Café Bleu


Café Bleu is the official debut album released by the English band The Style Council. It was released on 16 March 1984, on Polydor Records, produced by Paul Weller with Peter Wilson. It followed the compilation Introducing The Style Council, which was released only in the Netherlands, Canada and Japan. The album was mainly recorded at Solid Bond Studios except for the strings which were recorded at CBS.
Café Bleu was renamed My Ever Changing Moods in the United States to capitalize on the success of the single of the same name. 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.
It was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Critical reception

In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic felt that Café Bleu, while being indicative of "the group's fatal flaw – a tendency to be too eclectic and overambitious", was 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.'"
In 2014, Treblezine included it in their list of "10 Essential Sophisti-pop Albums", saying that, while it does not feature synthesizers like the other albums on the list, "a mix of blue-eyed soul, jazz, and modern influences made this record a sophisticated, progressive piece of pop."

Track listing

All songs written by Paul Weller, except where noted.
Side one
  1. "Mick's Blessings" – 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" – 3:15
Side two
  2. "A Gospel" – 4:44
  3. "Strength of Your Nature" – 4:20
  4. "You're the Best Thing" – 5:40
  5. "Here's One That Got Away" – 2:35
  6. "Headstart for Happiness" – 3:20
  7. "Council Meetin'" – 2:29
Additional track listing

Personnel