Upsettlement

Either Dollar in Teeth or Return of Django appear on just about every ska compilation ever...compiled. And they're seriously good tracks. Other than those two though I admit, my knowledge of Upsetters instrumentals was scanty.  Anyway, the other week, after twenty years of not really being that bothered I decided to check out some of their other output. I pondered which track to post and was torn between Sipreano and Tipper Special. Ska and more so dub can test even my taste for repetition, but these two though I find thoroughly satisfying, mainly on account of their slight weirdness I think, a defining attribute of the famous Lee Perry production. Regarded as a legend in this household and I know all my friends feel the same way, is he famous in the real world?

I was going to leave it on the question there, but I spoke to my brother shortly after I'd written it and so I asked him. He had absolutely no idea who he was. Didn't even know what he did.

Anyway, Tipper Special. I opted for this one on the grounds that it's drier.

Yesterday's men

Part two in a possibly Notting Hill Carnival inspired review of English Ska bands. "One Step Beyond" by Madness. This was the first album I actually went out and bought for myself (on cassette, from Woolies). Last post I said that the Specials were for older brothers; Madness were the band that me and my mates were all into. Obviously I've got a lot of affection for Madness and it bugs me slightly that they seem to be regarded as runners up to the Specials. It's partly their own fault I suppose for coming up with the whole "Nutty Sound" thing. And they also made a bit of a mess of splitting up and getting back together, they did it too many times and now nobody seems to care about them.

Anyway, all those years ago I actually set off that Saturday morning to get "Complete Madness" but the friend I went with beat me to the last copy. After some consideration I settled on "One Step Beyond" because it had "Nightboat to Cairo", "The Prince", "One Step Beyond" and "Madness" on it. But the real deal breaker was the presence of "Bed And Breakfast Man". It was my favourite Madness tune for a long time, now it alternates with "The Sun and the Rain".

Like the Specials, Madness's first album is the most Ska-ified they did (possibly not counting more recent things, which I haven't heard) and then they branched out into the sort of pop that you could hardly move for in the eighties but which nobody seems to do anymore, y'know, songs that actually seem to be about something. Overall the album's a bit depressing with none of the breeziness normally associated with Madness: hard luck romance "My Girl", "Believe Me", squaddies' drudgery "Land of Hope and Glory" and drugs "Razor Blade Alley" (of the songs I'd never heard before I bought it, this was the best discovery, the keyboard sound is, appropriately, very sharp).

Madness: Bed and Breakfast Man

I love the whole thing but especially the bit at 1'53" where the sax and Suggs' voice collide and bend over the word "hand".

Scions of Trojan

The Specials. A pretty good first album, a better second album and I've never heard the third album (but I did like the single "What I Like Most About You"). I viewed their recent reunion with the same bewilderment I do all such ventures: I don't begrudge the bands, but who the fuck pays to see bands twenty or thirty years past their sell by date? I just don't get it.

As I've said before I was too young for punk and still even a bit too young for Two Tone. At the time The Specials were a band loved by older brothers. I remember liking "Gangsters" and "Ghost town" but, funnily, nothing inbetween. Ska's a pretty infectious genre but not one that I think I could take a whole evening of - a bit too repetitious. Musically it's a dead end and this is the trouble with the first album "Specials". It's in my collection but I can't remember the last time I played it. I like most of the songs on it but virtually every one is a cover I think (either acknowledged or not) and that's just not healthy.

"More Specials" is a very different kettle of fish. It strikes me as a less serious album and it was a firm Saturday night favourite from very early on - something all my friends agreed on. The two tracks below are my favourites from it and are still on pretty heavy rotation to this day. I know "Sock It To 'Em JB" is a cover and I've just had a go about that, but I like it too much not to post it here. Oh, and "Pearl's Cafe" has got the best chorus ever.

The Specials: Pearl's Cafe


The Specials: Sock It To 'Em, JB