Bright summer nights approaching?

All those lonely films
And all those lonely parties
But now the feeling is off-screen
An’ the tears for real not acted, anymore

Even if a sunny winter´s day in Scandinavia is hard to beat, I sometime find my thoughts straying elsewhere to those distant places where the sun always shines and the ladies are…well. The soundtrack to those thoughts is almost always the same, namely Style Council´s formidable single Long Hot Summer from 1983.

After Paul Weller wrapped up Jam with the excellent single Beat Surrender from november 1982 and instead founded Style Council together with organ player Mick Talbot, previously in mod group Merton Parkas, nothing would ever be the same again.

The duo´s first single, also from 1983, Speak Like A Child, was a solid produce but Weller soon found his ways back to funk cramp city with the follow-up Money Go Round (Part 1). At that time I lost all hope. The band´s future would also be a rocky rollercoaster ride, with some extraordinary highs and many, many deep valleys.

Their finest minutes came early with the third single, the before-mentioned Long Hot Summer, the soundtrack to my every summer daydream ever after.

Once upon a time Weller was a close to God as anyone could be, at least to me. I still remember taking the sleeve of Jam´s In The City to my hairdresser, asking her to do my soft teenage hair just like Weller´s.

The first 3-4 Jam albums are still great but sometime thereafter we kinda lost each other. Mostly by habit I´ve bought some of his solo albums and some Style Council stuff but hardly ever listened to them. I also got the impression quiet early on that he´s not a very nice person, even though my position on that issue now may have changed a bit.

Still , he has provided us with some bone fide pop stuff, with Long Hot Summer being maybe the best of the lot. Listen – and feel the summertime getting closer by the minute!

Salut!

tp

Ps. Someday when I´m old and tired enough, I promise to dive into Weller´s collected works and give it all a fair chance, without presumptions. Perhaps I then will discover something I should have noticed before and feel a bit ashamed of my sometimes biased views? Even Weller has of lately made up with his old pals from Jam and that may of course be a sign…

That summer feeling

Catch a wave and you’re sittin’ on top of the world

The humidity is awful and the rain keeps falling, endlessly. Is this the summer we longed for during the hard months of winter?

Still, the very thought of Beach Boys brings back the good spirits in me. This one is an absolute favourite and a gem forever to be cherished – Catch A Wave from 1963, this time with some unlikely surfers onboard.The song, penned by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, was included in the boys album Surfer Girl but never released as a single – but still one of their most popular song.

Some interesting trivia: Jan and Dean recorded a cover of the song already in 1964. It was then reworked to a skateboard song and titled Sidewalk Surfin´ and made its way to the 25th spot of the Billboard Chart.

Much joy!

tp