The Specials

DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
edited April 2008 in Strut Central
Attn: Brits of 'a certain age' - this is going to be quite an event.
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  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Attn: Brits of 'a certain age' - this is going to be quite an event.

    I liked the Specials (and the Beat) but is this really a big event?

  • bthavbthav 1,538 Posts
    i ride for terry hall

  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts
    Attn: Brits of 'a certain age' - this is going to be quite an event.

    I liked the Specials (and the Beat) but is this really a big event?

    for the people of Cov, sure is.

  • I love the Specials. My fave of all the 2-Tone era groups.

  • PATXPATX 2,820 Posts
    Attn: Brits of 'a certain age' - this is going to be quite an event.

    I liked the Specials (and the Beat) but is this really a big event?

    for the people of Cov, sure is.

    I lived there once. Once.

    Neville has been touring as "The Specials" for a while now. Saw them/him at the Knit Factory a few years ago and saw what I thought was the roadies sound checking the back line, but then the show started and I realized they were the band. He must have D them

  • alieNDNalieNDN 2,181 Posts
    i'd catch it. i saw the latest skatalites a few years ago and was really impressed. and although this is a bit sacreligious, i think the specials version of guns of navarone is slightly better than the skatalites version, its probably the faster tempo or something, but i like it better, sounds "happier" for lack of a better term. love my ska.


  • i'd catch it. i saw the latest skatalites a few years ago and was really impressed. and although this is a bit sacreligious, i think the specials version of guns of navarone is slightly better than the skatalites version, its probably the faster tempo or something, but i like it better, sounds "happier" for lack of a better term. love my ska.



    I know what you mean. I knew the ska-revival stuff before I ever heard the Skatalites et al, and it took a while to adjust to the slower tempo of the OGs.

  • alieNDNalieNDN 2,181 Posts
    not ska, but god i LOVE lord creator's vocals, what a crooner!!!

  • SnappingSnapping 995 Posts
    Attn: Brits of 'a certain age' - this is going to be quite an event.

    Does this mean that the Fun Boy Three are also reuniting in a few years?

  • I like the Specials, i think their third album "In The Studio" is quite slept on. A real mish mash of styles, but in a good way.

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    Attn: Brits of 'a certain age' - this is going to be quite an event.

    I liked the Specials (and the Beat) but is this really a big event?

    In as much as they're considered one of the key British bands of the last thirty years, and have in the past resisted some serious money offers to reunite after an acrimonious split, I can see a Specials reunion tour selling out in the blink of an eye. Maybe not to anything like the same extent in the US, but here in the UK there's definitely a lot of enthusiasm for it.

  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts
    Yes, it's a big deal and the tour will sell out in a flash if they make it past the rehearsal stage without disintegrating again. Which is by no means a certainty...

  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
    I wish icons would leave their legendary pasts to glorious memory....

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,955 Posts
    i think the specials version of guns of navarone is slightly better than the skatalites version

    I used to have this version (b side of "Too Much Too Young") on rewind back in the day. 1981? "Mr. Rico - blow!"

    Good band, not sure what the agenda will be now, i.e. play the oldies or come up with new material? I am sure the politics are just below the surface like a hungry crocodile.

  • bennyboybennyboy 538 Posts
    Attn: Brits of 'a certain age' - this is going to be quite an event.

    I liked the Specials (and the Beat) but is this really a big event?

    In as much as they're considered one of the key British bands of the last thirty years, and have in the past resisted some serious money offers to reunite after an acrimonious split, I can see a Specials reunion tour selling out in the blink of an eye. Maybe not to anything like the same extent in the US, but here in the UK there's definitely a lot of enthusiasm for it.

    Heard about this a while ago from someone who's been working with Terry, but I wonder if it will be a tour, probably be one off gigs here & there. But then again, filthy lucre and all that.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    OK, I understand it will be a big event. The recent Bruce Springsteen tour that just came through town was a big event.

    What I meant is, is it musically significant, or just aging rockers (skaers? Skankers?) reuniting for an oldies show?

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    OK, I understand it will be a big event. The recent Bruce Springsteen tour that just came through town was a big event.

    What I meant is, is it musically significant, or just aging rockers (skaers? Skankers?) reuniting for an oldies show?

    Probably more the latter. As far as I can gather, there are no plans to release new material at this stage, but who knows? Jerry Dammers' most recent musical endeavour has been a project called The Spatial A.K.A, which by all accounts takes its musical pointers from Sun Ra's Arkestra, so he doesn't seem exactly eager to rush back into the mainstream. Terry Hall's kept himself fairly active as well, although not with anything ska-derived either, so the likelihood is that, if they do record again, it won't be a retread of past glories.

  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts
    I know what you mean but it's hard to say. Culturally significant, for sure. Two-tone and the Specials is so entwined with early 80s Britain and the politics of the time that it was always about more than the music.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    I know what you mean but it's hard to say. Culturally significant, for sure. Two-tone and the Specials is so entwined with early 80s Britain and the politics of the time that it was always about more than the music.

    When I saw the Beat they said this is our version of Stand Down Ronald Reagan, or something like that. Before that I don't think I knew what the song was about.

    In other words, outside of seeing that movie about the two tone movement, I have no sense of skas cultural and political significances for those who were there. It was just party music for us, some political lyrics, and I understood that it was significant that the bands were 2 tone. But all from a distance.

  • SupacatSupacat 46 Posts

  • tonyphronetonyphrone 1,500 Posts
    I love the Specials. My fave of all the 2-Tone era groups.

    i think they're one of the best bands PERIOD.





    But I'm still skeptical about these reunions...

  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts

    isn't that Fun Boy Three? lol

  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,903 Posts



    I missed this thread the first time around. This would be a must for me. One of my all time fav bands. Tho, I do wish Jerry Dammers was playing as well (Which I don't get cause everyone in the band is saying they want him and Jerry is saying he wasn't asked or kicked out or some shit). This is probably as close as it will ever get.



    One of my all time fav music spots on SNL. Too Much Too Young!!!



  • SelinaKyle83SelinaKyle83 1,042 Posts
    the specials are coming to oz in july too!! way tooooooooooooooo exciting!!!
    owwwwwwwwwwww!!

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,955 Posts
    Terry Hall interview here:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/cultu...their-fans.html

    Implies Dammers declined to participate:

    "The only cloud in the sky for the six reunited Specials is their original keyboard player and architect, Jerry Dammers, who has chosen not to join them, and has lambasted them in the media. The six have laudably refrained from sniping back, but clearly now feel vindicated by the astonishing reactions their gigs have elicited."

  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,903 Posts
    Terry Hall interview here:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/cultu...their-fans.html

    Implies Dammers declined to participate:

    "The only cloud in the sky for the six reunited Specials is their original keyboard player and architect, Jerry Dammers, who has chosen not to join them, and has lambasted them in the media. The six have laudably refrained from sniping back, but clearly now feel vindicated by the astonishing reactions their gigs have elicited."


    Dammers seems to always go on like he was kicked out of the group.

    But thx for the interview. Like the part where he mentions the stage stuff.


  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,903 Posts
    Damn, people look like they're having a good time.


  • PrimeCutsLtdPrimeCutsLtd jersey fresh 2,632 Posts
    yo DOR what the hell is going on in your avatar????

  • CousinLarryCousinLarry 4,618 Posts
    yo DOR what the hell is going on in your avatar????

    I had been meaning to ask the same thing.

  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    I hate almost all reunions, but I wish I could be there. Seems like it would be a cathartic event for everyone, especially after reading that article.
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