In 1982, The Specials fractured and the front loaded trio from the group, Lynval Golding, Neville Staple & Terry Hall, broke off to form the short lived, but highly influential Fun Boy Three. Hall has been pretty dismissive of the group's first LP release, but I've always found it to be a grossly underrated and daringly innovative hybrid of pop song craft with African rhythmic sophistication. Though the album was somewhat of a rush job, I think the spontaneity that was captured in the performances is more valuable than if they'd had the time to premeditate their assault more carefully.
The album is a masterclass in the mixing of extremes both in style and content. Not only does it manage to bridge a wide variety of musical genres, but also techniques, bringing together electronics and acoustics in innovative and surprising ways. It does the same with the themes within the songs going from the sheer playful joy of something like T'Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It), which famously brought the world the delight which was Bananarama, right down to the dour resignation of The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum. That latter song, surely, must be considered the top candidate for the theme song for western civilization for the past 40 years. Its timeless message of madness in the realms of power has only become more and more relevant with every year that's passed since its release.
FB3 only put out one other album before Hall moved on to new pastures, an album which is more finely crafted in its songwriting, but slightly lacking in the exuberantly spontaneous joy and innovation of this debut. Both, however have stood well the test of time with this album defying the aging process nearly completely as it retains its freshness even after 4 decades since its release.
No comments:
Post a Comment