Our Favourite Shop
| Our Favourite Shop | ||||
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| Studio album by The Style Council | ||||
| Released | 9 May 1985 | |||
| Recorded | December 1984 to March 1985 | |||
| Length | 49:01 | |||
| Label | Polydor | |||
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| The Style Council chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | B+ |
| Uncut |  |
Our Favourite Shop is the second studio album by the English group the Style Council. It was released on 9 May 1985, on Polydor, and was recorded ten months after the band's debut Café Bleu. It features guest vocalists, including Lenny Henry, Tracie Young, and Alison Limerick. The album contained "Come to Milton Keynes", "The Lodgers", "Boy Who Cried Wolf", and "Walls Come Tumbling Down!" which were all released as singles, with corresponding music videos. The three singles that were released in the UK all reached the top 40 on the UK charts.
On release, the album was received favorably by the majority of music critics, although opinions have become more negative in subsequent decades. The Style Council's most commercially successful album, it was an immediate commercial and critical success, and remained at the top of the charts for one week, displacing Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits. The album was the Style Council's first and only number one album in the UK. According to the BPI, the record sold over 100,000 copies, and was certified gold.
The multigenre album incorporates diverse stylistic influences, including soul, rap, jazz and rock styles. Recording was completed in March 1985. The cover, depicting the band posing inside a shop, was designed by Paul Weller and British artist Simon Halfon.
"I had a total belief in the Style Council. I was obsessed in the early years. I lived and breathed it all. I meant every word, and felt every action. Our Favourite Shop was its culmination."
The album features fourteen original compositions (eight by Paul Weller, four co-written by Weller and Mick Talbot, and one co-written by Weller with Steve White), with one instrumental from Talbot, in its original British form.
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