The Specials

[bayernfc]

I got their self titled album recently (2002 remastered version), and love it. Ska usually gets a bad rap, but I have no idea why?

So yes...appreciate! (while I go track down more 2Tone records.)

 

[IWasBored]

woot!

i've got that cd

i like ska. i don't care what kind. third wave, 2-tone, skinhead reggae, whatever. sure there's stuff i don't like, but on the whole stuff that's labeled ska is usually so damn catchy. and you can never have too many versions of "pressure drop."

 

[bayernfc]

Haha...I got it after I heard an excellent version of "Message to you Rudy" on a Meskie's live album. Somehow everything goes back to the Meskies/Clash....I wonder why?

 

[IWasBored]

there is an equation, i think it goes something like this...

joe = god


"i wanna ask a question...now hands up, and be honest - who bought a pork pie hat back in the day?"

 

[~LadyLemon~]

That's a fuckin' great album

 

[DeadMansParty]

there is an equation, i think it goes something like this...

joe = god


"i wanna ask a question...now hands up, and be honest - who bought a pork pie hat back in the day?"

I still have mine, oh my gosh, you guys are just tempting me to post pictures of me when I was a rude boy, some funny shit.

 

[DeadMansParty]

my ex horn player played in the specials when they toured a couple years ago.

 

[Lila64]

you best have the first English Beat album as well!

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

I don't have any Specials albums myself, but I have heard a few of their songs...good stuff .

to a mention of the English Beat, too . Like what I've heard by them as well.

Angela

 

[~LadyLemon~]

Love the English Beat

 

[martha]

All you punks and all you teds
mods rockers hippies and
skinheads


I love the Specials. I gave ribbons&bows this album for her birthday on Sunday.

 

[gmc]

First record I ever bought (aged 11) was Gangsters,The Specials first single,which did not appear on the UK version of the album.

To bayernfc,see if you can track down a movie called Dance Craze.It shows 2Tones biggest artists of the day in concert.I remember going to the movie theater with my uncle to see it back in 1981.I know it was released on VHS,and I've got the album in my loft somewhere gathering dust.

I'm getting out of this thread quick,I feel myself being transported back to 1979...........

 

[IWasBored]

I still have mine, oh my gosh, you guys are just tempting me to post pictures of me when I was a rude boy, some funny shit.

hahaha, do it!

 

[martha]

I got to see them live and they kept getting pissed at all the people trying to stage dive. They threatened to stop the show if it kept up.

 

[IWasBored]

bucket from the toasters threatened to beat up a kid who tried to stage dive at a show here a couple years ago.

 

[DeadMansParty]

hahaha, do it!

ok, you asked for it, get ready for a laugh. Keep in mind that these are from 13 years ago.

 

[IWasBored]

those are nowhere near as embarassing as i expected.

 

[bayernfc]

Haha.... nice pics.

 

[zoney!]

my ex horn player played in the specials when they toured a couple years ago.

Like 1996?

I saw them back then. I got to see them from the stage (some VIP seating or something), and it was such an amazing show (short though...it was at some festival).

I love ska...just never got into the whole "look" though.

There is a ska coffee house in St. Paul, Minn. called Rudi's! Great little place.

 

[DeadMansParty]

Like 1996?

I saw them back then. I got to see them from the stage (some VIP seating or something), and it was such an amazing show (short though...it was at some festival).

I love ska...just never got into the whole "look" though.

There is a ska coffee house in St. Paul, Minn. called Rudi's! Great little place.

yeah, I left our high school SKA band and joined a band called Mealticket in 96, and he left to go tour with the specials, but he isnt with them anymore, kinda sucks cause I heard he's working at some fabric store now, but he was amazing, probably still is.

 

[u2popmofo]

I'm too lazy to make a new thread, so I'm resurrecting this one (in the hopes of bringing IWB back to the internets).

I randomly came across a vintage video of The Specials on Youtube a few weeks back, and ended up spending an hour or so watching a bunch of old Specials and other two-tone ska band vids from the same era. While I've admittedly never been all that into ska, I absolutely love their debut album. I know my friend Marty does as well, and I'm sure there are others who feel the same. I do believe Martha even mentioned seeing them live back in their glory days, I'd like to hear more about that and any other Specials love.

Here are my 2 favorite videos I found of them, both of A Message To You Rudy (one the actual "music video", the other a live performance - my favorite moment happens about 50-something seconds into the music video...)

A Message To You Rudy music video

YouTube - A Message To You Rudy

 

[Popmartijn]

I absolutely love their debut album. I know my friend Marty does as well, and I'm sure there are others who feel the same.

YouTube - A Message To You Rudy

I have this one on a DVD with Old Grey Whistle Test performances (including one by U2). It re-ignited my interest in The Specials when I got it a few years ago.

BTW, interesting trivia. The guy playing on the trombone, Rico Rodriguez, also played on the original Jamaican version in the Sixties.

 

[martha]

I got to see them live and they kept getting pissed at all the people trying to stage dive. They threatened to stop the show if it kept up.

They were great. It was back in the day, at Perkins Palace, which was somewhere north of LA, maybe Pasadena. I wore my black and white striped shoes, with a black and white stripped outfit. I was way cool. I only have that first album, and I may still have the vinyl, unless it was given away in the great Interference vinyl giveaway a few years ago. I do have it on cd of course, and it's on my ipod for the gym tomorrow, thanks to the bump.

 

[IWasBored]

good resurrection nice video finds.

mildly off topic: i feel the need to reccomend the aggrolites here.

 

[u2popmofo]

You need to provide more information than that. Is the second album worth getting?

 

[IWasBored]

i'm going to be relatively useless, because i only own the first one. only thing i can say is that "today's specials" isn't worth purchasing, although you probably know that already. i still wish i could take back having heard the cover of "somebody got murdered."


i will now listen to do the dog. not the donkey!

 

[u2popmofo]

You're just a little bitch, IWB, and that doesn't make it alright.



I don't think anyone owns the second album...

 

[IWasBored]

one, two!

slf covered doesn't make it alright, big d did little bitch (live anyway, don't know if they actually recorded it)

 

[u2popmofo]

I have this one on a DVD with Old Grey Whistle Test performances (including one by U2). It re-ignited my interest in The Specials when I got it a few years ago.

Came across another Old Grey Whistle Test Specials performance tonight. It's also quite enjoyable:

YouTube - The Specials - Too Much Too Young

 

[1stepcloser]

So glad they've reformed again. I managed to get tickets for one of their shows in london