My Ever Changing Moods

I've been going back and forth as to what to post today.

You see, I've been on a huge Paul Weller kick lately. So, I've been wall-to-wall (ear-to-ear?) with his solo stuff, with The Jam, and The Style Council. And I love it all!

I love the angry, snarling, cutting edge of The Jam.

How about the smooth, sexy, jazzy swing of The Style Council? Outrageous!

Or, the grand maestro Modfather presiding over fawning masses with his solo stuff? So nice!

It's all good.

In the end, I finally decided on The Jam.

I absolutely love their combination of political commentary, slashing guitars, and pop sensibilities.

As a lyrics freak, I appreciated The Jam from the first time I heard them.

I was a teenager, doing the thing that I did back then, which was browsing the new releases at the local record store, Lou's Records (still the best in San Diego!). I loved spending time there. The employees were cool and had great taste in music. There was none of this top-40 crap going on there. That one day, I heard a song that stopped me cold. I went straight to the cash register and asked for the record. I had to have it.

The song was "Going Underground".

What an awesome song. Back then, I took it to be a commentary about the shallowness of society and how there are people (like me) that get branded "not normal" and don't fit in. Of course, now that I'm older, I can see that he was pointing a finger at the government and calling them out on their wasteful spending on war. (Sound applicable to today's U.S. government????)

The song has one of my all time favorite lyrics. I just love the beat of it and the biting anger is palpable:

What you see is what you get
You've made your bed, you better lie in it
You choose your leaders and place your trust
As their lies wash you down and their promises rust
You'll see kidney machines replaced by rockets and guns

Then, as I dug further into their music, I found great song after great song.

"Strange Town"? Could be me going off to college in a different state:

You've got to move in a straight line
You've got to walk and talk in four four time
You can't be weird in a strange town
You'll be betrayed by your accent and manners

You've got to wear the right clothes
Be careful not to pick or scratch your nose
You can't be nice in a strange town
'Cause we don't know, don't care
And we got to go, man

Same with "Modern World":

Say what you like 'cause I don't care
I know where I am and going too
It's somewhere I won't preview
Don't have to explain myself to you
I don't give two fucks about your review

Incredible stuff...maybe I'll get around to the his later music in the future...

I am absolutely going crazy over the Style Council stuff I got. Given how much I liked the Jam, I can't believe I didn't know about the Style Council until recently. Somehow, I totally missed that Paul Weller was instrumental to both groups.

Edited (5-19) - Go now for more Weller goodness at ickmusic! Pete's got a great Style Council concert from 1984.

The Jam
1980-11-30
Rockpalast
(FM Broadcast - sounds awesome)

Link here

01 - Dreamtime
02 - Thick as Theives
03 - Boy About Town
04 - Going Underground
05 - Pretty Green
06 - Monday
07 - Set The House Ablaze
08 - Private Hell
09 - Liza Radley
10 - Dreams of Children
11 - Modern World
12 - Little Boy Soldiers
13 - But I'm Different Now
14 - Start
15 - Scrapeaway
16 - Strange Town
17 - When Your Young
18 - In The City
19 - Too Be Someone
20 - David Watts
21 - Eton Rifles
22 - Down In The Tubestation