The Style Council

With the exception of Cafe Bleu (1984), the Style Council's full-length releases often had their less-intriguing moments. A collection like this one captures quite a few of the band's good moments from "You're The Best Thing" to "How She Threw It All Away." However, the inclusion of "Money Go Round" is unsettling.

Because I thought it was my problem that I'd never listened hard after Internationalists, I put heavy time into these hits, if that's what they really were. And slowly it began to dawn on me that maybe Paul Weller's motives for disbanding the Jam weren't all that pure--that he knew damn well pop smoothies were taking over from guitar bands. Tuneful, sometimes memorable, and often far from stupid, this Eurowise white funk comes from the same place musically as Culture Club and George Michael. Only it's not quite as good. (Grade - B)