Stew has turned me on to much that is great in music, in film, in art, in literature. Even as he has become nothing less than a “master of the universe” on Wall Street (and around the globe), it is his passionate interest in the humanities that serves to make him nothing less than a national treasure.

We don’t have many national treasures these days. That’s why, when we get to be in the company of people like Paul Weller and Mike Stewart, we have to savor it. On the night of 30 January 2007, I did just that.

Oh, and by the way, the “other two” members of The Jam (drummer Rick Buckler and bassist Bruce Foxton), thirty years after the release of their first album, have announced a reunion tour AND album! Somehow, this hasn’t garnered the same headlines as The Police reunion. Still, bless their hearts. And bless Paul Weller for never making that particular money grab. He won’t be joining them. Meanwhile, after more than 30 years, the Dynamic Duo has no plans to split up, so a reunion tour will not be necessary.