The beat that got a generation dancing and brought ska back into the public eye. Produced by Elvis Costello, then still a boy wonder himself, the album built on the sound of the Specials' first two singles, and gave the world its first extended look at Two Tone. Inspired writing and arranging (much of it down to founder Jerry Dammers) with Terry Hall as the laconic front man made for a perfect ...
The young Frederick "Toots" Hibberts honed his vocal skills in the church. No surprise then that the music he recorded with The Maytals is largely gospel-tinged and very effectively backed up by the fervent, energetic rhythms of ska, the sound of the era in which much of it was recorded. Concentrating on their most productive period (between 1966 when Toots was released from jail on a cannabis ...