This Review Along With Over 327 Others Is Available In My
SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
PROVE IT ALL NIGHT
Music Of 1975 to 1979
Your All-Genres Guide To
Exceptional CD Reissues & Remasters
Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs
Just Click Below To Purchase (No Cut and Paste Crap)
<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon®ion=GB&placement=B071P5X2GW&asins=B071P5X2GW&linkId=716e2a561b29ac39bd11daa25c37986b&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>
<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon®ion=GB&placement=B00NX6HZAQ&asins=B00NX6HZAQ&linkId=66c271276cdbfab3d92cab309ae97d55&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>
"...A Message To You...Don’t
Call Me Scarface!"
There are some albums that
just put a smile on your face – and a
lot of them are debuts from British bands released in the late Seventies.
There’s Derry’s finest “The Undertones”
from May 1979 – Madness and their fab Nutty Boys opening salvo “One Step Beyond” from October 1979 –
and of course those other very rude
boys – The Sex Pistols and “Never Mind The Bollocks...” from way back in
October 1977 (my mum thought they were lovely chaps deep down and just needed a
good meal). But for sheer joy-inducing affection – the November 1979
self-titled Ska Rock debut from Coventry’s The
Specials on the wonderful 2 Tone Records takes some beating.
I recall on many occasions
when I worked in Reckless Records in Soho’s Berwick Street when the album would
come in (a sure sign of a decent collection) - within minutes of purchase it
would take pride-of-place on our display wall dressed up in a shiny new heavy-gauge
PVC sleeve and a natty display triangle. But we quickly learned that this was sort
of futile - because milliseconds later some visibly animated punter would slap
it down on the counter sporting the aforementioned smile on his 30-something
kisser and say out loud “I WANT THIS!” in an excitable way. You could even see
he was already thinking of acquiring yet another 2 Tone button and skinny tie in
Sister Ray just up the street. Ah...them was the days...still are...
Some 35 years after its
first appearance on vinyl LP with that gorgeous laminate sleeve – Chrysalis
have decided to do a solid by The Specials much-loved debut album and give it a
2015 Special Edition 2CD overhaul. And a lovely thing it is too. Here are
contraceptive-married with a kid should be having fun details...
UK released 30 March 2015
(April 2015 in the USA) – “The Specials: 2CD Special Edition” is on
Chrysalis/Two Tone CDLTTR 5001 (Barcode 0825646336081) and it gangsters out as
follows....
Disc 1 – The Album (47:43
minutes):
1. Gangsters
2. A Message To You Rudy
3. Do The Dog
4. It’s Up To You
5. Nite Klub
6. Doesn’t Make It Alright
7. Concrete Jungle
8. Too Hot
9. Monkey Man
10. (Dawning Of A) New Era
11. Blank Expression
12. Stupid Marriage
13. Too Much Too Young
14. Little Bitch
15. You’re Wondering Now
[Notes: Produced by Elvis
Costello - the British LP is tracks 2 to 15 and was released 3 November 1979 on
vinyl LP in the UK on Chrysalis/2 Tone CDL TT 5001. It was preceded by their
debut 45 in the UK “Gangsters” (credited to The Special A.K.A.) released 28
July 1979 on Two Tone TT 1. The American variant of the album on Chrysalis FV 41265
came out in December 1979 as a 15-track LP placing the song “Gangsters” at the
end of Side 1. Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders sings backing vocals on “Nite
Klub”]
Disc 2 – Extra Specials
(44:42 minutes):
Too Much Too Young EP by THE
SPECIAL A.K.A. LIVE! Featuring Nico
1. Too Much Too Young (Live)
2. Guns Of Navarone (Live)
3. Skinheads Symphony (Live)
(a) Long Shot Kick The
Bucket (b) Liquidator (c) Skinhead Moon Stomp
Tracks 1 to 3 released in
the UK January 1980 on Chrysalis/Two Tone CHSTT 7
BBC In Concert – The
Specials At The Paris Theatre (15.12.79)
4. (Dawning Of A) New Era
5. Do The Dog
6. Rat Race
7. Blank Expression
8. Rude Buoys Outa Jail
9. Concrete Jungle
10. Too Much Too Young
11. Guns Of Navarone
12. Nite Klub
13. Gangsters
14. Medley: (a) Long Shot
Kick The Bucket (b) Skinhead Moon Stomp
CDLTTR 5001 comes in a
four-way foldout card digipak like those Universal Deluxe Editions but without
the bandana. On the inner flaps are the black and white photos of the band
looking up at the camera – those most closely associated with the original
vinyl LP’s rear sleeve. On the inner flaps are photos I’ve not seen before – on
an estate with their feet on a pile of steel girders and on an Odeon sign. The
CDs sport the distinctive Rude Boy 2 Tone logo and design. The 20-page booklet
features affectionate new liner notes from Mojo’s LOIS WILSON along with more
black and white photos of the boys in varying poses. There’s a singles page
which shows those early 45s – The Special A.K.A. vs. The Selector stamped
sleeve of “Gangsters” and the Too Much Too Young Live EP and so on.
The remaster has been done
by TIM DEBNEY at Fluid Mastering in the UK and to my ears it’s far better than
the version I’ve had for years (as well as tracks on the “Stereo-Typical: A’s,
B’s & Rarities” set). There’s ever so slightly more hiss on tracks like
their cover of Dandy Livingstone’s “A Message To You Rudy” but the clarity of
the organ and the brass is far better – and you can hear those drum cracks with
a force now. When you play the Jerry Dammers cut “It’s Up To You” you can
amplifiers buzzing and when that Bass and Terry Hall deadpan vocal kicks in –
it packs an amazing punch. This time around you can almost discern Chrissie Hynde’s backing vocals on the “what am I
doing here” dancer “Nite Klub” (well almost). It sounds fabulous to me. The
reggae backdrop to their version of Cecil Campbell’s “Too Hot” features amazing
clarity on those drums rolls and highhats as the boys moans about the temperature.
The “court in session” vocal hijinks by Judge Roughneck on “Stupid Marriage”
jumps out of the speakers at you – and what a great tune – utterly infectious
stuff. Again there’s momentary hiss on Dodd Coxsone’s “You’re Wondering Now”
and quite a bit during the Acapella finish – but I’d argue that it stills
sounds fresher and more alive than before. And those lyrics about council estates
lack of condoms and youth just wanting to dance still get me every time.
Everyone knows and loves the
“Too Much Too Young” Live EP – it’s always been a total winner. But I was
expecting the Paris Concert to be a bit of an Anniversary excuse roll out – but
I’m thrilled to report that it’s brilliant and captures the band at the very top
of their Ska Bopping crowd-pleasing best. To chants of “Rude Boy” – The
Specials launch into an ubertight version of “(Dawning Of A) New Era” and immediately
you’re hit with the great audio. Well produced by the BBC – it feels
fantastically alive and fresh. They dedicate “Rat Race” to “all you students
revising...” while the organ and Joe Jackson “Look Sharp!” guitar of “Blank
Expression” are right in your face and bustling with newness. The Ska classic
of “Guns Of Navarone” sends the crowd into a frenzy and why wouldn’t it
(stunning brass and flicky guitar work) – but I have to say that my heart has
always been with the magical “Gangsters” which to this day sends me pogoing
around my living room like a Two Tone loon (not a good look at my age). The
Medley of The Pioneers’ “Long Shot Kick De Bucket” with Symarip’s “Skinhead
Moon Stomp” (both originally on the mighty Trojan label) finishes the crowd off
proper – breathless, screaming and stamping the floor for more, more, more..
Britain has produced some
extraordinary bands fronting a bewildering diversity of musical styles – but
The Specials have always been (for the want of better words) that little
bit...well special.
Get this double-CD Rude Boy joy into your life pronto.
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah...
