This 2002 re-mastered version of the 1979 debut album by The Specials seemed to me the perfect place to start. "Ghost Town" is after all one of the greatest number 1,s of all time while "Gangsters" is a superbly idiosyncratic song. Plus it's produced by a sprightly youth called Elvis Costello which is something I never knew till I read it on these very pages. ...And it's great, with some truly wonderful songs and an irresistible energy and laconic humour. However I don't think it's quite the all-out masterpiece that many of my fellow reviewers think it is, and I think I know why. The live cuts ,"Monkey Man" off this album and the single version of "Too Much Too Young" exude a tremendous blast of the hedonistic verve and sense of communal spirit that existed around the Ska scene and i, never experienced that first hand so in a sense I'm coming into this album cold and lacking the empirical knowledge of the Ska experience..It's taut wired energy seems to be lifted straight from the aftermath of punk and the genesis of the new-wave movement but thrown in with rhythms of reggae, which of course bands like The Clash had already incorporated into their sound, and elements of dub and R & B it's an intoxicating mix and when it all gels together it's fantastic., but I found some of the material here a little repetitive (Which is one of the problems I have with reggae.) and one or two of the songs a touch mundane. "Too Hot" and "Blank Expression" are prime examples of this.
Mainly though this is terrific stuff." Concrete Jungle", "Little Bitch", "Nite Klub" and "You're Wondering Know" which sounds like a track off Enos,s "Here Comes the Warm Jets" particularly. Even the six minute version of "Too Much Too Young" though lacking the vivacious outrage of the live single version is great. "A Message to You Rudy" still sounds fresh as well. I really missed out when I pompously ignored this stuff first time round and now I'm way too old to do the silly knees up dance............I think.
