"Walls Come Tumbling Down!" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by The Style Council | ||||
from the album Our Favourite Shop | ||||
Released | 1985 | |||
Genre | Northern soul [1] | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
Songwriter(s) | Paul Weller | |||
The Style Council singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Walls Come Tumbling Down!" on YouTube |
"Walls Come Tumbling Down!" is a song by English band The Style Council which was their ninth single to be released. It was written by lead vocalist Paul Weller, and released in 1985. It is the first single from the band's second studio album, Our Favourite Shop (1985). Our Favourite Shop was renamed Internationalists for the U.S. market.
The song "Blood Sports", which appeared on the single, is about anti-hunting and anti-animal blood sports. Its writing royalties went to the Bristol Defence Fund for two hunt saboteurs jailed for anti-blood sports activities, including attempted murder of a teenage rider and animal cruelty. [2]
The music video was filmed in Warsaw, Poland.
Matthew Bingham of Hucknall Life called the song, "an irresistible call to arms.. a soul stomper to believe in " [3]
As well as the song's single release, it has featured on various compilation albums released by The Style Council. The song was included on The Singular Adventures of The Style Council , The Complete Adventures of The Style Council , and Greatest Hits .
Chart (1985) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Singles Chart | 19 |
Irish Singles Chart [4] | 6 |
New Zealand Singles Chart [5] | 15 |
UK Singles Chart [6] | 6 |
Australian indie band Screamfeeder covered the song on their 1999 album Home Age (The Hypnotized Label, HIP035), and reissued in 2004 on Introducing: Screamfeeder Singles & More 1992-2004 (Shock, SCREAM1CD).
Golden Earring frontman Barry Hay released a big band cover on The Big Band Theory, a 2008 collection of covers recorded with Metropole Orkest (Blue Note, 50999 2364972 9).
Simply Red are an English soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. Band leader, singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall was the only original member left by the time Simply Red initially disbanded in 2010. They have released thirteen studio albums, from Picture Book (1985) through Time (2023), all of which have peaked within the top ten on the UK Albums Chart; with the albums A New Flame (1989), Stars (1991), Life (1995) and Blue (1998), along with their Greatest Hits (1996) album, reaching number one. Their 1991 album Stars is one of the best-selling albums in the United Kingdom.
Paul John Weller is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the band the Jam in the late-1970s. Following the dissolution of the Jam in 1982, he changed musical style and had further success with the Style Council (1983–1989), before establishing himself as a solo artist with his eponymous 1992 album.
The Style Council were a British band formed in late 1982 by Paul Weller, the former lead vocalist, principal songwriter and guitarist with the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previously a member of Dexys Midnight Runners, the Bureau and the Merton Parkas. Weller started the project to escape the restrictions of the Jam, and to explore a more arty, European, jazzier direction, which encompassed pop, hip hop, and soul.
"Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film The Snowman based on Raymond Briggs's 1978 children's book of the same name. The song forms the centrepiece of The Snowman, which has become a seasonal favourite on British and Finnish television. The story relates the fleeting adventures of a young boy and a snowman who has come to life. In the second part of the story, the boy and the snowman fly to the North Pole. "Walking in the Air" is the theme for the journey. They attend a party of snowmen, at which the boy seems to be the only human until they meet Father Christmas with his reindeer, and the boy is given a scarf with a snowman pattern. In the film, the song was performed by St Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty; this performance was reissued in 1985 and 1987.
Odyssey Number Five is the fourth studio album by the Australian rock band Powderfinger, produced by Nick DiDia and released on 4 September 2000 by Universal Music. It won the 2001 ARIA Music Award for Highest Selling Album, Best Group and Best Rock Album.The album is the band's shortest yet, focusing on social, political, and emotional issues that had appeared in prior works, especially Internationalist.
Diane Catherine Sealy, known as Dee C. Lee or Dee C Lee, is a British singer. Born to Saint Lucian parents, she grew up in south-east London. Early in her career, she was a member of the British band Central Line under the aliases Dee Sealy in 1981 and Dee C. Lee in 1983. She was a backing singer for Wham!, then released her first solo single, "Selina Wow Wow", in 1984. She started working with the Style Council in 1984, while continuing as a solo artist.
Fingerprints: The Best of Powderfinger, 1994–2000 is a greatest hits album by Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger, released on 30 October 2004 in Australia.
Our Favourite Shop is the second studio album by English band the Style Council. Recorded ten months after the band's debut, Café Bleu, it was released on 8 June 1985 on Polydor. It features guest vocalists including Lenny Henry, Tracie Young, and Dee C Lee. The album includes "Come to Milton Keynes", "The Lodgers", "Boy Who Cried Wolf", and "Walls Come Tumbling Down!", which were all released as singles. The three singles released in the UK all reached the top 40 on the UK charts. The track listing was reconfigured for the U.S. release.
Home and Abroad is a live album by the English band The Style Council, released in 1986. It was recorded on the tour supporting the band's 1985 album Our Favourite Shop.
Confessions of a Pop Group is the fourth full-length studio album by English sophisti-pop band the Style Council, released 20 June 1988 by Polydor. After the critical failure of The Cost of Loving (1987), tensions between Polydor and lead singer Paul Weller intensified, but Polydor paid Weller a hefty advance for the recording of Confessions. Backing vocalist Dee C. Lee became an official member during the sessions, while drummer Steve White left the group. The sessions were engineered by "Jezar" using two 24-track digital recorders, which allowed the group to experiment in ways they had not previously engaged before.
"Shout to the Top!" is a song by the English band the Style Council which was their seventh single to be released. It was composed by lead singer Paul Weller, and was released in 1984. It appears on the Vision Quest soundtrack in the United States.
"Night Nurse" is a song by Jamaican reggae artist Gregory Isaacs, released as a single in 1982 after signing to Island Records. It is the title track of his 1982 album of the same name, which was a top 40 hit on the UK Albums Chart. At the time, "Night Nurse" was hugely popular in the clubs and received heavy radio play. The song was later used in adverts for a GlaxoSmithKline cold and flu remedy of the same name on British TV and radio. A cover version in 1997 by Sly and Robbie featuring Simply Red became a hit single in the UK.
The Complete Adventures of The Style Council is a box set by The Style Council, released in 1998, nine years after their split. Released after the success of 1997's Direction Reaction Creation, a box set of Paul Weller's previous band The Jam, this box set takes a similar approach, with the five discs compiling all of the Style Council's studio albums with all the non-album singles, B-sides and EP tracks interspersed chronologically. In cases where the single and album versions of the same song are radically different, both versions are included. The box set also includes the group's previously unreleased final studio album Modernism: A New Decade, which was recorded and intended for release in 1989.
The Singular Adventures of The Style Council is the first greatest hits album by the Style Council, released in 1989. Subtitled Greatest Hits Vol. 1, there was never a 'Vol. 2' as the group broke up within a year of the album's release.
Here's Some That Got Away is the third compilation album by The Style Council, released in 1993. As the album cover states, the album contains rarities such as demos and B-sides, many of them previously unreleased. It follows 1992's Extras, featuring rarities by Paul Weller's previous band The Jam. Non-album singles and rarities which were included on the band's previous two compilation albums, The Singular Adventures of The Style Council and Headstart for Happiness, are not included here. The album cover is a photograph showing all four members taken in 1987, an outtake from the photo session producing the US album cover to The Cost of Loving. Other photographs from the session were later used for The Singular Adventures of The Style Council and Greatest Hits. Here's Some That Got Away reached 39 in the UK Album Chart with little promotion.
"It Didn't Matter" is a song by the English band The Style Council which was their fifteenth single to be released. It was composed by lead singer Paul Weller, keyboardist Mick Talbot, and was released in January 1987. The song was duetted by Weller and his then-wife Dee C. Lee. It is the first single from the band's third album, The Cost of Loving, also known as the Orange album. Backed with "All Year Round", it became a hit, peaking at No. 9 in the UK, and No. 48 in both Australia, and New Zealand. It has remained one of their most enduring hits.
"The Lodgers" also known by the full title "The Lodgers (Or She Was Only a Shopkeeper's Daughter)" is a song by the English band the Style Council, which was their eleventh single to be released. It was composed by lead vocalist Paul Weller and keyboardist Mick Talbot, and was released in 1985. It is the third single from the band's second studio album, Our Favourite Shop (1985). Our Favourite Shop was renamed Internationalists in the United States.
"Boy Who Cried Wolf" is a song by the English band The Style Council which was their twelfth single to be released. It was composed by lead singer Paul Weller, and was released in 1985. It is the fourth single from the band's second album, Our Favourite Shop (1985). Our Favourite Shop was renamed Internationalists in the United States. However, the single was not released in UK.
Come to Milton Keynes is a single released by the English band the Style Council in 1985. It was the second single from the band's second studio album, Our Favourite Shop, and charted at No. 23 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 14 on the Irish Singles Chart.
"So Cold the Night" is a song by British synth-pop duo the Communards released in November 1986 as the final single from their debut album Communards. It was their second top-ten hit, peaking at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart.