release date: May 1, 1985
format: vinyl (gatefold - 825 700-1) / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,46]
producer: Paul Weller, Peter Wilson
label: Polydor Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 2. "All Gone Away" - 3. "Come to Milton Keynes" - 4. "Internationalists" (3,5 / 5) (live) - 5. "A Stones Throw Away" - 7. "Boy Who Cried Wolf" - 9. "Down in the Seine" (4 / 5) - 10. "The Lodgers (Or She Was Only a Shopkeeper's Daughter)" - 12. "With Everything to Lose" - 14. "Walls Come Tumbling Down" (at Live Aid)
2nd studio album by The Style Council, whose style has become less pop soul, more jazz inspired, and seems more straight and narrow with this release compared to the debut, and although, it contains a large number of fine compositions I generally find it a bit too slick, too nicely sounding. There's simply too much work put in the studio in arranging these songs with the right horns, strings, and additional instrumentation, which nearly disguises the quality of the songs. The first track "Homebreakers" is like a perfect example of what you shouldn't do. It's lengthy, somewhat tiresome, and it doesn't provide any original ideas, whereas "A Stones Throw Away", "Down in the Seine", and "Walls Come Tumbling Down" show what this duo is capable of.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Uncut Magazine 3 / 5 stars ]
