The Specials: The Best Of The Specials 2008 | TERRY HALL | URBANASPIRINES

Death of Terry Hall

                          A nice tribute to Terry Hall who we lost last year and the SPECIALS hold a special place in UK Music history and were  totally unique and a benchmark in music largely and predominately thanks to the work, singing and songwriting of Terry Hall

On 19 December 2022, the Specials announced on social media that Hall had died at age 63 after a brief 

illness which was later revealed to be pancreatic cancer. They had planned to record a new album in the United States before Hall's health deteriorated.
                     

Again as ever Kostas does these things so well and this is well worth collecting, reading and enjoying!

The Best of The Specials (22008) - URBANASPIRINES

The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Jerry Dammers on keyboards, Lynval Golding and Roddy Radiation on guitars, Horace Panter on bass, John Bradbury on drums, and Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez on horns. The band wore mod-style "1960s period rude boy outfits (pork pie hats, tonic and mohair suits and loafers)". Their music combines the danceable rhythms of ska and rocksteady with the energy and attitude of punk. Lyrically, their work (often written by primary songwriter Dammers) presented overt political and social commentary.

The Specials – Live - Too Much Too Young (1979/1992) | ZeroGSounds

 Some nice Two Tone from Zero Sounds this morning and whilst they post links to the still commercially available 'In The Studio' from 1984, the live here is long out of print (again if you know otherwise please let me know) despite being released twice. Live covering mostly Dammers co-written classics and covers like Long Shot Kick De Bucket etc this is great fun

The Specials Live - Too Much Too Young : Zerosounds

Tracklist:

A1 Gangsters 2:32

A2 Do the Dog 2:20

A3 It's Up to You 4:35

A4 Monkey Man 3:04

A5 Blank Expression 2:06

A6 Stupid Marriage 4:42

A7 Doesn't Make It Alright 3:24

B1 Concrete Jungle 3:40

B2 Too Hot 2:52

B3 Nite Klub 3:15

B4 Too Much Too Young 2:06

B5 Little Bitch 2:38

B6 Skinhead Moonstomp 2:38

B7 Longshot Kick de Bucket 3:08

B8 You're Wandering Now 2:25

They say: 

The Specials were the fulcrum of the ska revival of the late '70s, kick-starting the 2-Tone movement that spurred a ska-punk revolution lasting for decades. As influential as they were within the realm of ska, the group and their impact can't be reduced to that genre alone. The Specials were one of the defining British bands of new wave, expanding the musical and political parameters of rock & roll with fiercely socially conscious music you could dance to. Protest was an integral part of the group, particularly their initial lead songwriter Jerry Dammers, who chronicled the tensions of the Margaret Thatcher era on such hit singles as "Concrete Jungle," "Nite Klub," and "Ghost Town." The band balanced these barbed messages with an inspired rallying call to party and an impeccable sense of style embodied by Terry Hall, a lean, laconic singer who split vocal duties with the more exuberant Neville Staple.

Though the sound quality is less than perfect, this 1979 live recording perfectly captures the raw energy of the band in its prime. The title track was the band's first number one hit in the U.K. The album was recorded at Aston University, Birmingham, UK in 1979.

 

also . . . . . . . .

The Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela (Original Promo/ 12" Version) (1984) (HD)

More of Terry Hall . . . . . . Well Fancy That & Forever J

• Track Name

  Forever J

• Artist

  Terry Hall

Terry Hall - Forever J (1994)

"I’m not sure why Terry Hall’s death seems to have hit me harder than I would have anticipated. Something about his deadpan, detached, and melancholy vocals always struck a nerve with me, whether it was the Specials, Fun Boy Three, Colourfield  or solo. Here’s a shoulda been a hit from his first solo LP Home."

• Track Name

  Well Fancy That

• Artist

  Fun Boy Three

Fun Boy Three - Well Fancy That (1983)

"I woke up this morning thinking about this song - it was honest, brave, and absolutely heartbreaking. "

There’s no excuse
For child abuse
And the scars that it leaves
Where do you draw the line?

from the superb . . . . . Guess I’m Dumb

I agree with the sentiment above and I don’t think many fans were expecting how hard Terry’s death was to strike but its something about the damaged and the abused, the survivors of abuse have paid such dues to bring their songs to us we dearly wish them never to die

It don’t work that way sadly and we feel the loss of this highly sensitive soul and creative writer and singer all the more keenly . . . . .  Rest easy now the pain is over

More Terry Hall from O My Soul and I Guess I’m Dumb

The Specials - Ghost Town

The Specials // Friday Night, Saturday Morning

I wish I had lipstick on my shirt instead of piss stains on my shoes

“If people keep coming up to me asking why I’m so miserable, I’ll act miserable - I’ll also tell them to fuck off." 

-Terry Hall

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from guessimdumb:

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• Track Name

  I Can't Stand It

• Album

  More Specials

• Artist

  The Specials

:

The Specials -  I Can’t Stand It  (1980)

When More Specials came out I honestly didn’t know what to make of it. Several songs like Rat Race and Hey Little Rich Girl sounded like the Specials that I knew, but songs like this and Enjoy Yourself, well… they sounded so strange and loungey.  It started to grow on me, and now I consider this album just as essential as the first.  Rhoda Dakar of the Bodysnatchers on vocals with Terry Hall.

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• Track Name

  The More I See (The Less I Believe)

• Artist

  Fun Boy Three

Fun Boy Three - The More I See (The Less I Believe) (1983)

Does anybody know any jokes?

guessimdumb:

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The ColourfIeld - The Windmills of Your Mind (1984)

I was a big Terry Hall fan back in the day, and this tune was on the 12" Take single. Wistful and autumnal, it’s obviously a cover of the song made famous by Noel Harrison in The Thomas Crown Affair

TERRY HALL - [19 March 1959 – 18 December 2022]

TERRY HALL

Dead at 63

Gangsters - The Specials

Terry Hall of the The Specials, Fun Boy Three, and Colourfield amongst others has died news came in yesterday

Terry Hall - Sense

Terrible loss and worth reading the excellently written obituary from The Guardian

Fun Boy Three - Our Lips Are Sealed

The singer died after a brief illness, The Specials said in a statement.

"Terry was a wonderful husband and father and one of the kindest, funniest, and most genuine of souls," they wrote.

Terry Hall - The Guardian obituary

VEGAS : Terry and Dave Stewart (Charles Aznavour)  - SHE

Picture of The Week! - Rico Rodriguez & Jerry Dammers

 

Rico and Jerry!

Jerry what ARE you doing!???

Dammers' people will know he was the brains behind The Specials, google him! (and them if you must!) Rico is a legend. You should know who he is and if you are British you prolly do! The entry in Wikipedia on Rico sums it up but he started out as trombone player per excellence under Don Drummond's influence and went on to play with Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames and started being heavily involved in the British discovery of Ska and Bluebeat to Reggae. From 1996 he featured as a significant part of The Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. Universally loved bu all who found a joy in Ska and Reggae (and Jools' work) he passed away aged 80 in 2015 having been given an MBE for services to music and the Silver Musgrave Medal by the Institute of Jamaica in recognition of his contribution to Jamaican music. Legend!

SOURCE: rebel without applause . . . . .