Your Verdict: Quillford Essentials - Week Four

[Quillford]

In a week that has brought us the sex tape of carly rae jepsen and further outlandish comments from Noel Gallagher, I bring you my addition to the fight against muscal mediocrity. The Specials.

You should of atleast heard of these guys. They have been around 35 years. Shit bugger damn thats a while, this band is still kicking it! To be fair it has had so many members over the years it's stupid just to attempt to keep up with it. Ska music is their game. I don't know what all you cave dwelling fortress goers think of Ska but I think there is most certainly a time and a place for it. This is a GREAT addition to it. Trumpets, reggae and attitude what more could you want on a sunny day with a pint? The Specials have a ton of great hits but imma thrpw to you this bad boy.



Almost creepy but I love this track. It's just one of those good chill out tracks. Here's a first for my, your verdict - if you like 2 tone ska music and the specials. Familiarise yourself with older by a year music legends Madness. The two go together so well. But I emplore you to jump into The Specials a bit deeper and relax to it's precursor regae charm and have you brain slowly sloup out of you like an alien invader that has since expired. See you next week, The Quill Guy.

[trashcanman]

I believe we've had the ska/reggae discussion in here in the past. As a general rule I say yay, C says nay. The Specials are great, and one of the biggest influences on one of my favorite bands, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Definitely an interesting choice of tracks, and one I haven't heard. The song isn't my favorite, but it definitely captures that off-kilter experimental vibe that The Specials do so well. Haven' heard Madness either. Are they Jamaican? I feel like I need more "authentic" ska/reggae music, and not jut the white equivalents.

[The Curmudgeon]

Just two comments that show the huge musical difference that can occur between two countries. In the UK, knowing who the Specials are but having never heard of "Ghost Town" is like liking Prince without ever hearing Purple Rain. It was number one in the UK for 3 weeks back when it was originally released, and is considered one of the best ever British hit singles.

Great song, Quillguy. Not something I would choose to listen to, but you can't deny it's appeal (and, according to Wikipedia, it was released around the same time as some major riots in the UK, so was pretty damn relevant at the time. Hell, still is).

Second amazing comment - having never heard of Madness. They are pretty much rock/pop royalty over here, with frontman Suggs a bit of a British institution. They had loads of big hit songs in the 80's, and are still going now.

They're like a mix of ska and, I dunno.. fucking Monty Python (at least in the videos). Ska with a smile on its face, I suppose. Hard to pick a single song to show you who they are, Trash, but this was one of their biggest tracks..

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ2X9SANsME

Not really my bag, but fucking HUGE in Britain. Huge.

[trashcanman]

Ska has always been much bigger in the UK than here. The US had a tiny little ska fad in the late 90's, but it only lasted long enough to give us a few one hit wonders, so few people traced it back to the source. I bought a best-of album from The Specials and Ghost Town is not on it. Neither is Free Nelson Mandella, which was another international hit, I believe. That Madness tune is cool, but maybe a little light-hearted for me, even by party music standards. Also bear in mind that Muse is still fairly underground over here as well and I've met one person who has heard of Manic Street Preachers. There's actually precious little modern rock music that makes it over here from the UK since the last heavy British metal wave.

[lemex]

I've always liked 'Ghost Town'. Very cool tune.

As for Ska as a genre, it just doesn't hold my attention very well, I don't know why.