THE SPECIALS @ 45

Released on October 19th, 1979, the debut eponymous LP from The Specials is turning 45 years old today. If you were to only have one UK ska album in your collection, it might as well be this one because it’s simply so concise and thorough that it captures every important aspect of the genre and movement, at least as far as it manifested in its revived form at the end of the 1970s.

Following in the wake of punk, the UK SKA scene took the anger and social outrage of punk and channelled it into a racially diverse commentary on cultural fusion. The “2 Tone” ideology of black and white working together, in balance and unity, was a forward thinking approach that seems so sadly distant in the post “Brexit” era of UK bigotry and anti-immigration furor. Though there were many vital artists who also came out of this scene, the Specials remain the most memorable and this album captures all the best of their essence across 14 compact and infectious songs.

The Specials came together starting in 1977, with Jerry Dammers as the principal instigator and architect of the band's sound. Initially billed as "Specials AKA", their first brush with success was independently releasing the split single, Gangsters b/w The Selector by the group, The Selector. The success of the single attracted the attention of the majors, and Dammers negotiated a deal with Chrysalis Records to set up 2-Tone as an independent sub-label, leveraging the financial input of the major label while retaining the freedom of 2-Tone to release records by unsigned bands, without requiring them to commit to any obligations to the parent label.

The band had also been making a name for themselves by joining The Clash on tour around the UK. The two bands were very simpatico in terms of their political and social stances, so it was a natural fit and helped to bring the band to national prominence. With their first singles then charting, a full length album was in order, and the group secured Elvis Costello as producer for the sessions. Recording was focused on mostly attempting to recreate the band's live set on LP, incorporating their mix of original songs with updated versions of classic Rock Steady and Ska tunes from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Surprisingly, when the album was released, while it was a hit in terms of sales, critics at the time were divided on its success. Most of the criticisms that the album received were from people who were intimately familiar with the band's live sound, and they felt that Costello had dampened and muted the group's energy compared to what they delivered on stage. That may well be true, but for those not biased by such preconceptions, the album is considered a flawless masterpiece, encapsulating the spirit and essence of the times with a selection of songs that are unfailing when it comes to delivering the goods. It's an album that has retained every ounce of its power to engage, enrage and inspire, as sharply observant of the times while still completely relevant to the modern worlds. None of the issues it tackles have been really resolved in the decades since its release, so its critiques remain as valid today as they were 45 years ago. Plus you can dance to it!
 

THE FUN BOY THREE - FB3 @ 40

 

Released in March of 1982, the eponymous debut LP by Fun Boy Three is celebrating 40 years on the shelves this month.

After splitting from The Specials, Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding decided to step out of the ska framework and move into a more Afro-centric vibe with a heavy emphasis on percussion on their debut as Fun Boy Three. With the trio working predominantly on their own with only guest background vocalists on some songs and Dick Cuthell doing some horn work, the album took on a singularly esoteric sound that combined electronic drum machines with acoustic percussion, guitars, piano and ambitious vocal arrangements. Production on the album was somewhat rushed, however, which drove the group to work spontaneously, writing songs and working out arrangements in a manner that created a distinctive looseness. It’s a situation which Terry Hall bemoaned in later years, dismissing the album as being underdeveloped, but this free-form, by-the-seat-of-their-pants methodology resulted in an album that feels fresh and innovative. In fact, I find it’s held up incredibly well over the years and, in some respects, remains a peerless pop record. There was nothing that sounded quite like it back then and nothing has sounded like it since.

Aside from the vibrancy of the atmosphere created by the album, it manages to hit hard in terms of social consciousness, particularly with its lead single, The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum. Its a song which has continually increased in relevance as we’ve seen the world spiral down a rabbit hole of social insanity and political corruption. It really should be considered THE anthem of the 21st century. On a lighter note, the album also introduced the world Bananarama, the all girl vocal trio who’d go on to massive success on their own following their appearance on the joint FB3 follow up single from the LP, T'Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It).

The album enjoyed considerable commercial success and the group would go on to expand their lineup for their second album, allowing them to become a full live performing act rather than only a studio creation. Their second album and a few other singles continued the group’s popularity, though with a more conventional pop song structure, but they’d disband after that and Hall would move on to other projects like The Colour Field before moving on to a full solo career. For me, their debut remains one of my all-time favorite records from its era and still finds itself getting into my music rotation on a regular basis. I’d neglected it for a while in the 1990s and early 2000s, but since rediscovering it, I never leave it for too long without a listen.

THE SPECIALS - GHOST TOWN @ 40

 

Celebrating it’s 40th anniversary today is the landmark single by The Specials, Ghost Town, which was released on June 12th, 1981. It would not only capture the zeitgeist of a a crumbling UK in the early years of Thatcherism, but it would end up haunting the 21st century as we came to grips with a deadly pandemic in 2020.

The title song began to take shape in Jerry Dammers’ head while touring through the UK in 1980 during a period of severe economic hardship and social unrest as riots became a frequent event in major cities. With shop keepers boarding up windows as a precaution and pensioners on the sidewalks flogging precious mementos for spare change in order to buy food, the depressing conditions of the times seemed to demand a statement from the band. Dammers came to some very specific conclusions in terms of how he wanted this song to sound and feel, meticulously working out every detail of its arrangements, and some of those concepts were quite alien to the other band members, incorporating unfamiliar chord progressions and unusual arrangements in order to create the mood the song required. But Jerry was insistent on these elements, something which only served to exacerbate the already percolating tensions within the band. These conflicts had begun to boil during the recording of their sophomore LP, More Specials, with some members of the group taking exception to Dammers insisted on expanding the sound palette of the band while diverging into other musical styles. Pushing the strange song structure for Ghost Town during its recording nearly resulted in outright rebellion in some cases.

Yet he persisted and managed to get it all recorded. That process itself was something of a deliberate, self inflicted constraint. While More Specials was recorded in a state of the art 24 track studio, its possibilities only caused confusion for bandleader Dammers as he felt overwhelmed by the possibilities on offer. So, for Ghost Town, the decision was made to record on a modest 8 track system, essentially recording all the major parts in mono and then mixing them with stereo reverb and delay. The results of this process give the record a decidedly well balanced sound though it got a little tricky when, at the last minute, Jerry decided he needed to add some flute to the mix and there were no tracks left. He took a gamble on dropping in the overdub on the same track as the horns. It was a dangerous move given the horn section were no longer available for re-recording during the flute recording. If there were any mistakes on the timing of the drop-in, it could bleed over the horn section and ruin it.

The single features two tracks on the B-side. The first, Why?, is an emotional plea for tolerance written by Lynval Golding in the aftermath of a brutal, racially motivated attack that sent him to hospital with broken ribs in 1980. Friday Night, Saturday Morning was written by Terry Hall and offers up a recounting of a mundane night out in Coventry.

The reception of the single upon its release was somewhat mixed in terms of critical response, but any doubts about the song were soon swept aside as, by year’s end, the single was ranked number one on the “best single of the year” lists in all three of the major UK music rags: Sounds, NME and Melody Maker. It became the theme of the times in the UK with its ghostly atmosphere and dire depiction of a decaying urban landscape. As civil unrest and rioting continued after its release, it couldn’t help but be considered the soundtrack to the times. In terms of charting, it held onto the #1 slot for 3 weeks and lingered in the top 40 for ten weeks. It became the crowning achievement of The Specials in their original incarnation, but also their farewell as the band fractured and fragmented soon after its release, with Terry Hall, Lynval Golding & Neville Staple peeling off to form Fun Boy Three before the end of the year.

As brilliant as the title song is, it’s hard to imagine anyone predicting how poignantly appropriate it would become again nearly 40 years after it’s release in the spring of 2020 as the world sunk into the misery of a global pandemic. As COVID-19 sent the population into hiding, closing shops and emptying streets, the refrain, “This town is coming like a ghost town”, became all too much a reality for communities around the world. It’s no wonder the song found itself experiencing a surge of new appreciation and popularity. Its message of loss and suffering echoed across the decades to find a new and even more horrifying reflection than the unrest and fear which had inspired it in the first place.

PREMIUM PREMIERES - MY TEN ESSENTIAL DEBUT ALBUMS

 

Most musical artists take a bit of time to get up to speed.  It usually takes an album or two before they really hit their stride.  Sometimes, like Kraftwerk, they may travel some strange roads before the epiphany hits and they finally find their “Autobahn”, in their case, their 4th LP.  But some groups come out of the gate with debut albums so iconic and well defined, they spend the rest of their careers trying to surpass them.  Some groups never quite manage that feat and some groups simply stop after their moment of glory and never put out another record.

Top 10 lists are a bit trite and overdone, but I’m doing one more for purely personal amusement.  It started as a meme in social media to list outstanding debuts, but I wanted to focus it a bit more.  This list is very personal in terms of the records all having deep meaning and significance for me and they certainly show my age given they were all released within a few years of each other.  They also adhere to certain other criteria.  Mostly, they represent groups who hit it out of the park with their first album and never surpassed it with any subsequent release, at least as far as my estimation is concerned.  Some may have come damn close, but for all practical purposes, if you have this album and none other, you’ll pretty much get the full picture of what they had to offer.  In many cases, they have major cultural significance in that they were the cornerstone of a particular musical movement.  In other cases, they simply represent the group’s own peak of performance and cohesion.  Whatever the case, for me personally, each title listed here stands alone and introduces the artist without any sense of vagueness or tentativeness.  It comes at you with clear confidence in its merits and meanings.

With that, let’s dive in.  The ordering here is not particularly critical, but I have somewhat sorted them in terms of at least personal significance.  

FM - Black Noise (1977)

In late 1976, Toronto based keyboardist and bassist, Cameron Hawkins, and violinist, mandolin player, Nash the Slash, formed an unlikely duo as FM.  Through whatever connections, happenstance or serendipity within the local arts community, they managed to land a spot on TV Ontario’s Nightmusic program, where they played their debut live public performance, initially broadcast on November 3rd of that year.  I happened to catch it, by chance, and it knocked my 13 year old brain sideways.  I knew little of music or how to make it at that time and was just starting to get curious, but seeing space-hippie Cameron with his stacks of synthesizers on the one side and proto-steampunk Nash, with his electric violin and mandolin on the other, was definitely like something out of some strange hallucination.  It stuck with me and dug it’s hooks in deeper when I happened to catch the show when it was repeated a few months later.

In 1978, I finally spotted the Black Noise album in one of my local record shops and, recognizing the band from the program, snapped it up.  By then, the group had added drummer Martin Deller to the mix, something I was initially suspicious of because I thought this band without a drummer, using one of the earliest drum machines I’d ever heard, was such a novelty and I thought that adding a drummer might make them a bit more conventional.  But the album still showcased their idiosyncrasies.  As a progressive rock album, it had the unique distinction of having NO GUITARS on it.  Nash’s use of violin and mandolin instead guaranteed that FM would always have a stamp of the atypical, even as Nash moved on and others replaced him.  

Nash’s departure, however, also ensured that the debut album would possess a certain nuance and charm that no other player would be able to fully duplicate.  His replacement for the next two albums, Ben Mink, was clearly a talented musician, someone who would more than prove his talents with his work with K.D. Lang in later years, but there was no replacing Hash’s style and personality, something he took with him when he became an iconic solo performer.  The albums that came after Black Noise are not without their charms, but the depth and breadth of this debut remains unassailable to this day. Even when Nash returned to the fold for a couple of albums in the mid 1980s, the material veered too much into commercial mainstream territory to threaten the primacy of Black Noise.  

It may be an album that only Canadians properly appreciate.  Phasers On Stun still gets regular rotation on Canadian oldies radio.  Personally, however, it holds a special place in my musical heart.  Nash was a major inspiration for me both with FM and as a solo performer and Black Noise and it’s presaging TV special are the root of that influence.   

Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth (1980)

Moxham brothers, Stuart and Phillip, along with vocalist Alison Statton, came together long enough to put out one album in 1980.  On the surface, it’s a modest little collection of modest little songs by a trio of modest musicians from Wales.  It’s quiet and introspective and doesn’t make a lot of fuss about itself, but it somehow still manages to loom on the horizon like a great monolith.  Colossal Youth by Young Marble Giants has held up remarkably well over the years, retaining every ounce of it’s persuasiveness while refusing to give in to the ravages of time and trends.  Driven by a chintzy little drum machine and supported by Phil’s sonorous bass, Stuart delicately crafts deftly minimalist guitar and organ riffs around which Alison flits about like a precious little bird with her vocals.  The economy of the music here is positively neurotic in its precision.  There’s not a single sound or note more than absolutely necessary to contain the essence of each piece.

Cowboys International - The Original Sin (1979)

In 1979, Ken Lockie put together an album of modern alternative rock that fused first-rate song writing with arrangements that leaned heavily into the emerging synth-wave being pioneered by the likes of Ultravox and Gary Numan.  While most people were pushing things into the colder Kraftwerk styled aesthetic of dystopian mechanization, Lockie took his sound into a more romantic, emotive direction, presaging the “New Romantic” movement which would peak with bands like Duran Duran.  Lockie’s outfit, which featured the likes of Clash drummer, Terry Chimes, and guest appearances by PiL guitarist, Keith Levene, crafted a seamless collection of memorable songs which rode the edge of the new music coming from the UK.  The PiL connection would actually have deeper roots beyond this album with Ken having a hand in the Radio Four track on Metal Box and him nearly becoming a fifth member of the band during the ill fated Commercial Zone sessions a few year later.  All this only indicates how much Lockie was on the forefront of what was truly progressive pop music, both in terms of style and content.  Yet Cowboys International would only issue this one album before fading into the discount bins.  A travesty considering the exceptional quality of this album.  

Specials (1979)

If you were to only have one ska album in your collection, it might as well be this one because it’s simply so concise and thorough that it captures every important aspect of the genre, at least as far as it manifested in its revived form at the end of the 1970s.  Following in the wake of punk, it took the anger and social outrage of that scene and channeled it into a racially diverse commentary on cultural fusion.  The “2 Tone” ideology of black and white working together in balance and unity was a forward thinking approach that seems so sadly distant in the “Brexit” era of UK bigotry.

Though there were many vital artists who also came out of this scene, the Specials remain the most memorable and this album captures all the best of their essence across 14 compact and infectious songs.  With Jerry Dammers as the principal songwriter and Terry Hall taking most of the lead vocals, the group nailed it on every essential social issue they tackled and did so with both humor and a kind of morose mockery that gave them their edge.  This careful balance didn’t last long, however, as Hall, along with Neville Staple and Lynval Golding split off to form Fun Boy Three, who themselves created a debut album that deserves honorable mention here.  Though they wouldn’t create another album of this strength, they would at least drop a mammoth statement of a single with Ghost Town in 1981.  On its own, it could be one of the greatest singles of all time.    

Killing Joke (1980)

Following in the wake of groups like Public Image Ltd, Joy Division & Gang of Four, Killing Joke’s eponymous debut formed the bridge between the rawness of punk and the terror of industrial music.  For better or worse, Killing Joke were the ones who laid the foundations for the kind of industrial rock which would become mainstream with bands like Nine Inch Nails.  For me, Killing Joke’s debut is the quintessence of what that kind of music can be when it’s done right.  The use of synthesizer with the grinding guitars and chugging drums is a prototype for dozens of bands who followed in their footsteps.  But where most of the bands who came after relied on little more than grind and swagger, Killing Joke excelled with solid song writing or, at the very least, infectious hooks to secure each track a notable spot on the album.  

The B-52’s (1979)

Though their biggest hit would come a few years later with Love Shack, overall, the 1979 debut from The B-52’s simply can’t be surpassed in terms of it’s encapsulation of vintage kitsch culture.  Retro fetishism can be pretty much traced back to land squarely on the doorstep of these Athens, GA natives and every track on their first album oozes with lava lamp science fiction dance party deliciousness.  

Right from the first twang of Ricky’s Peter Gunn inspired riff for Planet Clair, the controls are set for the heart of the stunning as things just get more fabulous with each Shu-ga-loo, Hippie Shake and Camel Walk.  The showcase hit, Rock Lobster, offers up an absurdist horror movie teen freakout the likes of which hasn’t been heard since The Horror of Party Beach offered up its radioactive sea monster stuffed with hotdogs.

Suicide (1977)

If you want to deal with it semantically, Suicide were the first “punk” band.  They were the first to use the term to describe their music. The term appears on a flyer for a 1972 gig by the group, predating any other group’s use of the term by a good 3-4 years.  Their debut LP in 1977 still stands as one of the starkest, most intense statements of electronic music ever put to vinyl.  Taking the core DNA strands of rock-a-billy shuddering and shaking, They shot them through a time tunnel into a dystopian future and demanded the world look upon the horror they had seen.  No other band could conjure as antagonistic an audience response while daring anyone to have the nerve to try and stop them, and some did.  That sense of menace and street toughness permeates every note on their debut.  It’s attitude with a capital “FUCK YOU”.  Side one shivers and bleats along like a tweaking speed freak until the epic and harrowing Frankie Teardrop gobbles up most of the second side of the album, offering one of the most terrifying vocal performances to ever appear on a rock record.  

It’s simply impossible to top that, though their second LP was a damn good try by upping the ante on songwriting and production, but the rawness of the debut and the perfection of its songs guarantee that it remained the group’s definitive statement throughout their career.  Even Alan Vega’s impressive solo career was never quite able to reach this plateau of perfection, though some titles come damn close.  

DEVO - Are We Not Men?  We Are DEVO! (1978)

DEVO not only made amazing music, they created their own sociological theory.  Inspired by the May 4, 1970 events at Kent State University, where 4 students were killed by National Guard troops, Gerry Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh conceived the idea that human civilization had reached its zenith and was now inexorably heading in reverse, like a tide withdrawing from the shore, as entropy took hold and began to dissemble all that had been created in the preceding millennia.  Indeed, since their emergence with their 1978 debut album, the events of contemporary human history have done little to disprove their thesis.  

DEVO put out a number of impressive albums over the years, and their first three offer up a pretty convincing trifecta of creative inspiration to sustain their legacy, but their first album still remains the quintessential DEVO fix for anyone looking to understand their potato.  Every facet of their philosophy is present in finely crafted, mechanically deboned perfection.  Like The B-52’s, DEVO traded in a lot of nostalgia in order to establish their premise, but framed it in language hoisted directly from the world of advertising, chosen for it’s persuasiveness and proven appeal.  At times sounding like a Roadrunner cartoon theme crossed with a carwash, DEVO dismantled the myth of corporate supremacy and capitalistic exceptionalism, exposing it’s vacuous failure to secure the welfare of humanity and, instead, enslave its people with meaningless “McJobs”, shoving poles in holes, to satisfy the oligarchic masters.  Shrouded in absurdist humour, the thrust of their critical blade was no less dulled when it sliced open the carcass of post-industrial culture.  

The Cars (1978)

While punk rock was causing a musical revolution, The Cars were paving the way for its inroads into popular culture.  The Cars debut album was the essential bridge that straddled with world of accessible top 40 rock with the veins of experimentalism and revitalization which were bubbling up from the underground.  They were the gateway drug for many a young music fan, myself included.  It was thanks to them that I started to consider seriously listening to bands like the Ramones, DEVO, Suicide and many others.  

Their debut album came off the assembly line like a shining new muscle car, loaded with features and gleaming with chrome.  It was meticulously crafted on every level, from the songwriting, to the performances to the production.  Like Ric Ocasek’s perfectly coifed ducktail, every hair was exactly in place.  It embraced the simplicity of the modern aesthetic while maintaining professional production values from the bottom of the tires to the tip of the antenna.  There’s no waste anywhere on the record, not a weak song or superfluous note.  Like the B-52’s, the Cars would also go on to have bigger hits in terms of singles, but this debut album always remained their most consistent and authentic release.

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks (1977)

I believe that rock & roll music essentially has 3 epochs and they are hinged upon the appearances of its “holy trinity”: Elvis Presley, The Beatles and The Sex Pistols.  When you look back across the history of the genre, it’s those tentpoles which most define the major shifts in its nature and potential.  Elvis introduced it to the mainstream, The Beatles turned it into a fine art and the Sex Pistols weaponized it.  I say that because the Pistols were really the last rock band to have any significant cultural influence.  Sure, there have been trends and popular movements, but they were the last band to seem dangerous and to make the establishment quake in their boots.  Anyone who’s come along since then has been no more than a nuisance to the powers that be.  The Pistols were actually debated in Parliament and the government sought to crush them to stop them from spreading their message of revolt.  That just doesn’t happen anymore.  

Their one and only proper studio album now stands as a memorial to a precious couple of years when outrage seemed to have some influence in the world.  It’s a damn good set of songs, well written both musically and lyrically.  It says something about its time and the society that tried to silence it.  The fact it’s been commodified since then still doesn’t take away from the fact that it drew a line in the sand and we still look back at that time as a moment of epiphany and realization.  It changed the way people thought and that change keeps resonating around the world to this day.  

As trite as kids thrashing out a few chords and bellowing their angst can be, you can still see when a culture is coming of age by the point at which its youth twig to this methodology.  You can observe “punk” scenes happen in places like the middle east or Asia or Russia and see that there’s still a spirit of freedom struggling to find its voice.  It may often fail to create a distinction from Ramones style blockiness, but it does show a desire to expose the energy pent up during that time when a generation demands to be heard.

A lot of people want to push the flashpoint for punk to New York with the Ramones or Detroit with the Stooges and, while the structural elements may have been coming together in those places, they were only so much fuel without a spark.  Those bands and those scenes were only known to a tiny clique of hipsters until the Sex Pistols came along and put a match to all that kindling.  It wasn’t until Johnny Rotten snarled that he was an “antichrist” that the world perked up and took notice of that generation and it’s rage.  Others may have come sooner, but no one else struck the spark that would ignite the world. 

INFLUENTIAL ALBUM - THE FUN BOY THREE

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.