The Style Council: Paul Weller, Mick Talbot.

Additional personnel includes: Gil Evans (arranger).

Producers include: Paul Weller, Peter Wilson, Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley, Robin Miller.

Compilation producers: Mike Ragogna, Dana Smart.

Recorded between 1983 & 1987. Includes liner notes by Scott Schnider.

This is part of Universal Records "20th Century Masters The Millenium Collection" series.

Given that the Style Council's sophisticated, jazzy soul, which incorporated elements of New Wave and R&B, was an erratic endeavor, a single-disc compilation is an excellent choice for the casual fan. THE BEST OF THE STYLE COUNCIL: THE MILLENNIUM COLLECTION, though not quite as comprehensive as 1989's THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF THE STYLE COUNCIL, is still a top-drawer survey of one of the key British pop groups of the '80s.

The group's sleek, appropriately "stylish" sound--complete with drum machines and synthesizer--added a modern European gloss to Paul Weller's songs (which were directly inspired by American R&B). The earliest tunes here, "Speak Like a Child" and "My Ever Changing Moods" were chart hits in Britain (and the latter cracked the American Top 40). Almost every song here was a major hit in the UK in the mid-'80s, including the lounge-inspired "You're the Best Thing," the exuberant "Walls Come Tumbling Down," and "It Didn't Matter," which fuses dance grooves and torrid soul. THE MILLENNIUM COLLECTION affirms the band's status as one of the best groups of its milieu.