The Specials are still the heavyweight champions of both waves of ska revivals (in the UK and later in the USA). I saw the Specials just before this album was released in 1979 at a Rock Against Racism concert in London's Hyde Park. I was warned by my two British hosts that the Specials would "blow my mind."... but nothing could have prepared me for the inspired anarchy of this young racially mixed Brits playing music that sounded like reggae on steroids. The two manic singers Terry Hall and Neville Staples bounced around the stage and banged their heads together in time to the music. The entire band had buzz cut hairdos and dressed like thrift shop refugees complete with Sinatra type fedoras, skinny ties and ill fitting suits. By the end of the show the entire stage was filled with frantically pogoing audience members and the Specials played on, as if the audience and the band were the same thing. Everything I learned about ska music started with that Specials concert in 1979.

The reason why the Specials were so...errr...special was that they were first rate musicians who not dilletantes when it came to knowledge of the early Jamaican ska and rocksteady music. Jerry Dammers was raised on the music of Prince Buster, the Skatalites, Desmond Dekker, Byron Lee and the stable of ska musicians that were part of Duke Reid's venerable British label, Trojan Records. In the UK, Trojan Records had a steady stream of bestselling ska records in the UK in the mid-Sixties. Even the godfather of punk, John Lydon, who was notorious for ridiculing any kind of popular music once professed that reggae and ska were the only music he cared about. Meanwhile, in the USA, our only knowledge of ska was 1965's infectious hit by Millie Small, "My Boy Lollipop." In the Sixties, there was little room on American radio playlists for obscure Jamaican musicians playing gimmicky West Indian pop. If anyone raised the profile of ska music in America, it was the Specials.

The songs of this album represent a fusion the anarchy of punk with the frenetic riddims of ska. It is a snapshot of a near-perfect moment in music. Elvis Costello's "ragged but right" production style resembled that of his own producer, Nick Lowe who earned the nickname "Basher" for his rough-hewn sound. "Doesn't Make It Alright" is the Special's anti-racism anthem that was a response to the National Front's campaign to bash forgien nationals from the West Indies and Pakistan who were new immigrants to London during that period. Terry Hall as the prosecuter and Neville Staples as "Judge Dread" engage in a hilarious satire of a kangaroo court in the song "Stupid Marriage." The ribald humor of "Stupid Marriage" was actually a Jamican ska reworking of Shorty Long's late Sixties R&B hit "Here Comes the Judge." "Blank Expression" was a cry against apathy and ignorance. The covers of ska classics like "A Message To Rudy" and Prince Buster's classic "Too Hot" showcase the muscular playing of the band. The cover of the Maytal's classic "Monkey Man" fires a hilarious shot from the hip at the Thatcher enthusiasts in the pompous chambers of the House of Lords, comparing the Britian's nobility to inbred baboons. The addition of trombonist Rico Rodriquez, who was a transplanted Jamaican with an involvment in the ska's early Sixties roots lent the Specials an authenticity that few of their peers could claim. Drummer John Bradbury and bassist Horace Gentleman punched up the ska sound with a heavy drum n' bass sound that appealed to the younger generation accustomed to the hard charging punk rock sound.

By the mid-Eighties the ska music revival had ebbed all too early in the UK. I always felt that the 2 Tone Records bands like the dubwise Beat (aka the English Beat), the hyper-manic Madness and the ultra-cool stylists, the Selector were among the best things about the post-punk movement. There was a second wave revival of ska music in the United States in the Nineties, but none of the stateside ska bands posessed the talent, imagination or authenticity of their UK counterparts. The Specials were the flagship of the ska revival and their magnificent but short lived career brought the joy of ska music to a lot of people who otherwise would have never heard it. I don't deejay much these days, but in the early Eighties no party or dance was complete until the floor was filled with estatic dancers slamming to the riddims of "Concrete Jungle." Those were the days, my friend.

By my own admission, I was late to the Two Tone party when I started collecting in 1986. I was fortunate enough to gather most of the original UK singles; for the albums, however, by and large I bought the US pressings. This was true for the Specials debut long player. When I received this new remaster as a gift, I was pleasantly taken aback to discover that EMI used the original UK sequence (a move that caught the label flak when they did the same with many of the Beatles reissues a few years ago). What does this mean for those of us who had the US version? One, you'll have to pick up a Specials or a Two Tone label greatest hits to get the tune "Gangsters." Conversely, it provides the sequence that was heard in the band's homeland, which, one would think, is how the band wanted you to hear it, before Chrysalis US meddled in it. Also of interest, which I think is exclusive to this CD (though it may have been on the original UK album), is the (unlisted) dubwise remix of "Too Much Too Young" following the original vocal cut. Otherwise, everything you need is here - the classic cover of the Dandy Livingstone's rudeboy admonition "A Message to You, Rudy," the kinetic version of The Maytals' "Monkey Man" (currently the soundtrack to a credit card TV commercial), the plaintive "You're Wondering Now," the hysterical "Nite Klub" and "Stupid Marriage," and the social warnings of "Too Much Too Young." An essential snapsnot of the union of deep roots reggae and punk that fused in troubled, late-'70s northern England.

This album was phenomenal. Definitely influenced many people not just musically, but in perspectives on races. Massive Attack, Tricky and many more all owe a debt of gratitude to these lads. I bought this in 1979 at Korvettes in Paramus, the same day I bought Pretenders 1st, and Wreckless Eric/Whole Wide World. A triple play, but out of the three (which I still play to this day 5.6.05) The Specials is closest to my heart. Blank Expression a perfect winter time twilight song, You're Wondering Now fantastic closer. I could go on. I wish Terry and Jerry and the lads would be friends again but then, time has passed and we must move on. But a landmark album nonetheless. Out of all the 2 Tone bands, The Specials rule ok.

Just add 'Stereotype', 'The Boiler', 'Nelson Mandela' and 'Ghost Town' to this CD and there you have it - the best of the Specials. This record is socially aware and responsible, fun... sublime. And it hasn't lost any of the impact of its' anti-bigotry through the years. This record has aged very, very well.

5.1 stars

When I heard the first Specials singles in '79 on our local new wave radio station, I was hooked. Talk about fun! These guys were clearly having too much of it, and we wanted in.

So when they released this unbelievably great album and toured behind it, their first show in town was packed, and along with the Beat show later that year was considered the highlight of the 80s for dance bands, no contest. Everyone I know who saw that show still feels the same way, 30 years later.

Every track here is excellent, and some, like Gangsters and Dog and Rudy, define the genre. The whole band plays their butts off; rarely will you ever hear a band this totally committed---no doubt the leapers helped! As if that weren't enough, their sense of humor lifts them above all other bands in the realm and makes this not only insanely danceable but funny as hell at moments. Add some intelligent political commentary and you've got one of the most well-rounded albums of fun music by anyone, ever. Strong words? Judge for yourself. Who can touch Terry and Lynval for fun, Dammers for those sweetly cheesy farfisa riffs, and Horace for those elastic bass lines that force you to your feet? No other band ever did this much this well, while laughing at it all as they made us dance until we dropped.

Incredibly, their second album is almost as good, but not quite.

For true fans, here's something special (hoho!): a few years ago I went on a tape trading tear and got almost every show that was taped from that first North American tour. I can tell you quite confidently that one tape stands head and shoulders above the rest, both for perfect sound and the band being in tip-top form. That show is from 1/25/80, at a club called Hurrahs, in NYC.

If you love this album like I do, you will worship that tape! It is in its own way almost better than this album; everything is played tightly and with that extra zing that the best gigs produce. Look around online and you'll find a free copy; grab it and groove! The 2/1/80 show from the Showbox in Seattle is also excellent, but the sound is weak. The Pinkpop show from 5/26/80 and the London Lyceum show from 12/2/79 are other standouts, but that Hurrah show is the bomb. I'm listening to it right now and am going to have to get up and dance to this amazing version of Gangsters.

There's a telling moment between songs on the Hurrah tape where Terry says, "you folks up against the wall, if you came here to analyze us, forget it; best to just dance like these [people] here". Which kind of sums up what makes The Specials so good: they were designed to make you dance, and though music has become mostly a spectator sport by now, there are some bands who understand that music may have been created in the first place for celebration. When you dance to music this funky and grooving, troubles melt away and are replaced by a deep sense of joy and well-being. Dancing is deep, even religious, as King Sunny Ade and many others make clear. But very few bands are both as danceable and funny as The Specials, and that's why they still rule this particular roost, three decades later.

The first Specials album: it don't get no better.

Which kind of begs the question---shouldn't all music be this much fun?