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I’m starting to slowly, slowly soak up the sheer joy that is the Cafe Bleu Special Edition release - and this isn’t even the best Style Council album. Fast forward to Our Favourite Shop if you really want to immerse yourself in a mid 80’s full on soulful attack of Thatcherism.

Initially I was a little meh about the Cafe Bleu Special Edition. I’ve heard it all before. If you’ve got the five CD set Complete Adventures box set, then you’ve pretty much got the entire TSC back catalogue from start to finish. But as we have found out in The Beatles Universe, there’s never a definitive back catalogue.

Cafe Bleu Special Edition has been teasing with some studio outtakes and demos that haven’t been heard before. There’s always the disclaimer that demos are just that, and remain unreleased for that very reason.

But it’s always nice to soak up more content, in the highly unlikely event that TSC will ever release any new material again (although Mick and Paul are back together doing some promo around the release.)

There’s a little confusion on the format and packaging here. If you want the full on Special Edition experience then you need to fork out for the physical media. This includes six discs (gosh) including BBC sessions a live recording from around the time. The streaming platforms have cut this down to 54 songs that form the vinyl release, clocking in at just over three hours. Either way - it’s an awful lot to take in.

There’s also been a few errors along the way. The first pressing of the release has included the wrong version of The Whole Point on the actual Cafe Bleu album. This is one way to go about pissing off TSC archivists - although it also makes for a collectable release, with the label withdrawing the albums and offering a replacement.

I can’t listen to the streaming release from start to finish. Three hours takes up a lot of the time in your day. Instead it’s become a daily pleasure this week to dip in and out, as and when time allows.

What becomes clear is that TSC achieved an incredible body of work in such a short space of time - and that’s just the 18 months or so framed around Cafe Bleu. By the end of 1984 they were done with all the Cappuccino Kid styling and wanted to try and take down the Tory government through pop and politics.

This is essentially one and a half albums. Special Edition bundles up Introducing - the mini TSC album that, ahem, introduced the band. I use to love mini albums back in the day - £2,99, six or seven tracks, all packaged up beautifully. Introducing stands alone as being a very ambitious opening statement.

We go from The Jam melodies of Speak Like a Child, through to the funk socialist anthem of Money Go Round, and then into the seasonal funk of Long Hot Summer. Cafe Bleu hasn’t even started yet. Oh - and don’t forget Paris Match which is on there as well.

This is the sound of a band - a collective - being given the time and space to experiment. You don’t get that now in the tightly regulated format of the music industry. A couple of piano instrumentals from Mick? Sure. Who needs Weller, anyway.

Then we land at the singles that bridged Introducing and Cafe Bleu, with Solid Bond (a Jam hangover) and My Ever Changing Moods. You’d be hard pushed to find two more uplifting and perfect pop songs that fitted the mood and energy of the time. They still both stand up today.

The second disc of the original Cafe Bleu from start to finish remains a late night listening pleasure. I still get a Pavlovian response of wanting to spark up a fag and lean out of my teenage bedroom window whilst listening. Sorry, Mum.

At the time, the nu jazz didn’t seem all that weird to me. My ears were fresh and open to new sounds and directions - much like Weller himself. Oh hang on - here we go, comparing myself to Paul Weller…

But thinking back, going from a meat ‘n’ two veg Mod power trio - albeit a bloody good one - to releasing a jazz album less than two years later? You can see why some of the old school parka crowd were a little pissed off.

Cafe Bleu is remarkable. Out of the opening six tracks on Side A (ha!), Weller only sings on two of them. It’s all about the Council Collective, innit.

Paris Match with Tracey Thorn, and then the solo piano version of My Ever Changing Moods helped to shape my own understanding of modernism back in 1984. It also introduced me to coffee that wasn’t Nescafe Instant.

Side 2 is equally diverse, not to mention a little bonkers. From Dropping Bombs on The Whitehouse (you try releasing that in 2026) to the laid back love vibes of You’re The Best Thing. There’s also the rallying call of Strength of Your Nature, and the absolute youthful optimism of Headstart for Happiness.

What a debut!

Disc 3 rounds up some rarities. You’re the Dub Thing, Big Boss Groove 12", and the Money Go Round Dance Mix. You can skip these.

Disc 4 is for the TSC nerds.

OH HAI!

Here we have a pre TSC demo of Long Hot Summer (The Jam could never have got away with this), and a series of songs that have been unreleased up until now: Up for Grabs, Take it to the Top, Mick’s Demo, Funk Interlude, Summertime Song, Come Away With Me, Boy Hairdresser and I’m in the Mood for Gazza.

TSC really were an experimental outfit at this point in time.

Of course all of this is written through the a fan boy prism. Poke around the darker edges of the modern interweb, and you’ll find similar eulogies to Gawd awful Grateful Dead boxsets.

But you needed to be there at the time and to live the Cafe Bleu period. It shaped those shifting from the brawn of Mod, through to something a little more sophisticated, whilst simultaneously bringing down Western capitalism.

The future we always leave to late: Forward ever, backwards never.

You don’t play a Black Flag album to enjoy it. You play it as a release for all the fucked up things that are happening out there. I wasn’t in the mood for it this morning. The Carpenters seemed more appropriate for my mood. Damaged does its job well though. I would have bloody loved this as a 15 year old. It didn’t feel right, forty years later.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

GP with Stewart Lee, and a superb Sly Dunbar tribute for the final 30

“If everyone just sits around having meetings all the time you end up like Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana in Your Party having a series of endless meetings with very little forward motion.”

Steve Mason on not being bumptious

An album that excites and infuriates. The shorter, tighter pure soul songs such as Everyday People are perfection. And then the refreshments kick in with some of the over-stretched funk work outs. It still sounds like nothing else around at the time. Many have tried to follow in the same path, but failed to achieve what makes Stand! so brilliant but bonkers.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

I’ve struggled to get excited about the supposed rivalry between Forest and Palace. You can’t manufacture these mutual hatreds, just because you’ve got a crap Chairman who doesn’t understand how to open up his emails.

I think the rivalry said more about the provincial ambitions of Palace, than it does about where Forest plan to be in the next three to five years.

Having said that, I did find myself singing along to the Marinakis chants shortly after KO. I don’t think that the Big Fat Greek was actually in the ground. But that’s not the point.

It was a lively start from both teams. Brennan was a worry for the first ten minutes or so. He then seemed to sack off the rest of the match and looked an imposter to the player who sold on to Spurs for £50M. I’d rather have Ryan Yates, any day.

It was nice to see Hendo again, this time in goal for Palace. He served Forest under very testing circumstances. Making the ‘keeper your Captain tells you all you need to know about the situation Place currently find themselves in.

Elsewhere on the pitch, and Hughes was living up to his Pantomime villain persona. To be fair to the D***y reject, he’s done rather well for himself managing to earn a Premier League wedge on very limited talent.

Standing out for Forest in the first half was MGW. He saw his chance in the box and took it. We need more goals from midfield. Harry Hodge made a career out of this. With all the current Forest talk currently fixated on forwards, we tend to forget the value of a box to box goalscorer.

It was at this point that I started to obsessively refresh the BBC live PL table. Blimey - that looks a lot better. We’ll be in touching distance of Europe soon.

Oh hang on - Neco was in touching distance of the ball whilst defending the goal line. WHAT A SAVE! To be fair, it’s the one mistake that he has made wearing the Garibaldi Red. Backs against the wall time, fellas. The second half is going to be a HORRID watch.

Morato Time came about 45 minutes too early for my liking. I was also surprised with the appearance of Ndyoe, instead of, y’know, the two recognised strikers that we have on the bench. It makes me think that Lucca isn’t match fit, and poor old Taiwo can’t be exposed to any injury ahead of a possible shipping out in the morning.

And so what looked like a cruising to three home points after the first five minutes, then became a well-deserved point. It makes the Chelsea win over West Ham all the more important.

Never a dull day down at the World Famous.

This was the first home court match for the men this year. A big home crowd had gathered at the Essex Sports Arena for what was also a very poignant occasion for the Rebels.

One year ago today, the club came close to falling apart. Everyone within the organisation has done some amazing work to recover well after we lost young talents, all deeply part of the Rebs family.

We can never forget what we lost. There was a lovely tribute to the four young souls that were tragically taken a year ago today. The Rebs handled the whole situation with tremendous dignity and respect.

Right. Time for a basketball game; time to honour those missing with a positive team performance out on the court.

The men didn’t disappoint. Right from the opening tip off, Rebels shutdown Bristol at every opportunity. They seized the ball with regular turnovers, not even allowing the Flyers to put their shots up.

It was great to see the returning Ben Winters out on court after a winter sabbatical. He has a calm presence, as well as understanding the club inside out. Rebs led 29-11 at the first quarter.

It wasn’t only the commanding performance from the home team that was frustrating the Flyers. Decisions from the officials weren’t going their way. We’ll take those, thank you very much. Rebs had an impressive 56-25 lead at the buzzer.

The break also had more tributes, keeping the uplifting, positive feels. The Essex Blades dance team put on an impressive performance in memory of Eva, who is also missed. The dance was one that had been choreographed by the former dancer. The Blades were visibly emotional with the response they received.

Back on the court and the Rebels wanted more. There’s no coming back for any team when you trail 81-32 going into the final quarter.

A final scoreboard of 115-43 in favour of the Rebs shows the determination in this team to honour their friends.

JOB DONE.

Once a Rebel, always a Rebel.

To Broad Lane! …on Saturday afternoon. It’s been a while. Wivenhoe Town were at home to Long Melford. Nope, me neither.

What was more certain was me missing KO. You don’t say. A work shift finishing at 3pm meant that I wasn’t at the ground until 3:15pm. The Dragons were already one up. Blimey.

I had barely fiddled around with my camera lens before a second was added. Blink and you’ll miss it, etc. I certainly did. These goals are rare. Make the most of them whilst you can.

My usual photowalk around the ground followed. I was delayed further with some very friendly conversations. Non-league football is not about ruining your entire weekend; I’ll leave that to Forest. Friendships are more important here.

I reached the home dug out. Gosh - there’s Mo, the club all-rounder, coaching. I must have missed that announcement. It was good to see him back on the sideline. At 2-0 up, he was clearly doing a half decent job.

HT came. I caught up with R:

“Did you catch the two pens on camera?”

…he asked.

Hang on pens? TWO pens? I was late for the first goal. The second goal wasn’t a penalty was it? Oh. Crap Match Report ahoy!

Wivenhoe added a third goal soon after the break. It was a great team effort on the breakaway, with some calm finishing around the ‘keeper. 3-0, game done. It’s a long way back to Long Melford. I think.

Long Melford pulled back a consolation. I’ll let them have that. The young team had battled well, in what was starting to become something of a dirty game for both teams.

Wivenhoe looked like they could hang on, but an absolute worldie from down the wing led to a final nervy ten minutes. The equaliser came late, late in the game.

And so 3-0 up, to 3-3 at FT.

Non-league football remains bloody brilliant.

" I am determined and I am dogged. I don’t think my ability has got me as far as it should have. That’s my belief. I know my stuff is different. I know it’s not for everyone. But I would rather be different but I accept that being different in anything means a more circuitous route."

Wise words, via the Coffee Ponce of SW8.

Ha, bloody ha, etc.

Feb 4 is the midpoint of winter. Almost half-way home"

via Dave Winer

The Europa suits were on show again on Thursday evening at the World Famous. ‘cos that worked out well in Braga last time round… We’re not talking Liverpool Spice Boys. It was more Man at C&A. This felt like a Paul Smith wasted opportunity. But hey! This isn’t a fashion show. It’s Forest back on the European stage.

BBC radio Nottingham has the usual excellent pre-match build up. SHOUT OUT to our Man in Kazakhstan, who was interviewed ahead of KO having made the epic journey. I felt a bit of a fraud, sitting back home in Weird Wiv, waiting for Fletch on TNT. I was free all day to travel, and match day tickets were still available.

The team news landed. TWO Academy players starting, wearing the two stars on the badge. I like that. We should make more use of Zac Abbott. Finding somewhere for him to slot into a PL team is tricky.

Sir Colin of West Bridgford explained rather helpfully the odds of Forest progressing to the next round, and avoiding a play-off: 117,000-1. I Believe in Miracles, etc.

The game kicked off. Oh - we appear to be 1-0 up. It was a reverse Yates OG for the poor fella from Ferencvaros. I felt for him.

Another JESUS moment soon followed. At £16M he’s proving to be quite a steal. It would be SUCH a Forest thing to do if we sell him in the window before Monday evening.

With Fletch mooted, Sir Colin mentioned that by scoring a second goal, Forest had slipped from 10th in the League down to 12th. This was an evening for refreshing the BBC live table.

2-0 up and cruising. The main aim now was to try and rehabilitate McaTee into this team. Good luck…

Meanwhile, Ryan Yates was having the game of his life. Only a fool would write him off.

A second goal followed for Jesus. It was a shame he couldn’t hang around to complete a probable hat trick against what was a very poor Ferencvaros.

I had a bit of an OH SHIT moment when the penalty was awarded and MGW looked interested. Thankfully McaTee stepped up and completed the next stage of his rehab.

And so a play off place awaits. You’d be a very brave person to make a possible away trip to Panathinaikos. Betcha the Big Fat Greek won’t be holding back.

A wet Table of Dreams greeted us as we rocked up on Thursday lunchtime. I don’t think it was overnight rain, but dew instead. Once again we were playing under Tupperware style skies. When it’s grim here, it can be bloody grim.

This all meant for a very slippery table. The non-wind ball had little bounce and skidded whilst keeping low. If this was cricket then my delivery would be unplayable. But it wasn’t cricket. I was wiff waff. I lost 4-1.