|
|
||
|
Taking their cue from the late 60's Ska movement spearheaded by the likes of Desmond Dekker, the Pioneers, Greyhound, Prince Buster etc..., and pioneering record labels, like Trojan and Blue Beat, the 2 Tone label was set up in Coventry as an outlet for the seven piece SPECIALS. Led by vocalist, Terry Hall and keyboardist Jerry Dammers - along with vocalists Neville Staples and Lynval Golding, bassist Horrace Panter, drummer John Bradbury and guitarist Roddy Radiation - the Specials had originally started life as THE COVENTRY AUTOMATICS, with many of the tracks they recorded under that name (and featured on this box set) making up the first Specials LP. The July '79 rallying cry of 'Don't call me scarface' on their debut 45, 'Gangsters', encouraged numerous other artists to follow in their wake, but few managed to merge the Specials' blend of Ska, street politics and particularly sussed cover versions quite like they did. Eleven hit singles - including No. 1's with 'Too Much Too Young' and 'Ghost Town' - was an impressive chart haul by anybody's standards but not as many as North London's BAD MANNERS, who managed to go one better in scoring a dozen chart entries in just under three years. The sight of a bald 16 stone man dressed in a pink tutu ans DM boots doing the Can Can on 'Top Of The Pops' still rates as one of pop music's most bizarre images, but for vocalist Doug Trendle AKA Buster Bloddvessel it was an everyday nothing out of the ordinary thing to do! If The Specials bought a politic to the Ska movement then Buster & Co (along with Madness) gave it a much needed helping of humour. Odes to ale (@Special Brew') and a plastic blow-up doll ('Lorraine'), plus self-mockery ('Lip Up Fatty') may not have earned the band critical acclaim, but certainly found favour with the record buyers. As recently as 2002, their songs were being used in TV commercials for pensions and chocolate and Buster still leads a version of the band around Europe. Another outfit still going strong to this very day are THE SELECTER, who, as this is typed, have just issued a new studio album called 'Real To Reel'. Vocalist Pauline Black not only gave Ska the movement a feminine touch, but also had a fine voice, great stage presence and particularly biting lyrics. They might have only scored three Top 30 singles - 'On My Radio', 'Three Minute Hero' and 'Missing Words' - but it doesn't mean they were any less influential than the likes of the Specials. In fact on an early 90's tour of America they took a little known band on the road with them as support who admitted the Selecter provided the blueprint for their own existance. That band was No Doubt and there was no doubt who vocalist Gwen Stefani's heroine was! There can be no doubting either the enduring appeal and lasting effect of the whole Two Tone Ska movement. In the early 90's members of both the Specials and the Beat got together to form SPECIAL BEAT. Augmented by personnel from the Loafers (themselves a seminal Ska outfit from the late 80's), Special Beat toured across the globe with a stunning live show that comprised both Specials and Beat originals alongside some choice plundering of the Trojan Records galaxy of Reggae hits (this author for one remembers dancing himself silly - or was that silly dancing - at one of their sold out London shows!) The idea of a merging of Ska talents was taken a step further in 1993 when DESMOND DEKKER - probably the first person to bring Ska into the UK charts - got together with THE SPECIALS for a superb studio album called 'King Of Kings' on which both parties expertly and lovingly brought new life to some classic Jamaican Ska tracks - still skanking after all these years! Mark Brennan |
||
|
DISC 1 |
DISC 2 |
DISC 3 |
|
Gangsters (Live) |
Long Shot (Bust Me Bet) |
Echo 4 + 2 (Live) |
|
Time - 54:45 |
Time - 58:04 |
Time - 57:22 |
|
|
||
|
All material © Copyright Trojan Records |
||
