Friday, May 10, 2013

The Specials "Specials" [1979]

It was an inauspicious rebirth of a genre -- ska -- that no one cared about the first time around. Bad enough this band brought pork-pie hats back in style for a minute, but that they allowed Ray Charles-hater Elvis Costello (who had already ripped off their style himself) to produce their debut record managed to nullify every self-congratulatory aspect of the anti-racist sentiment this "two-tone" band purportedly tried to convey. Don't believe it; these jokers were just in it for the money, and Costello's production technique is emaciated as the supermodels he was trying to nail at the time. There were plenty of future groups The Specials influenced -- from The Selecter to Fishbone to No Doubt -- but unfortunately none of it resulted in worthwhile fare. Perhaps this style of music was only ever useful to get tourists in Jamaica to fork over their vacation money... that is, before the spliff-smoking got so out of hand they cut their beats in half and called it "reggae." In any case, aside from charting a history of bad clothing styles, The Specials is one band you can rest assured is not actually special at all (unless you're referring to the level of education the members received in school).

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