Our Favourite Shop is the second album from the band The Style Council

The Style Council

The Style Council were an English band, formed in 1983 by the ex-The Jam singer and guitarist Paul Weller, with keyboardist Mick Talbot. The permanent line-up grew to include drummer Steve White and Weller's then-wife, vocalist Dee C. Lee. Other artists such as Tracie Young and Tracey Thorn also...

. The majority of the album's material was released (with different sequencing and packaged with an entirely different cover design) in the USA as Internationalists by Geffen Records

Geffen Records

Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...

 (which has been a sister label to Polydor Records

Polydor Records

Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...

, the band's UK label, since 1998, under Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...

).

Lyrical targets include racism

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

, excessive consumerism

Consumerism

Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen...

, the effects of self-serving governments, the suicide of one of Weller's friends and what the band saw as an exasperating lack of opposition to the status quo

Status quo

Statu quo, a commonly used form of the original Latin "statu quo" – literally "the state in which" – is a Latin term meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are...

. All of this pessimism is countered with an overarching sense of hope

Hope

Hope is the emotional state which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. It is the "feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best" or the act of "look[ing] forward to with desire and reasonable confidence" or...

 and delight that alternatives do actually exist—if only they can be seen. The album contained the Top 10 singles "Shout to the Top!

Shout to the Top!

"Shout to the Top!" is the title of a single by The Style Council, which featured on the soundtrack to the 1985 film Vision Quest and 1985 album Our Favourite Shop...

", which reached #7 in the UK, and "Walls Come Tumbling Down!", which reached #6 in the UK.

The US version titled "Internationalists" was also available as a Columbia Record & Tape House selection for the issue year 1985.

The contained musical styles are also far-ranging. Soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

, rap

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 and rock stylings all occur on the album.

Track listing

Original UK tracklisting

• All Songs Written By Paul Weller, except where noted.

1. "Homebreakers" (Mick Talbot, Paul Weller)
2. "All Gone Away"
3. "Come to Milton Keynes"
4. "Internationalists" (Talbot, Weller)
5. "A Stones Throw Away"
6. "The Stand Up Comic's Instructions" *
7. "Boy Who Cried Wolf"
8. "A Man of Great Promise"
9. "Down in the Seine"
10. "The Lodgers (or She Was Only a Shopkeeper's Daughter)" (Talbot, Weller)
11. "Luck" (Talbot, Weller)
12. "With Everything to Lose" (Steve White, Weller)
13. "Our Favourite Shop" (Talbot)
14. "Walls Come Tumbling Down"

US Tracklisting (released as Internationalists)

1. "Homebreakers"
2. "All Gone Away"
3. "Come to Milton Keynes"
4. "Internationalists"
5. "A Stones Throw Away"
6. "Boy Who Cried Wolf"
7. "A Man of Great Promise"
8. "Down in the Seine"
9. "The Lodgers (or She Was Only a Shopkeeper's Daughter)"
10. "Luck"
11. "With Everything to Lose"
12. "Shout to the Top!
    Shout to the Top!
    "Shout to the Top!" is the title of a single by The Style Council, which featured on the soundtrack to the 1985 film Vision Quest and 1985 album Our Favourite Shop...
    
    " (USA Mix)
13. "Walls Come Tumbling Down"

Australia/New Zealand Tracklisting

1. "The Big Boss Groove"
2. "All Gone Away"
3. "Come to Milton Keynes"
4. "Internationalists"
5. "A Stones Throw Away"
6. "With Everything to Lose"
7. "Walls Come Tumbling Down"
8. "A Man of Great Promise"
9. "Down in the Seine"
10. "The Lodgers (or She Was Only a Shopkeeper's Daughter)"
11. "Luck"
12. "Boy Who Cried Wolf"
13. "Our Favourite Shop"
14. "Shout to the Top!"

Deluxe Edition Tracklisting

Disc One

1. "Homebreakers"
2. "All Gone Away"
3. "Come To Milton Keynes"
4. "Internationalists"
5. "A Stones Throw Away"
6. "The Stand Up Comics Instructions"
7. "Boy Who Cried Wolf"
8. "A Man Of Great Promise"
9. "Down In The Seine"
10. "The Lodgers (Or She Was Only The Shop Keepers Daughter)"
11. "Luck"
12. "With Everything To Lose"
13. "Our Favourite Shop"
14. "Walls Come Tumbling Down"
15. "Shout To The Top (Mix)"
16. "Shout To The Top (Instrumental)"

Disc Two

1. "The Piccadilly Trail"
2. "Ghosts Of Dachau"
3. "Spin Drifting"
4. "The Whole Point II"
5. "Blood Sports"
6. "(When You) Call Me"
7. "Our Favourite Shop (Club Mix)"
8. "The Lodgers (Club Mix)"
9. "The Lodgers (Extended Mix)"
10. "The Big Boss Groove (Live)"
11. "Move On Up (Live)"
12. "You're The Best Thing (Live)"
13. "Money Go Round Medley: Soul Deep/Strength Of Your Nature (Live)"
14. "A Stone's Throw Away (Demo)"
15. "(When You) Call Me (Demo)"
16. "A Casual Affair"
17. "Soul Deep (Council Collective)"
18. "Lodger" (The Lodgers demo)
19. "Internationalist" (Internationalists demo)
20. "Everything To Lose (Blue Remix)"
21. "Our Favourite Shop (Alternate Version)"

• Most countries (except for the original UK pressing) omitted the track "The Stand Up Comic's Instructions" as it was deemed that the lyrics were racist. The guest vocalist was British comedian Lenny Henry
  Lenny Henry
  Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
  
  . It was included on the UK pressing.

Personnel

• Paul Weller - Vocals/Guitars/Bass Guitar/Synth
• Mick Talbot
  Mick Talbot
  Michael 'Mick' Talbot is a British keyboardist. He played with the late 1970s mod revivalists The Merton Parkas; Dexys Midnight Runners; The Bureau, and later with Paul Weller in The Style Council....
  
   - Hammond Organ/Keyboards
• Steve White - Drums/Percussion

• Dee C. Lee
  Dee C. Lee
  Dee C. Lee is an English pop singer.-Career:Lee was a backing vocalist for the pop group Wham! in the early 1980s, but she left the group to work as a solo artist and also to join Paul Weller's band, The Style Council...
  
   - Vocals
• Lenny Henry
  Lenny Henry
  Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
  
   - Vocals
• Tracie Young
  Tracie Young
  Tracie Young was a pop singer in the 1980s. She achieved success after becoming a protégée of Paul Weller.-Career:...
  
   - Vocals
• Camelle Hinds - Bass
• Stewart Prosser - Trumpet/Flugel Horn
• David Defries - Trumpet/Flugel Horn
• Mike Mower - Flute/Saxophone
• Chris Lawrence - Trombone
• Clark Kent - Contra Bass
• Gary Wallis - Percussion
• John Mealing
  John Mealing
  John Mealing is a keyboards player, composer and arranger.After leaving the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet in the late-Sixties, he joined the pioneering British jazz-rock band If until they came off the road in 1972...
  
   - Orchestration/String arrangement
• Anne Stephenson - Violin
• Charlie Buchanan - Violin
• Jocelyn Pook - Viola
• Audrey Riley
  Audrey Riley
  Audrey Riley is a cellist and string arranger based in the UK. Riley trained at the Guildhall School of Music with Leonard Stehn and was a cellist for Virginia Astley from 1983 to 1986 and a one-time auxiliary member of The Family Cat. She has been a member of the post-minimalist band Icebreaker...
  
   - Cello
• Peter Wilson - Keyboard Sequencing
• Patrick Grundy-White - French Horn
• Steve Dawson - Trumpet
• Billy Chapman - Saxophone
• Kevin Miller - Bass
• Helen Turner - Piano

See also