The Style Council’s 1984 album “Café Bleu”, is to be reissued as a 6CD special edition featuring unheard material, including early demos, alternate takes, and unreleased songs.
The band’s debut (the band being Paul Weller and Mick Talbot) showcased a new sound for Weller, a cosmopolitan blend of jazz, soul, and was released a year after their first single (‘Speak Like A Child’) and a few other non-album singles that were issued in the US (and a few other territories) as a mini-album “Introducing The Style Council”.
The demos disc includes an early demo of ‘Long Hot Summer’ (from August 1982), ‘Boy Hairdresser’ (written for Respond artist Tracie Young) and extended version of ‘The Paris Match’ (running to 6:31) and early variant ‘“’Summertime Song’. There’s also some instrumentals from Mick Talbot including a jazzier version of ‘Party Chambers’ and ‘Mick’s Demo’.
Also Live recordings include performances from BBC Sight & Sound In Concert at Chippenham’s Gold Diggers and London’s Dominion Theatre.
The 6CD special edition includes a book with new sleeve notes from Gary Crowley. The 3LP vinyl edition offers the expanded “Introducing…” album on LP 1 (less tracks than on the CD version), the album proper on LP 2 and then a third LP that combines more tracks from the expanded “Introducing…” with some of the demos.
The new Café Bleu Special Edition in 6CD form includes the following content:
- CD1 – Extended edition of Introducing… The Style Council.
- CD2 – Café Bleu full album.
- CD3 – All related singles, B-sides, remixes, and demos from that era.
- CD4 – Unreleased Demos, Outtakes & Alternate Versions
- CD5 & CD6 – BBC Sessions & Live Performances
“Café Bleu” will be reissued on 30th January 2026, via UMR / Polydor.
The Fat Angel Sings 