Favourite Songs: The Style Council- Long Hot Summer

To start...... a small rant

It is already the August long weekend, and the older I get it seems like summers are passing by quicker than when I was younger, even though the summers in Toronto seem to be getting longer. In fact this year Toronto barely had a winter with hardly any snow and the warm weather started in the last week of March when the city received record temperatures in mid 20's Celsius. Normally in early March Toronto would still be under a blanket of snow and people would travel to the ski hills for their recreational activity. The freaky weather this year is probably all due to global warming and climate change.

There is an article in yesterday's Huffington Post about NASA, and leading global warming scientist James Hansen releasing statistics giving more proof of the existence of climate change. The simple facts of global warming aside, the statistical information shows that climate change is happening right before our eyes.

Climate change, which was a huge issue a few years ago, is largely being ignored by politicians around the world today, while our own Prime Minister seems to be oblivious to the fact that he and his government are a major contributor to global warming with his aggressive national energy policy which includes the piping of oil from the Alberta tar sands to the British Columbia coast to ship to crude hungry China. Politicians need to wake up and stop worrying about padding the profits of giant oil companies while using the same old bullshit that they are creating jobs. As usual, conservatives feel that ignorance is bliss and that everything will be okay in the end.


Segue to the song.....

The early eighties in England had a soul resurgence with the emergence of artists like The Blow Monkeys, Paul Young, Sade, Simply Red and The Style Council (Paul Weller would probably shoot me for grouping him in with some those artists). After the break up of The Jam, Paul Weller and Mick Talbot went in a more soulful direction and formed The Style Council in 1983. The song Long Hot Summer was their third single and was released on 7 inch, on a 12 inch EP called A Paris and on the LP Introducing The Style Council.

The laid back soulful single is a nice reminder of when Curtis Mayfield ruled the charts. Although, the single is far from being a cheery summer song with lyrics about a troubled relationship. Download the extended mix of the song and watch the amusing music video below:

Download: The Style Council- Long Hot Summer (Extended Mix)