When I want dumb ass rock ‘n’ roll I turn to The Ramones. I’m finding that I want dumb ass rock ‘n’ roll more and more as life gets ever complex. This is the sound of a band learning how to play their instruments. They never really mastered this, but that’s not the point. It’s all about the attitude. It’s not Year Zero punk, either. There are some glam hangovers to be found in the guitar riffs. It could easily be a bastard version of Mick Ronson cutting out the chunky chords. This album makes me want to wear back leather for the rest of my life.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

I was very late in finding Wild Wood. I was so pissed off with the way TSC came to an end in 1990, that I dismissed the early Weller solo output as treading water. How wrong I was. I’m pleased that it took me around fifteen years later to pick up on Wild Wood. The hype had died down, I was left with the music alone. Yes, it’s rustic, laboured in places. Even bucolic. But that was the intention. A back to nature bollocks, yet still trying to plot a way forward for Weller, who was still very lost at the time. Yes he, ahem, found his way out of the Wild, Wild Wood. So did I.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

This was a bit of a weird one. I was convinced I already had some Buddy Holly in my collection. But nope. No worries. There’s endless options on ebay. But where to start? Most of the Best Of collections looked like telly advertised K-Tel quality. I took a punt with this at £2 and hoped for the best.

Something wasn’t quite right when it arrived. It was box fresh and sealed. I pressed play. Mmmm. That doesn’t sound like Buddy. Is it a covers band? ChatGPT tells me not so. I’m not convinced. The sound quality went downhill for the final six tracks or so. It sounds like a bad pressing, distorted as fuck. No one wants that from Buddy.

A replacement was arranged, which I’m still waiting for. The lesson here is not to disrespect Buddy with cheap as chips crappy CD compilations.

B.A.D. II’s Kool Aid usually sells for a price range that is out of my reach. This copy appeared on ebay for £6. I managed to get the seller down to a grubby fiver. Small wins, etc.

Kool Aid is far from grubby. It captures B.A.D. in transition from the original band, to Mick Jones reinventing himself once again with a new set of players around him. It’s also VERY rave, not to mention a little chill out in places.

£5 seemed like a fine price to pay. My wish list still has an original B.A.D. corduroy cap. No cap is worth £100, mind.

This sounds more like a mix tape than an album. I love the chopping and changing of styles and references points between each track. You can’t imagine it being recorded anywhere but East London during a particular time. Like all the best albums, it borrows from just about everyone, without ever trying to hide this. It’s disposable music that deserves to be revisited every now and then as a reminder of what was possible.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

It’s difficult to approach a Dire Straits album without all the headband bullshit that exists around them. As ever, it’s me that’s got the problem, not them. As a debut, this is very strong. The songwriting and musicianship is a million miles away from what was making headlines in the music press at the time. I kinda like that. In their own way, Dire Straits didn’t give a shit, and just did their thing. I also like the very English approach to blues and singing with a Geordie accent. Forget the band name, enjoy the music.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

This is a far more acceptable introduction to the Good Captain. I’ve always struggled with Trout Mask, going back decades now. I should really just give up on it. Safe As Milk is… safe. It’s also very bluesy without all the out of tune wanderings. The bass is a bloody beast throughout. It feels as though it’s anchored to the ground. I’ve still no idea what it’s all about. I like some mystique in my music, just not the Trout Mask level of madness.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

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.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

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.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐