Confessions of a Pop Group

Mauled by critics upon its release in 1988 and up to that point the worst-selling album of Paul Weller’s career, Confessions Of A Pop Group has since been rightly reappraised as one of Weller’s finest album of the decade (or any other for that matter). Sumptuous, piano-led melancholy (’It’s A Very Deep Sea,’ ‘Changing Of The Guard’) sits comfortably alongside storming modern soul (’Life At A Top Peoples Health Farm,’ ‘How She Threw It All Away’) and ambitious musical suites inspired by Erik Satie and The Beach Boys (’The Little Boy In The Castle/A Dove Flew Down From The Elephant’).

Confessions of a Pop Group, The Style Council’s 1988 album, is split into two sides, the first jazz-influenced epic ballads and classically-inspired piano pieces with the second more pop/uptempo. Something of a commercial failure when released, it contains some outstanding Weller songs and has since been critically reappraised. From breezy pop to melancholy orchestrated ballads, to 80s electro-soul to the Eric Satie-style piano suite that takes up most of side one, it’s a bold, ambitious album with moments of great beauty.