Thursday, February 28, 2019

Record Store Day 2019 (UK): Ska and Reggae Releases from Dillinger, Heptones, Madness, Mikey Dread, Prince Fatty, The Specials, Joe Strummer, The Trojans, and more!

Of course, the list of UK 2019 Record Store Day ska and reggae releases is VASTLY superior to what is on offer in the States. If you're a Yank, read 'em and weep, 'cause if you want any of these, they're going to be hard to track down and pricey as hell to ship to America...

Alpha and Omega Dubplate Selection Volume 1 LP (Mania Dub)
Alpha and Omega Dubplate Selection Volume 2 LP (Mania Dub)
Cornell Campbell Greenwich Farm Sessions LP (Jamaican Recordings)
Desmond Dekker Pretty Africa LP (Trojan)
Dillinger CB200 LP (Get on Down)
Freddy McKay "Another Weekend" 12" (Greensleeves)
Heptones Swing Low LP + 12" (Burning Sound)
Lee "Scratch" Perry Back to the Ark 4 x LP (Upsetter Records)
Lee "Scratch" Perry "Big Ben Rock" 7" (Where It's At Is Where You Are)
Johnny Osbourne "Nightfall" 7" (VP Records/17 North Parade)
Madness "One Step Beyond" "Nutty Dance" Shaped Picture Disc 7" (BMG)
Mikey Dread Roots and Culture 10" EP (Music on Vinyl)
Mighty Diamonds Thugs in the Street LP (Diggers Factory)
Prince Fatty featuring Earl 16 "Be Thankful for What You Got" 7" (Evergreen Recordings)
Roots Radics Dub the Planet LP (Soundsystem)
Roots Radics 12 Inches of Dub LP (VP Records/17 North Parade)
The Specials "10 Commandments" featuring Saffiyah Khan b/w "You're Wondering Now" featuring Amy Winehouse 7" (Island)
Joe Strummer The Rockfield Studio Tracks ("Forbidden City (Demo)" b/w "The Cool Impossible") 12" (Ignition)
The Trojans Top Hits LP (Gaz's Rockin' Records)
V/A Max's SKAnsas City (Roland Alphonso, The Offs, The Terrorists; liner notes by Marco on the Bass) LP (Jungle)
V/A Roots from the Yard 7" box set (VP Records/17 North Parade)
V/A Studio One Showcase 7" box set (Soul Jazz)
V/A This Is Ska! (Live recording of JA artist showcase at 1964 World's Fair) LP (1960s Records)

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Record Store Day 2019 (USA): Ska and Reggae Releases from Lee "Scratch" Perry, The Pietasters, The Specials w/Saffiyah Khan and Amy Winehouse, Joe Strummer, and more!

Lent is almost here, which means that Record Store Day isn't far behind it (for the record, it falls on April 13, 2019)!

The list of 2019 RSD releases has been unveiled and we've sorted through it all to highlight some of the key ska and reggae records that you might want to keep your eye out for that day.

Of particular note, The Specials are participating in RSD again this year with a double A sided 7" consisting of "10 Commandments" featuring Saffiyah Khan from their new album Encore backed with a live version of "You're Wondering Now" featuring the late Amy Winehouse (which has been floating around as a boot since 2009).

Here are several of the US RSD 2019 ska and reggae releases of interest:

Desmond Dekker Pretty Africa LP (Trojan)
Dillinger CB200 LP (Get on Down)
Heptones Swing Low LP + 12" (Burning Sound)
Lee "Scratch" Perry Back to the Ark 4 x LP (Upsetter Records)
Lee "Scratch" Perry Rootz Reggae Dub 2 x LP (Megawave)
The Pietasters Willis LP (Epitaph/Slugtone)
Roots Radics Dub the Planet LP (Soundsystem)
Roots Radics 12 Inches of Dub LP (VP Records/17 North Parade)
The Skatalites Greetings From Skamania LP (Jump Up/Shanachie)
The Specials "10 Commandments" featuring Saffiyah Khan b/w "You're Wondering Now" featuring Amy Winehouse 7" (Island)
Joe Strummer The Rockfield Studio Tracks ("Forbidden City (Demo)" b/w "The Cool Impossible") 12" (Ignition)
V/A Roots from the Yard 7" box set (VP Records/17 North Parade)
V/A Studio One Showcase 7" box set (Soul Jazz)

Happy hunting!

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Sunday, February 24, 2019

Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Flying Vipers "Nervous Breakdub"!

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Flying Vipers Nervous Breakdub (digital, Music ADD Records, 2018): Twin brothers Marc and John Beaudette from the mighty Boston reggae/punk/rock band Destroy Babylon are the driving force behind the fantastic dub and roots reggae act Flying Vipers (we've previously reviewed their Green TapeCopper Tape, and Johnny Clarke Meets Flying Vipers single--all are great). Their latest effort is an incredible dub version of Black Flag's debut Nervous Breakdown EP, released 40 years ago this month. Flying Vipers' version of this punk/proto-hardcore classic conveys the original's edge and general unhinged-ness as one extended dub cut covering all five-plus minutes of Black Flag's short, sharp, shocks of fury ("Nervous Breakdown," "Fix Me," "I've Had It," and "Wasted"), using only drums, bass, melodica, effects, and the space between. Their take on Raymond Pettibone's sleeve artwork is pretty cool, too. If you like Black Flag and dub (and even if you just like dub), you'll get a big kick out of this.

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Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: The Captivators, Do the Dog Skazine, The Frightnrs, King Kong 4, and Well Charged!

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

The Captivators Need a Lift? (digital EP, self-released, 2018): While I'm not sure how lead track "Ass, Gas or Grass" from Washington DC's Captivators' debut EP comports with these Me Too times, it is pretty smart-ass and funny (it's based on an old bumper sticker that you'd used to see back in the '70s and '80s when hitchhiking was a pretty common thing: "Ass, Gas or Grass: Nobody Rides for Free"--which pretty much sums up the American ethos). And it gives you the correct first impression that The Captivators are all about being completely entertaining while having a blast--which they definitely do on this release (the band is Alex Daniels on drums, Bill Wade on vocals and t-bone, Charles Freedman on bass, Dan Hauser on guitar, Jaime Soto on sax, and Mark Allred on trumpet and keys). The recording itself is a serviceable DIY effort (made in a band member's basement), but the songs and performances are definitely there (their sound, attitude, and vision lurks somewhere between The Scofflaws and Gangster Fun). Key tracks include "Piltdown Man" (about a 1912 paleoanthropological hoax--someone claimed they found the "missing link": "The Piltdown Man/Was such a scam/Skull of a man/Jaw of orangutan/It makes me sad to hear that gadgeteer/Could gain such fame from such a claim/The crowd he'd awed with his defraud/That charlatan Charles Dawson"), "Poor Jimmy" (about an innocent kid chewed up by one of America's foreign interventions: "He had to see things he never should have seen/He had to do things he never should have done/And at the tender age of 19/They were through with Jimmy when the war was won"), and "The Inbetweeners" (a nod to those kids not cool enough to be cool, but not nerdy/freakish enough to be outcasts). After hearing this EP, you'll be jonesing to see them live.

Do the Dog Skazine (Printed skazine, monthly, Do the Dog Music): This longest running skazine continues to be the best and most comprehensive source for info about the global ska scene. Nobody does it better. It's only available via subscription (you receive printed issues in the mail!), but worth every penny.

The Frightnrs "Never Answer" b/w "Questions" (7" black or color vinyl single, Daptone Records, 2019): These two tracks from The Frightnrs' stellar, digital-only 12/21/12 EP (which we reviewed here) have finally made their way to vinyl. The Lovers Rock-ish/Sugar Minott tribute "Never Answer" is about the tension in a relationship that arises when others try to sow the seeds of mistrust in order to destroy it (the solution: ignore the haters and focus on what you've got). The flip side is a fantastic dub version by Victor Axelrod (cheekily titled "Questions"). This single is yet another testament to late singer Dan Klein's considerable talents--and reminds one how much he is missed on the scene.

King Kong 4 Songs for Olly (digital EP, self-released, 2018): The four cuts on this EP were originally written by Mitch Girio for his friend Oliver Will in the German trad ska/calypso/mento band The Loveboats, but they broke up soon after Girio demoed them back in 2011. Fortunately for us, Girio revisited and refashioned these winning tracks for his own incredible King Kong 4 (Brendon Bauer on bass, Andrew McMullen on drums, and Ronald Poon on organ). Given their genesis, these songs skew a little more toward trad ska than their typical late '70s Elvis Costello/Joe Jackson/2 Tone sound (which is in no way a drawback). Like most of Girio's compositions, these are fully realized, universally relatable, everyday dramas--someone desperate for the Friday five o'clock whistle to sound (but they're dreaming of leaving for good: "I've been here all week/I can't take one more/I'm itching to leave/I'm scratching at the door"); lying in bed after an evening of drinking and assessing/regretting all the dumb things said and done ("Drink In Your Head"); being in love with someone who's just plain mean to you ("Grenadine," which thematically seems so calypso); and repeatedly finding someone cheating on you, even after you keep forgiving them ("Taking Back the Ring"). This is yet another dynamite King Kong 4 release in an ever-growing string of them. Highly recommended.

Well Charged Lift Up Sessions EP (CD EP/digital, self-released, 2018): First off, you need to know that this debut release from Charleston, SC's Well Charged contains some seriously good vintage ska, rocksteady, and reggae (founding members Vasily Punsalan on bass and John Picard on drums did a long stint backing John Brown's Body's singer Kevin Kinsella and it shows; they recruited David Hillis on organ, Andrew Link on lead vocals and guitar, and NYC transplant Megg Howe on backing vocals; Agent Jay of The Slackers, mixed, dubbed, and mastered this EP). The two keyboard-focused instrumentals remind one of Jackie Mittoo Evening Time-era tracks, while two of the rocksteady vocal cuts sound like songs Phyllis Dillon would have covered. "A Dozen Roses" and its melancholy version "Red Roses" are about falling in and out of love--check out these lyrics from the latter: "Fall in love, you can, fall in love/Just look out the stem has thorns/If she's really lovely, find it necessary/Check out her head for horns." Make sure to keep your eye on this band.

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Thursday, February 14, 2019

Duff Review: The Prizefighters "Stop Them"

Digital single
2019

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Minneapolis, MN's Prizefighters have recently released the fantastically potent anti-racist/fascist single  "Stop Them" in advance of their new album Firewalk, which is being issued from Jump Up Records on CD and cassette tomorrow (and vinyl at a later date). This song was written in direct response to the rise in white nationalism that has been unleashed/supported by the policies and messaging of the Trump administration over the past two dark years--and, as the band puts it, is "less a protest song and more a call to action" for all good people to unite and collectively counter this bigotry and hatred.

"Stop Them" is the ideal fusion of relevant socio-political message with move-your-body music (and very much in the tradition of 2 Tone). This vintage-sounding rocksteady track is super-sing along-catchy and rightfully uncompromising in its anti-racist/fascist stance, much like The Special AKA's "Racist Friend" or Linton Kwesi Johnson's "Fite Dem Back."

Check out these lyrics (which ding both Trump and the Klan):

Now the fascists are back in town
Marching through our streets
Now their jester wears the crown
They keep popping up like weeds
We've gotta put them back in the ground
And hang out their sheets
They will never never never stop
Until we stop-a stop-a stop-a stop-a stop them


The Prizefighters have sounded the alarm. Let's hope the people hear it.

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All proceeds from the sale of The Prizefighters' "Stop Them" single are being donated to the J20 Legal Defense Fund, to help pay the legal fees of those who were arrested while exercising their freedom of speech/right to protest during the Trump Inauguration Day protests on January 20, 2017 (J20) in Washington, DC.

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Sunday, February 10, 2019

Duff Review: The Beat Featuring Ranking Roger "Public Confidential"

DMF Records
CD/LP
2019

(Review by Steve Shafer)

It's a bit of bad luck/timing that The Beat Featuring Ranking Roger's pretty sensational Public Confidential was released around the same time as The Specials' Encore, as all of the hype, press, and "controversy" (not all original band members involved; many new tunes don't attempt to recreate Specials' trademarked 1979-1981 2 Tone sound, etc.) over that terrific record will surely overshadow The Beat's. One can only hope that the great success of The Specials' album (#1 in terms of album sales on the Official UK Charts as I write this) will whet both active and dormant ska fans' appetite for even more new music from 2 Tone era-bands--and they'll seek out this incredibly good record.

As with The Specials, who musically quoted "Ghost Town" for new tracks "Vote for Me" and "B.L.M.," there's a bit of DNA from earlier Beat hits in Public Confidential ("Maniac" and "Who's Dat Looking" nick some "Mirror in the Bathroom" and "A Good Day for Sunshine" essentially versions one of the Beat's top songs, "Best Friend") to demonstrate to the fans that they're keeping faith with the band's classic I Just Can't Stop It sound (particularly the great and late Saxa's ethereal horn lines and the manic rhythm section with its roller coaster bass riffs) and to ease their entry into the new material constructed on the old. In one or two brief instances, it seems a bit blatant and contrived, but overall doesn't detract/distract, as the cuts themselves move into compelling new directions quickly. What's even better are several of the new songs here that don't rely on old musical reference points, but are completely brilliant and Beat-like on their own (see "Public Confidential," "On the Road," and "Dangerous," amongst others).

Roger's version of The Beat continues to be engaged and concerned with the world around it. The driving and effective "Maniac" is about being pushed closer to the brink by right-wing/authoritarian-minded leaders like Trump and May (who are the unhinged ones referenced in the title, not the singer): "Don't dictate what I can or can't say/Clean your streets of me, you discriminate/Take away every right to fulfill our roles...Create fear, create the enemy/Don't you tell me how it's meant to be/You need to calm me or I detonate/You've got me ticking..." In the same vein, "Who's Dat Looking" is outraged with the total-information-awareness surveillance state--with how everything we do in both the real world and online is tracked, then monetized or weaponized, leaving citizens without any privacy or control: "Watching me like I've committed a crime/You're thinking of ya bugging me/You say it's for my safety/But nothing's gonna make me buy into your society/Say, who's dat looking?/Look into the sky like a million eyes/Got a remote control key in my back/With no invitation you're checking my location/The privacy you track, you attack/Say, who's dat looking into my eyes?"

But there's hope and power in the people (as there always is in the ballot). The amazing "Public Confidential" is about imagined crusaders at a muck-raking tabloid, advocating for the people and holding the powerful accountable: "We take responsibility because we care/We find a helping hand, that's when it goes missing/They can try stopping us if they dare/Remember, ain't gonna let ya, we're gonna get ya/Eye on critical, the street don't lie/Nobody gonna close our eyes/We're public confidential, we're public potential/'Cause we should know what's going down!"

The pros and cons of touring are recounted in "On the Road" (co-written and with shared toasting by Roger and his son Ranking Junior): "Say every weekend got a show/That's why I'm always on the go-go-go...Every single weekend me pile inna van/Traveling across the United Kingdom/Me a share a can with plenty fan/They a say me give dem a inspiration." It's a bit of a thrill when Roger works in "I just can't stop it" into his lyric as he describes the charge he gets out of performing forty years after The Beat's debut. In "Dangerous," Roger essentially reclaims the 2 Tone meaning of rude boy--it's about making music not crimes ("A who dat man?/A who dat a come?/'Cause any time he come I say him well troublesome/A who dat man?/A who dat a come?/'Cause I'm a Ranking Roger with the sound that go down...You think you is a bad man when you flash me your knife/Next thing me hear you take another man's life/Well dem boy say is dangerous/Artificial and dangerous...").

One song that is guaranteed to buoy one's spirits when they're down is "A Good Day for Sunshine"--a minor miracle of a cut in that it captures and conveys the feeling of being in love and completely happy/contented and wanting to share that with everyone you meet ("Feels good/because you're mine...I want to catch the sun/Put in my pocket for someone/And make everything alright/'Cause it's a brand new day/And we know it's not about the weather/'Bout a feeling that's coming my way/I'm getting ready for the sunshine of mine"). This cut and either "Maniac" or "Who's Dat Looking" would make a dynamite double A-sided single.

All in all, long-time Beat fans will find Public Confidential to be a completely satisfying and enjoyable record. It builds on the many strengths of Bounce and sounds more like a Beat record than Dave Wakeling's recent and superb Here We Go Love (which had a strong General Public vibe running through it). Public Confidential was recorded before Roger's dire health issues were diagnosed and being treated (two brain tumors, both of which have been removed, and lung cancer, for which he is undergoing two years of immunotherapy)--his singing and toasting are spot-on throughout (he's in really terrific form) and his Beat band is first-rate.

We fervently hope that Roger will be in good health soon, as well as be able to perform some of the wonderful songs on this record at any 2 Tone 40th anniversary events held during this milestone year.

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Thursday, February 7, 2019

The Duff Guide to Ska Winter/Spring/Summer 2019 NYC Ska Calendar #1

Black and white members of the band The Beat pose outside an apartment building.
The (English) Beat
Friday, February 15, 2019 @ 10:00 pm

Brooklyn Dub Club w/ Channel One Sound System (London, UK), Bukkha Meets Super HiFi (Spain/Brooklyn), Grand Ancestor (Washington, DC), Dub-Stuy Records (Brooklyn)

The Paper Box
17 Meadow Street
Brooklyn, NY
$15

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Saturday, February 16, 2019 @ 10:00 pm

Move Your Mule: Boomshot, Milagro Verde w/selectors Agent Jay, Li'l Jerk, Johnny Metro, Rata, Jah Point

Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street (between Avenues A and B)
New York, NY
No cover (bring cash for the tip bucket!)/21+

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Saturday, February 23, 2019 @ 6:00 pm

The Skatalites, Royal Khao

Brooklyn Bowl
61 Wythe Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15/21+

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Saturday, February 23, 2019 @ 6:00 pm

Inspecter 7, Uncle Djuzeppe and The Mob, Guns Don't Run, Ensemble Calaveras, Comadr, D-FX Music

Queens Brewery
1539 Covert Street
Ridgewood (Queens), NY
$15 in advance/$18 day of show
18+

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Friday, March 15, 2019 @ 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm

100% Ska at Otto's Shrunken Head: 2 Tone Celebration w/DJ Ryan Midnight

Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street (between Avenues A and B)
New York, NY
No cover/21+

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Thursday, March 21, 2019 @ 8:00 pm

Bumpin' Uglies, Rude Boy George, Uncle Jerome

Knitting Factory Brooklyn
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10 in advance/$12 day of show
All ages

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Saturday, March 23, 2019 @ 8:00 pm

David Hillyard and The Rocksteady 7, DJ 100dbs

Hank's Saloon
345 Adams Street
Brooklyn, NY
$8 in advance/$10 day of show
21+

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Friday, May 10, 2019 @ 7:00 pm

Mephiskapheles, The Press, The Take, Sewer Skrewer, Gilipollas

The Kingsland Bar and Grill
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15 in advance/$20 day of show
16+

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Friday, May 17, 2019 @ 7:00 pm

Slackfest: The Slackers play Big Tunes (potential set list includes "Married Girl," "Sarah," "Rude and Reckless," and more; go vote www.theslackers.com/polls) with The Hempsteadys, The Fad, DJ Rata

The Kingsland Bar and Grill
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$20 in advance/$25 day of show (3-day passes available)
16+

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Saturday, May 18, 2019 @ 7:00 pm

Slackfest: The Slackers play Love and War (potential set list includes "Red Light," "Feed My Girl," "International War Criminal," and more; Go vote www.theslackers.com/polls) with Westbound Train, The Scotch Bonnets, DJ Miss Haps

The Kingsland Bar and Grill
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$20 in advance/$25 day of show (3-day passes available)
16+

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Sunday, May 19, 2019 @ 7:00 pm

Slackfest: The Slackers play Deep Cuts (potential set list includes "Stars," "Sing Your Song," "Contemplation," and more; go vote www.theslackers.com/polls) with The Far East, Ensemble Calaveras, DJ One Hundred Decibels

The Kingsland Bar and Grill
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$18 in advance/$22 day of show (3-day passes available)
16+

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Friday, May 31, 2019 @ 8:00 pm

Subway to Skaville Presents: The Pandemics, Sgt. Scagnetti, The Twilights, Fink's Constant w/DJ Ryan Midnight

Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street (between Avenues A and B)
New York, NY
No cover (but bring cash for tip bucket!)/21+

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Friday, June 14, 2019 @ 8:00 pm

The Specials

Brooklyn Steel
319 Frost Street
Brooklyn, NY
$45 in advance/$50 day of show
16+

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Saturday, July 27, 2019 @ 8:00 pm

Long Beach Dub Allstars, The Aggrolites, Mike Pinto

Brooklyn Bowl
61 Wythe Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$20/21+

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Friday, August 30, 2019 @ 8:00 pm

The Skapones (UK)

The Kingsland Bar and Grill
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
16+

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Sunday, February 3, 2019

Duff Review: The Specials "Encore"

Island Records/UMG
CD/2xCD/LP
2019

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Barely a day after fans had a chance to unwrap the cellophane from their CDs or LPs and social media was already afire, grinding out both brutal condemnations of and impassioned praise for the new Specials album Encore. (In contrast, in the music press, the album has generated mostly positive, if not glowing, reviews.)

What seems to be lost in the instantaneous rush to judgment is that after years of touring since their reunion in 2009, we finally have an album of new music from the current, if pared-down, version of The Specials (Terry Hall, Lynval Golding, and Horace Panter--joined by top collaborators Nikolaj Torp Larsen on keys, Kenrick Rowe on drums, and Steve Craddock on guitar) and they deserve fans' respect and support for doing so, full stop. This in itself it is momentous.

As for why The Specials have released this album now, one suspects that they didn't want to show up for the 40th anniversary of 2 Tone with nothing in hand. Their peers have been pretty busy moving forward of late (see Madness' Can't Touch Us Now, The Selecter's Daylight, Dave Wakeling's Here We Go Love, Ranking Roger's Public Confidential, and Rhoda Dakar's The Lotek Four, Volume II--all of which are great!), while The Specials have been mining their catalogue for their admittedly phenomenal live shows for years now (I just re-watched the video I shot of them playing "Nite Klub" on Pier 26 in NYC in 2013 and they're so good that the hair on the back of my neck was on end). So, fan expectations are high, probably impossibly so.

Perhaps the best way to approach The Specials' Encore is to attempt to put The Specials' late '70s/early '80s releases temporarily out of mind (these classics do loom large) and take a break from basking in the comforting and familiar nostalgia for all things 2 Tone (if you want The Specials of '79, break out their debut). All of the brilliant, youthful, creative tension generated by the original band members' various personalities, talents, egos, opinions, class, educational backgrounds, and drug choices (sped up or slowed down) was never going to be resurrected on this record. This is the middle-aged core of the band that's still standing and able to stand each other. You pined for new music from this decades-on version of The Specials and here it is. So, have at it. (Give it some spins on the turntable or CD player, and live with it for awhile before coming to conclusions.)

With expectations re-calibrated, you'll find that Encore is a thoughtful, well-crafted album with ace performances that picks up where the two camps of the band were heading during and after More Specials (less ska/reggae and a bit more of everything else) and is legitimately great, at times outright stellar, in its own right. The brilliance of the original Specials output (and of 2 Tone in general) was that the music and lyrics moved both your body and mind, and Encore is highly relevant--if generally downbeat--music for our dark and dystopian-seeming times. However, one senses that the music occasionally takes back seat to the very worthy messages contained within (there are three spoken word tracks on the album). Like The Special AKA's In the Studio (which I previously wrote was "a record that often found the world to be a terribly and disappointingly ugly, petty, predatory, and unjust place"), Encore needs its one moment of pure joy, its own "Nelson Mandela" (an impassioned anti-apartheid song about an unjustly jailed political prisoner/freedom fighter that also managed the trick of compelling you to sing along and dance) to counterbalance some of the gloom in the songs and the world around us.

The Specials' deep commitment to the anti-racist ethos of 2 Tone is emphatically and explicitly reaffirmed by Encore's first two tracks--an unexpected but right on cover of the interracial Equals' fantastic hard funk, anti-white supremacist 1971 UK top ten hit "Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys" written by Eddy "Electric Avenue" Grant (which imagines a world of human beings free from socially constructed divisions: "They ain't got no country/They ain't got no creed/People won't be black or white/This world will be half-breed") and "B.L.M.," a spoken word piece by Lynval Golding (which musically quotes both "Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys" and "Ghost Town") that recounts his father's experiences of racism as part of the Windrush generation, as well his own as an immigrant to both England and America ("In England they call me a black bastard/In America they call me a goddam n*gger/Boy, welcome to my world/But I'm not here to teach you.../Black lives matter"). Like his song "Why" (which recounted the horrific, racially-motivated knife attack he endured in 1980 outside the Moonlight Club for walking and talking with two white women), Golding's personal stories of encountering ubiquitous, everyday racism--whether, verbal, physical, or institutional--resonate powerfully.

Upon first listen, it's sort of a shock to hear the opening bars of "Vote For Me" musically quote a bit of "Ghost Town" and then settle into the moody, minor-key territory staked out by The Special AKA's In the Studio (think the reggae and jazz of "Racist Friend," "Alcohol," and "What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend," plus a bit of Rico's Jama; there's also a wonderful, Madness-like bridge with strings in there, too!). On one hand, it makes sense for the remaining Specials to go this route--they're essentially time traveling to pick up where The Specials left off at their demise (and Hall, Golding, and Staple went on to form the Fun Boy Three). So, in one sense, "Vote For Me" is a safe move, reminding the listener of Specials' sounds and songs of old that are ingrained on fans' hearts and minds. Yet, it's also sort of audacious, given how The Specials' dissolution was driven in part by dissatisfaction with the musical direction Dammers had taken with More Specials (he was the band's primary--though by no means sole--songwriter and arranger), as well as his leadership style (his given nickname "The General" was not meant to be endearing). Whether intentional or not, with "Vote For Me" they've validated Dammers' vision for the evolution of The Specials' post-"Ghost Town" music that was realized through In the Studio. It's just a shame that Dammers, Staples, Radiation, and Bradbury and Rico (RIP) couldn't be back for the ride, as "Vote For Me" successfully keeps faith with The Specials' collective sound and mission.

Lyrically, "Vote For Me" is pointed commentary on the corruption, lies, self-dealing, and moral bankruptcy of political leaders in England and America during this dreadfully bleak age of Brexit and Trumpism ("You tore our families apart" has to refer to the absolutely horrific, repugnant, racist, and inhumane Trump policy of sometimes permanently separating migrant/asylum-seeking kids from their parents at the US-Mexico border)--it continues the kind of "government leaving the youth on the shelf"/should be serving the greater good and needs of the people criticism expressed back in '81. And it's fantastic how the chorus ("There are no rocks at Rockaway Beach/And all that glitters isn't gold") references Queens, NY's bruddah's The RamonesWilliam Shakespeare (and Bob Marley's nod to the bard in "Get Up, Stand Up"), and dings Trump's penchant for gaudiness to hammer home its point about political deception.

Their cover of their own/Fun Boy Three's "The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum" (1981) and the new "Breaking Point" are cut from the same cloth. The former was about Reagan's itchy nuclear trigger and Thatcher's indifference to the poor and destitute and has now been revived for the utter madness of Trump and May. "Breaking Point"--a terrific Madness-y ska track!--is about trying to live in a seemingly out of control world ("Progress would be wonderful/If only it would stop") run by self-dealing and morally bankrupt leaders ("The sales pitch from door to door/Says feed the rich and hang the poor/Twinkle, twinkle little star/Point me to the nearest bar/I'll drown my sorrows with the rest") that is seemingly on the path to oblivion ("With the help of God and a few marines/We'll blow this place to smithereens/Here we are at the breaking point').

The Specials' wonderful version of The Valentines' "Blam Blam Fever" comes closest to being that moment of musical bliss on the album while decrying gun violence--and the band adds some lyrics to address America's insane love affair with guns, its outrageous tolerance of mass shootings of kids, concertgoers, you name it, and the very fact that weapons of war are readily available for commercial sale: "What we gonna do/About amendment number two/Gun fever is back/And we think it is obscene/You can buy AR-15/The gun fever is back/Every time you read the New York Times/Seventeen dead in a school crime...The simplest thing is rat, tat tat, tat tat/NRA how you deal with that?"

While "Ten Commandments" shares the same title as Prince Buster's song, it's not a cover with new lyrics. The Specials' version is a spoken-word answer record to Buster's original with a new instrumental track beneath it (that opens with a similar drum roll) and features Saffiyah Khan listing her version of the commandments from a feminist perspective. Khan, of course, became a potent symbol of progressive resistance when she was participating in a counter-demonstration against the racist, right-wing, and Islamophobic English Defence League in Birmingham on April 10, 2017 and was photographed smiling and relaxed as EDL leader Ian Crossland was angrily in her face after she intervened to stop a number of EDL goons from harassing a fellow counterprotester who was wearing a hijab. Khan's popularity rose even further in certain circles when photographs of her from different angles revealed she was wearing a Specials t-shirt to the counter-demonstration--which led to her being invited by the band to pen the lyrics for and perform on this recording.

This is not the first answer record to Buster's "Ten Commandments." Buster himself released “Ten Commandments (From Woman to Man)” featuring Princess Buster in 1967, which pushed back hard--for the 1960s and within the confines of marriage--against Buster's sexism ("Commandment One: Thou shall have no other woman but me. Two: Thou shall not provoke me to anger or thou will have no peace at night..."). Khan's commandments powerfully and unequivocally refute all of the limitations and expectations that our patriarchal and chauvinist society would impose on her body and volition, solely on the basis of her gender. Her assured declarations of independence and take no prisoners support for women's rights are thrilling to behold. Yet, it's incredibly depressing to realize how little has changed at a societal level--these same ugly and pernicious attitudes towards women were prevalent when The Specials debuted four decades ago (and they were not completely immune to them either; see "Little Bitch"). In fact, apart from the references to femi-nazis, femoids, the internet, and YouTube, these spoken word lyrics could have been written back in 1979.

The Specials back Khan with an orderly, brisk reggae skank that emphasizes the rock solid bass line (Khan says it's from Dawn Penn's "No No No"), but never distracts the listener's focus from her spoken word lyrics. But on the periphery of the entire song there are swirling, dubby synth effects and during interludes between the verses, there are descending, minor-key violin lines--all suggesting a lurking danger and barely contained chaos, like the bottom could fall out at any moment. It's as if Khan's thoughts, will, and voice keep the demons at bay; but in their absence, a terrible darkness seeks to fill the void.

After years of decrying the (eventually repealed) racist Sus laws (where the police could stop anyone merely on the suspicion that they might commit a crime and was used as an excuse to harass/abuse black youth in general) and playing Rock Against Racism gigs back in the day, The Specials' "Embarrassed By You" is a catchy, straight up ska track that calls out the perpetrators of knife violence and muggings by moped gangs for feeding into the pernicious stereotype of black Britons as nothing but low-life criminals preying on whites ("We never fought for freedom for nasty little brutes like you/To come undo the work we do...Shame on the footprints you're leaving behind").

"The Life and Times (of a Man Called Depression)" gives the listener heartbreaking insight as to what Terry Hall has endured for years while dealing with manic depression and schizophrenia (at first self-medicating and finally being treated with psychotropics): "The voices inside his head are playing/Chinese whispers/As all around him play hide and seek; But don't ask him to put a smile on his face or to cheer up." The really lovely jazzy, oddly metered backing instrumental track under Hall's words has horn and flute lines that wouldn't be out of place on In the Studio (or what Dammers has done recently with his Spatial AKA Orchestra). The album ends with the subdued orchestral pop gem "We Sell Hope," which is a plea for love and tolerance and a much needed reminder of what could be if we had a bit more empathy and compassion for each other: "Looked all around the world/Could be a beautiful place to live in...We've got to take care of each other/Do what you need to do/Without making others suffer." The 2 Tone message, version 2.0.

That Hall, Golding, Panter and company have delivered a great Specials album at this point in time is a true gift to the fans. (Take the time to fully appreciate it.)

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