Happy families blancmange

The prog giants’ much maligned and misunderstood 1973 concept album reappears in deluxe expanded and enhanced form. Mark Blake braves a deep dive.

PRESS Gluecifer Same Drug New High STEAMHAMMER Bringing ...

PRESS Gluecifer Same Drug New High STEAMHAMMER Bringing ...

QUEEN PRODUCTIONS/PRESS Freddie Mercury Mr Bad Guy UNIVERSAL ...

QUEEN PRODUCTIONS/PRESS Freddie Mercury Mr Bad Guy UNIVERSAL ...

“Stifled” in The Jam, bewitched by jazz and soul, enlivened by the café culture of Paris and Sorrento, PAUL WELLER struck out for new horizons, with an idea for a freewheeling collective instead of a hidebound band. As an expanded reissue of Café Bleu hits the shelves, he blows the froth off the first phase of The Style Council. “It was like life had been coloured in,” he tells TED KESSLER.