The Style Council: Internationalists (OFS USA Release) (Geffen)
Rob Tannenbaum, Musician, September 1985
LEADING THE Jam, Paul Weller was usually eloquent about the ineloquence of youth. Now he's an adult, and he's learned all about monetarism (it's bad) and socialism (it's preferable). So on the Style Council's second album, Weller decides to tell us exactly what is wrong with England, and the world as well. The string of insufferable slogans that constitute Internationalists proves the singer's earnestness, but they also blur together in a one-dimensional, self-important roar.
Weller fills the lyric sheet with sophomoric declarations that wouldn't even make good graffiti: "The rich enjoy less tax"; "what you reap they sow"; "the class war's real and not mythologized." On it goes, like hurried notes from an introductory course in Marxism. Weller bravely declares support for redistributed wealth, honesty and unity (both world and regional), and against repression, ethnic jokes and wealth. I'm sympathetic, but I'm also suspicious of anyone who reduces complex problems to simple slogans, then claims that parrotted mottos equal revolution.
Weller and keysman Mick Talbot are still mining Memphis soul and cabaret Eurojazz; 'Boy Who Cried Wolf' even includes an absurd George Benson imitation. But in their eagerness to proclaim, the Council neglects to construct anything as magical as 'Long Hot Summer' or 'You're The Best Thing'. 'Homebreakers', for example, is about a family that is forced to split up to look for work. Weller is very upset about this, and swears revenge on "whoever devised this economy plan." Los Lobos' 'A Matter Of Time' confronts the same problem with quiet dignity and understated emotional strength, rather than vague finger-pointing, and hits deeper as a result. Good political rock it does exist offers several levels of social and political dimensions. But Weller emphasizes concern at the expense of depth.
© Rob Tannenbaum, 1985