Songoftheday 8/15/13 - Daylight turns to moonlight and I'm at my best, praising the way it all works and gazing upon the rest...

The Style Council - "My Ever Changing Moods"
from the albums Cafe Bleu (1984, UK), and My Ever Changing Moods (1984, US)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #29 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 6

Today's Song of the Day is by the English sophistipop duo the Style Council, who came together after Peter Weller broke up the seminal post-punk act the Jam in 1982. Joining with keyboardist Mick Talbot of Dexy's Midnight Runners, the pair released their first single, "Speak Like A Child", in 1983, which went to #4 on the British singles chart. The second follow-up to that record, "Long Hot Summer", did even better, topping out at #3; all three were put on their debut Introducing The Style Council.

With their second album, Cafe Bleu, Weller's ambitions were broader, and the sound of the album was much more refined and lyrical. It also brought the group their American breakthrough with the extra-classy proto-Britpop of "My Ever Changing Moods", written by Weller as well as produced with Peter Wilson...

"My Ever Changing Moods" became the Style Council's first and only top-40 pop hit in the US in May of 1984. It also was a big hit in their homeland, reaching #5 on the UK singles chart.

Between the Style Council and Joe Jackson's 1984 effort, I was very optimistic about the artistic level that pop was taking. However, after an amazing follow-up ballad of "You're The Best Thing" sputtered in the lower reaches of the Hot 100, and their subsequent album's outstanding "Shout To The Top" missing the chart altogether the following year, it was clear that their lasting success would be confined to Britain. There, the group (which evolved to include Weller's wife Dee C. Lee) continued to have hits through the decade, up to their last top-40 hit "Promsied Land" in 1989, which was more of a dance record that pop. The group ended disbanded by the dawn of the 90s.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

...and here's the SC "performing" the song of Top of the Pops...