The Selecter Are Your Selecter!: Pauline Black & Gaps Hendricksen Pick Their Favorite Ska & Reggae Songs

Here's a treat!  As part of the promotion for the release of The Selecter's brand new single 'Big In The Body, Small In The Mind' this past week, original lead singers Pauline Black and Arthur 'Gaps' Hendricksen shared a list of their top 5 favorite ska and reggae songs.  While the song selection is great, the stories that Black shared behind each of the selections are even better.

If you haven't had a chance to pick up a copy of the new single (watch the official video here), please consider doing so.  The song is available for download via Amazon.com in the U.S. and Amazon.com in the U.K. Without further ado, let the music and the stories begin....

1. Hill and Gully Rider by The Charms - Gaps selection

This was one of the first reggae songs that Gaps heard. Until then he had largely listened to English 60’s pop music in Luton, where he lived. He remembers listening to Cilla Black, The Stones, The Who, The Hollies- a favourite of his was Winchester Cathedral by the New Vaudeville Band. He says that his favourite singer was James Brown- he’s always had an eclectic taste.




2. Barb Wire by Nora Dean - Pauline's selection

I love the feistiness of Ms. Dean’s delivery - her faux naïve vocals are at odds with the lyrics of the song- there is a certain knowingness- this is a woman who knows exactly what she is doing -'lick him hard ‘pon him head'- such a good lyric & the best method I know for keeping a band in control!




3. Phoenix City by The Skatalites - Gap's selection

Gaps learnt to shuffle listening to Phoenix City, when he entered a dance competition in a club, Burtons in Cricklewood- he didn’t win, some guy won who did a cartwheel shuffle - but undeterred, Gaps went away and mastered the art of the cartwheel shuffle, winning shuffling competitions, at the 67 Club in Bilston. In fact he is still working on getting that particular move back in the current Selecter set. BTW He can also still do the splits.

The Selecter toured with the Skatalites in America in the early 90’s. Tommy McCook, Roland Alphonso, Lloyd Knibbs, Lloyd Brevitt, Lester Stirling were all there. We shared a tour bus with them. As old as they were, they liked to watch soft porn videos on the TV at the front of the bus. The Selecter occupied the back of the bus. I would often surprise them by going up the front of the bus to get a soda or something and they would immediately switch off the TV as soon as I appeared and try to not look guilty. It was my favourite game of the tour. Not a lot of people know this.



4. Ten Commandments Of Man - Prince Buster - Pauline's Selection

I adore Prince Buster. My father who was from Oshogbo in Nigeria, owned this record in 1964. I have a copy of it with a ‘made in Nigeria’ imprint. Apparently ska was enjoyed in Nigeria in the early 60’s. My father obviously practiced what he preached, because he had 8 wives and I am the oldest of his 17 children.

Prince Buster can be forgiven for his unreconstructed male musical offering, because The Selecter had the opportunity to work with him on two separate occasions in the 90’s, in Japan and in Miami. We also recorded a version of Madness with him, with Neol Davies on guitar.

Prince Buster is a generous man, with a mesmerizing stage presence who welcomed the band into his home and cooked us chicken, rice & peas (well his wife did). He is currently not very well, so I’d like to take this opportunity to wish him better and it would be wonderful to see him back where he belongs - on stage.



5. The Boiler by The Special AKA featuring Rhoda Dakkar - Pauline's Selection

This song is all about the abilities of the wonderful Ms Dakar to make a work of art out of something so harrowing. She is one of the bravest ladies I know. She had the guts to perform this song (originally with The Bodysnatchers) in 1979 to a largely male audience, who were mostly waiting for The Specials or The Selecter to perform. The song speaks for itself and is still the lot of too many young women. By the way I consider that Special AKA never get the accolades that they should- they made some brilliant music- wish they would re-form!

Exclusive: Interview with Rhoda Dakar of The Bodysnatchers, The Special AKA & Skaville UK

I distinctly remember the first time I heard The Bodysnatchers. I had just purchased the U.S. version of the "Dance Craze" LP and while I recognized the songs by The Specials, The Beat, Madness, The Selecter and Bad Manners, I was surprised to hear one song by a band I was not familiar with. It was "Easy Life" by The Bodysnatchers and it very quickly became a favorite. Though with my more refined ears I can now hear that the band was still learning to play its instruments, they were saved by the compelling vocals of their lead singer Rhoda Dakar and the pure energy and enthusiasm of their performance which carried them through. Watch the Dance Craze movie and you will see what I mean.

The speed and pace at which The Bodysnatchers went from concept to reality and then on tour is astounding. Nicky Summers, who was selling fruits and vegetables from a stand in London, had an idea for an all girl ska band that came to her after seeing The Specials perform at the Moonlight Club and Hope & Anchor in London. She had tried to join the band The Modettes but that went no where, so she placed an ad in the music papers looking for 'rude girls'. Within weeks she had assembled a working band that included Nicky on bass, Penny Leyton (a freelance illustrator) on keyboards, fashion designer Sarah "SJ" Owen on lead guitar, Jane Summers (no relation) on drums, a 17 year old saxophonist named Miranda Joyce and Stella Barker on rhythm guitar. As wide and varied as the group was, the one thing they had in common was that they could barely play their instruments. Of those who could just about manage a few notes they were either self-taught or were given the occasional lesson by boyfriends etc and for those who couldn’t play at all they just "learned to play as they went along".

Missing from the mix was a singer but that soon came in the form of civil servant Rhoda Dakar, who possessed a unique voice and who Summers had been introduced to by Shane McGowan (later of The Pogues) at a show in London. Dakar was born in London to an English mother and Jamaican father. Based on her Father's musical pedigree she was destined to be a singer. Her father first came to Europe to fight in the First World War with the British West Indian regiment. The soldiers in the regiment weren't allowed guns, but he was decorated for saving an ammunition dump. He returned to Europe in 1923 and lived in Belgium before moving to Paris during the 1930s. There he befriended Louis Armstrong and Josephine Baker and played music and sang. With the Second World War looming, he had to leave France for England, as he was a British citizen. Settling in London, he owned a few nightclubs in London's West End and that's where he met Dakar's mother.

According to the 2-Tone Info web site, the band decided on the name Bodysnatchers because they said "the music is body snatching" but deciding on what material to play was less straightforward. Although they had taken inspiration from The Specials and it was indeed their intention to play ska in its new 2 Tone form they found the pace of ska was too much for such an inexperienced group of ‘musicians’. Instead they opted for a slower style in the form of rocksteady. Now that the band had found a style of music within their somewhat limited capabilities they collected together a number of songs, which would give the band a set to play live. They choose some old reggae/ska songs to cover such as 'Monkey Spanner , 'OO7 'and a song, which was to become their first single, 'Let’s Do Rocksteady'. Also among their early set lists was a reggae version of 'London Bridge Is Falling Down'. Once they were confident enough they composed their first original song, 'The Boiler'.

The band got their first gig in November of 1979 at the Windsor Castle pub in London and at only their second gig were asked by The Selecter to support the band on their forthcoming tour. By the end of 1979 the nation was well and truly in the grip of 2-Tone fever and it wasn’t longer before the music press was suggesting that The Bodysnatchers would be the labels next signing. So with only a few months experience behind them they were indeed signed to the label. Their signing didn’t exactly meet with universal approval within the 2-Tone camp, with some voicing concern about what lay in future for such an inexperienced band. Here was a band that by their own admission were not competent musicians and they were about to jump under the media spotlight which was waiting patiently for the labels first failure.

The Dandy Livingstone song, Let’s Do Rocksteady, was the choice for the bands debut single. For the b-side the band selected an original composition, Ruder Than You and producer on both tracks was Roger Lomas who was working with Bad Manners at the time. While the band were on tour with The Selecter the single entered the charts at number 44 and peaked at number 16 which earned them an appearance on Top Of The Pops. With a single in the charts and the 2 Tone connection the band received moderate media coverage and made the occasional television appearance.

The band had signed a 2 single deal with 2 Tone and for the second release an original was selected, Easy Life, and this time a cover version would appear on the b-side. The track chosen was Winston Francis' Too Experienced and the resulting track stayed faithful to the original. Although the band were pleased with the single and it certainly deserved a higher position chart than it received (50), by this stage of 1980 2 Tone was beginning to loose its appeal with the record buying public.

The band soldiered on regardless and managed a short headlining tour of their own and picked up the support slot on the Toots and the Maytals tour but by October 1980 the band had played their last gig at Camden’s Music Machine in London. The band cited ‘musical differences’ for their decline with some wanting to take a more political stance while others wanted to follow a more pop orientated career.

After the band broke up, Rhoda went on to guest with The Specials, both live and on the "More Specials" record. She released "The Boiler" as a single in 1982. Credited to Rhoda & The Special AKA, the song was a haunting tale of date rape that was played regularly by John Peel, but ignored by daytime BBC. Despite the nature of the single, it still managed to reach number 35 in the charts which was a significant accomplishment. A later incarnation of Special AKA recorded the "In The Studio" album, from which came the acclaimed 1984 Top Ten single "Free Nelson Mandela" that really woke up the World to the problems occurring in South Africa at the time.

Since then she has performed with a variety of artists. More recently she has partnered with Nick Welsh (Bad Manners, The Selecter) and performed an acoustic set for the 3 Men + Black '25 years of 2 Tone' tour a few years back. Lately they are playing together regularly as an acoustic duo, or with Nick’s band, Skaville UK. Rhoda's first solo album 'Cleaning In Another Woman's Kitchen' was released in November 2007.

Rhoda was kind enough to take time to answer my interview questions. Enjoy!

What was it like growing up in London in the 60's and 70's? Did you grow up listening to ska and reggae music?
It was, what it was. I don't have anything to compare it with. I lived in a poor part of a huge city. London is an amazing place. The underground (tube) system means you can go far and wide and find your way round quite easily. It's something my son does now with his friends. So I explored. I didn't limit myself to my neighbourhood. Most of my friends lived out in Essex, over 15 miles away, but still on the tube network. In U.S. terms, it may not seem far. But the West End, the centre of the city, is only 3 or 4 miles away and Camden Town, with its famous markets, is 6 miles.

I grew up in Brixton, near the Ram Jam club, so I did hear ska, but only remember 'My Boy Lollipop'. There was music on the streets with lots of record shops blasting out tunes of various sorts. Where I lived I heard more 'High Life' - Nigerian pop music of the time. I'm still a big fan of that sound, but I hear more Zouk these days, from the francophone African countries. Then there was skinhead reggae, which I really liked, especially Desmond Dekker, and had a few singles. But I was only a little kid. Reggae was all around, out there, but I was into David Bowie, Roxy Music, Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls, whom I went to see when they played in London in November '73. Glam rock and disco, baby! I listened to Bob Marley, but I didn't really 'rediscover' reggae until Don Letts was good enough to share his collection at The Roxy, London's first punk club.

When did you discover that you could sing?
My dad had been a singer, so there was always singing of some sort in our house. I went to religious schools, so I sang hymns every day at school. I also did dance lessons and we performed to friends and family and in old people's clubs. So I sang all the time, but never thought I was anything special. The first time I had any sense of that, was when I auditioned at my youth theatre for the part of The Singer in The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Bertolt Brecht). Two of us shared the part, as Mike could also play guitar, and we performed at The Old Vic, which was fab.

Is it true that Nicky Summers saw you dancing at a Selecter show and asked if you could sing? What were the early Bodysnatchers rehearsals/shows like?
No. I had gone to see Sta-Prest, which my friend June Miles-Kingston's (Mo-dettes, Fun Boy 3, Communards) brothers, Bobby (Tenpole Tudor) and Ray, were in. I was chatting to Shane MacGowan and she asked him to introduce us. She did then ask me if I could sing and wanted to be in a band. The early rehearsals were enthusiastic. We weren't good, but unbelievably confident. My mate Paul Cook came down to try and help the drummer play reggae. It was very good of him, but I don't know how much difference it made. What really helped was playing every night on the second 2 Tone tour.

How soon after you joined The Bodysnatchers did you meet Gaz Mayall and start writing 'Let's Do Rocksteady'/'Ruder Than You' with him?
I knew Gaz from when he opened his stall in Kensington Market, long before The Bodysnatchers. He used to have loads of people round to his flat and play brilliant music, his collection was amazing. One day he said The Bodysnatchers needed an anthem, so we wrote 'Ruder Than You' and took it to the band.



What were your first live shows like? Can you share any unusual stories about touring with The Bodysnatchers or any shows that are particularly memorable?
Our first live shows were shambolic. Our only original song was 'The Boiler', strangely enough. But that seemed to convince Jerry and Pauline, who both showed up at our second gig. On tour with The Selecter, we were like school kids. We did apple pie beds and had water fights, it was very funny. We all had water pistols and soaked a journalist who's questions we didn't like. It was all very innocent.

Is it true that Jerry Dammers asked you to become a member of The Specials after The Bodysnatchers split and you were recording vocals with the band on the 'More Specials' LP?
No. I was never a member of The Specials. The vocals on 'More Specials' were done whilst I was still in The Bodysnatchers. I started doing shows with them by accident. I had gone to see them play and Jerry asked me to join them on stage. There was also a forgotten passport incident, when Horace had to fly to Amsterdam whilst everyone else went by ferry. Jerry phoned me and asked if I could meet Horace at the airport to come with him. I was sort of a permanent fixture after that.

What prompted you to write 'The Boiler' with The Bodysnatchers and what was it like to perform it live? What was it like to record the song with The Special AKA?
It came about because I was just talking over a riff in rehearsal. I didn't know about writing songs, but I knew how to improvise - I had originally wanted to act and had worked in the theatre on leaving school. Performing it live was acting, that's all. A friend had been raped a couple of years earlier and I suppose I was thinking of her at the time. Recording it was a very long and drawn out process. It was released a year after it was first recorded. I remember Jerry on the phone to the studio from New York organizing remixes.

(Below are two mixes of 'The Boiler'. The first is a live version performed by The Bodysnatchers at a show in Folkestowe in 1980. The second is the studio version recorded with The Special AKA. It was released as a single and only reached No.35 in the UK charts in 1982. It would have went further, but not surprisingly it suffered from a lack of airplay. Disc jockeys and radio stations were too scared to play this.)





What are your fondest memories of recording The Special AKA 'In The Studio' LP? Do you have a favorite song from the record?
The only thing approaching a fond memory was recording 'Mandela' with Elvis Costello. I'm a huge fan of his and could barely speak to him, I was so starstruck. He was talking about 'Almost Blue', his country album, saying it hadn't been a great success. I love that album and, gushing, told him it had turned me on to country music, but a friend had borrowed it and scratched it. The next day he brought me in a load of albums, including 'Almost Blue'. Once again, I was speechless. My favourite song is 'Night On The Tiles'. I am, of course, immensely proud of 'Mandela'.



Tell me about your solo record 'Cleaning In Another Woman's Kitchen'? What does the title refer to?
I've heard the title explained as everything from slavery to lesbian sex. I prefer the latter. You can make up your own mind. It's almost hard to remember what that felt like, as I've worked on three albums since then. Nick likes recording and he's very good at it - quick and painless. He suggested we go to a friend's studio and put down some of the old favourites we'd been playing acoustically. It went well, so we carried on, recording tracks we had written for the live show. Now we had an album. Just over half the tracks are new. My favourite is 'From Benny Bish To Toothless Anne', because it's about my teenage friends, most of whom are, amazingly, still with us. Nick and I were walking around Glasgow (?) airport when I was talking about them and he said their names were so funny I had to write a song about them. 'Ebb Away' is the best crafted song, I think. And from amongst the old, I like 'Money Worries', the Maytones track which featured in the Jamaican film 'Rockers'. It's a mash-up of styles really, from old ska, to 2 Tone ska, to country, well, Soho's version anyway!

Lately you have been performing with Nick Welsh in Skaville UK. What has the reaction been to the band and your acoustic performances alone with Nick?
Working with Nick is always fab. We have the same sense of humour (almost) and he's very funny. Musically we're into a lot of the same things, so I get all his references and vice versa. This is quite apparent on stage, the rapport really adds to the show. Everyone's known each other for years and worked with each other before, so it's easy. They're great musicians and the reaction has been brilliant. You can read some reviews on Skaville's Myspace.

The acoustic shows are very different. It's not a 'ska party', like Skaville. It's intimate, emotional and stripped bare. Someone said to me the other day, they hadn't ever realised what 'Easy Life' was about until they heard it acoustically. You can watch some videos on my Myspace. We have fun with it as well - humour plays a big part. The most important thing is we love doing it and that's transmitted to the audience.

We've almost finished recording our new album, 'Back To The Garage'. It's rock n roll, drawing inspiration from the garage sounds of the 60s, right through punk to the home recording of the 80s, all honed down and served up via our own musical experiences. We share vocal duties, so it's a little bit him, a little bit me. We'll play one or two of the tracks acoustically on forthcoming gigs, but I can't wait to get out with a band!

Can you tell me a bit about recording the track 'On The Town' with Madness for their new album? Rumor is that it may be the first single. Will you be performing with them at Madstock?
Chris rang me a couple of weeks before their Norton Folgate shows at Hackney Empire. He said Mike had a song to which he thought my voice would be suited and would I be up for having a go. So they sent me a demo and the lyrics to see what I thought. Various conversations followed and it was finally decided I would record the track and perform it at the shows in Hackney. That's what happened, except for the third show, when I was away with Skaville and a girl called Amber sang instead. I also appeared with them at the recent O2 gig in Greenwich, London, just before Christmas. As to whether it will be a single or not, I really couldn't say - you'd have to ask them. The version with me singing will be included in the box set, I'm told. Madstock is too far off to know what or who will be on!

Here is video of Rhoda performing the song 'On The Town' live with Madness

Finally, what's your take on The Specials reunion?
Good luck to them, I'm sure they'll enjoy it immensely! The songs are brilliant and they're great performers. The audience will be amazed, especially those who haven't seen them before.

Here is a BBC story on The Specials and racism in the UK narrated by Pauline Black that includes interview footage with Rhoda:



If you live in the UK, you can see Rhoda perform with the band Skaville UK as well as acoustic version of her own songs with Nick Welsh (from Skaville UK) on guitar. Visit her MySpaceweb site for more info.

Below is a live recording of The Bodysnatchers from a show they played in Folkestone in August of 1980 where they headlined and were supported by Arthur Kay & The Originals.

Here is the set list:

1.oo7
2.Monkey Spanner
3.Watch This
4.Mixed Feelings
5.Mule Jerk
6.Ruder Than You
7.Hiyawatha
8.A Little Bit of Soul
9.Happy Times Tune
10.Too Experienced

The Bodysnatchers Live - 8/30/80

Dance Craze: The Magazine Of The Film!

So you've seen Dance Craze the movie but have you read Dance Craze the magazine? Unless you lived in the UK in 1981 or are a 2-Tone memorabilia fanatic and own a copy, chances are that many of you have not seen this 32-page gem. And it only cost 40p when it was on the newsstand!

According to the 2-Tone Info web site, this magazine was one of two magazines published to accompany the film. Of the 2 magazines which were issued to coincide with the release of Dance Craze this one is by far the most informative. Written by then Sounds journalist, Garry Bushell, it offers an insight to each of the bands featured in film, along with a brief history of ska and a positive write up on skinheads.

Although he recalls an early encounter of The Specials, who were supporting The Clash at the time, the author admits he wasn’t initially that impressed with the embryonic fusion of punk and reggae. This was soon to change as Bushell was one of the first journalists to pick up on the 2 Tone phenomenon and it is obvious from reading the magazine that he was also a huge fan of both the label and its achievements. A great section on Bad Manners sees Buster recall how his overactive bowels put an end to his famous white boiler suit and how Chris Foreman from Madness once challenged the fat man to a Big Mac eating contest. Also included in the magazine are discographies (which were up to date at the time of publishing) of each of the featured bands plus press ads for the likes of ‘More Specials’ and The Congos album ‘Heart of the Congos’, released on The Beat’s Go-Feet Records.

Many thanks to Judge Fred at The Beef, The Original and The Cover for this great piece of 2-Tone history. Enjoy the read!

Here is the download of the magazine in pdf format:

Dance Craze Magazine

Behind The Scenes Of The Making of The Special AKA "In The Studio" LP

While many casual fans of 2-Tone know about the glory days of the label and of The Specials at their peak, the other story about the label and the band in decline is just as fascinating and the material recorded for the band's final swansong, "In The Studio" remains and overlooked gem with several stand-out tracks.

With the departure of more than half of the group in 1981 to form Fun Boy Three, Jerry Dammers, Horace Panter and John Bradbury, were left with the dilemma of how to keep the spirit of The Specials alive. After a short trip to Germany to back Rico Rodriguez, the three remaining Specials returned to the UK to sort matters out. Because of legal red tape, they could no longer use the name The Specials, so they reverted to the old Special A.K.A. moniker.

The first project was to record a single with Rhoda Dakar, 'The Boiler', which Jerry had first attempted early in 1981. The song was an old Bodysnatchers number, a harrowing tale of rape, and despite a great production, it was never going to feature on too many radio play lists. The single was released in January 1982, and credited to Rhoda With The Special A.K.A. Horace didn't actually play on the record, his place being filled by ex- Bodysnatcher Nicky Summer, and a new guitarist, John Shipley of The Swinging Cats was also present.

The record got a lot of attention, if not airplay, due to the sensitive subject matter, and eventually reached a very credible No.35 on the chart. A follow up single 'Female Chauvinist Pig' was planned but never emerged. Instead the next single to feature the band was 'Jungle Music', by Rico And The Special A.K.A. A catchy number that despite some good airplay failed to chart. Jerry, Brad and Horace also contributed to Rico's second album for 2-Tone, 'Jama', released in May '82.

Dammers tried to rebuild by signing two new bands, first The Apollonaires, and then The Higsons. Both bands had leanings toward jazz funk rather than ska, and it came as no surprise when the 4 singles that the bands issued all failed to chart. A new look Special A.K.A. soon appeared. Dammers had recruited vocalist Stan Campbell, and a friend of Rhoda's Egidio Newton, to provide vocals, and Gary McManus joined shortly after to replace Horace on bass, who had decided to call it a day.

The band released a new single 'War Crimes' in a flurry of publicity, but like 'The Boiler' previously, the subject of the song prevented it from getting the airplay it deserved. 'War Crimes' became the first single by The Specials not to gain any chart placing. Dammers however, was happy to sacrifice commercial success to get his message across.

The next move was to take the band into the studio to record a new album. It was a long hard process, and the first that the public got to hear of their labours was 8 months later, in August 1983, when the single 'Racist Friend/Bright Lights' was released. The single found Roddy Radiation making a guest appearance on guitar, and took the band to the lower reaches of the chart, with a No.60 chart placing. (Roddy later revealed that he did not actually play the lead guitar solo that features prominently on "Racist Friend", instead it was lifted from a demo of the song he had played on earlier. He never actually set foot in the studio, having had a falling out with Dammers.)

The inspiration for 'Racist Friend' came from Jerry's observation that the more famous he got, the more friends he accumulated. He found he was seeing less and less of his family and real friends, and spending more time with the hangers on. One day he took out his address book, and as a starting point to decide who to get rid of, he scribbled out the name of anyone with racist tendencies.

The other side of the single, 'Bright Lights' summed up Stan Campbell's attitude to the band perfectly. The lyric goes along the lines of moving to London and joining a band, with the naive belief that "the streets really must be paved with gold". Campbell joined the Special A.K.A. expecting immediate fame and fortune, after all he was working with the guy who started 2-Tone. When this success was not forthcoming, Campbell became very irritable, threatening to quit on an almost daily basis.

To make the recording of the album even more stressful, some members of the band lived in Coventry, while some still lived in London. Just getting the group together was a nightmare. Rhoda also has unhappy memories of the recording: "My memories are of going home in tears after singing one line of a lyric over and over for about five hours. I went home sobbing in a cab most nights." With the recording costs beginning to rise at an alarming rate, Chrysalis tried to recoup some of the cash by issuing the compilation album 'This Are Two Tone'.

The next thing to emerge from the studio was the classic 'Free Nelson Mandela' single in March 1984. The recording, produced by Elvis Costello, also featured Lynval Golding, now a free agent after the Fun Boy 3 split, and Ranking Roger and Dave Wakeling, formerly of The Beat. The single brought the plight of the ANC member to the attention of many for the first time. If 'Ghost Town' was Dammers greatest commercial success, 'Free Nelson Mandela' was his greatest artistic achievement, although he rarely gets the credit for it he deserves. The record shot to No.9 on the chart, and Jerry was soon busy organising the Artists Against Apartheid' concert on Clapham Common. The Special A.K.A. did not appear on the bill, possibly because Stan Campbell had finally quit the band shortly before the release of the new single.

After two long, hard years in the making, the Special A.K.A.s 'In The Studio' album was finally unveiled in August 1984. It had very little new material as half of the tracks were already available as singles, and another, 'What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend', was released in September. 'What I Like Most...' actually featured Jerry on lead vocals, and the video was a classic, with Dammers playing the part of an alien who comes to Earth and takes an instant attraction to another guy's girl in a bar. The single, which struggled to No.51, was to be the last from the 'original' Specials camp. 'In The Studio' proved a financial disaster for Chrysalis, and the last that anyone saw of the Special A.K.A. was on Channel 4's Play At Home series, where the band made a video for each of the tracks from the album.

Here are videos for the songs "Nelson Mandela", "Racist Friend", "Housebound", "What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend", "Alcohol", "The Lonely Crowd" and "Break Down The Door":





















Band members:
Caron Wheeler - backing vocals
Stan Campbell - vocals
Rhoda Dakar - vocals
John Shipley - guitar
Jerry Dammers - keyboards, organ, piano, vocals
Gary McManus - bass
John Bradbury - drums
Claudia Fontaine - backing vocals
Dick Cuthell - flugelhorn
Nigel Reeve - saxophone
Egidio Newton - vocals, percussion

Here is the track listing and the download link is below:

1. Bright Lights (4.11)
2. The Lonely Crowd (3.52)
3. What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend (4.50)
4. Housebound (4.11)
5. Night On The Tiles (3.04)
6. Nelson Mandela (4.07)
7. War Crimes (6.13)
8. Racist Friend (3.49)
9. Alcohol (5.01)
10. Break Down The Door (3.33)

The Special A.K.A - In The Studio

Thanks to Andy Clayden of The Ska, Rocksteady & Reggae web site from which much of the background and history of The Special AKA for this post was derived.

The Art Design of 2-Tone: Jerry Dammers and David Storey Bring The Vision To Life

The 2-Tone phenomenon was much more than a musical movement. It existed on multiple levels, culturally, artistically and socially. For me, the visuals and design of all things 2-Tone had as much to do with making it cool as the music and the bands did. While Jerry Dammers clearly had social change on his mind when he sketched out what he wanted 2-Tone and The Specials to be, he also approached the branding of the label and the bands on the label with the expertise of an experienced art director (his art school training clearly came in handy here).

While Dammers deserves much of the credit for the iconic "Walt Jabsco" design and the black and white checkerboards most fans equate with the label, it was a young art designer named David Storey who worked in the Chrysalis Records art department who helped him to realize the look and feel of the albums we all know well today and who was the creative inspiration behind many others. Today, Storey is a renowned artist, painter and sculptor, but it was during the 80s and 90s when he worked in the music industry where he became known for his bold, innovative and influential designs. His best known work from this period was The Specials and 2-Tone, but he also designed all the memorable album covers for The Housemartins who followed in The Specials footsteps by incorporating a consistent look into all their albums.

Below is an article/interview that Storey conducted with Martin Aston of Q Magazine in 2004 titled. "From 2-Tone to the Beat Girl, ska had some of the most enduring designs in record label history" The article provides a fascinating inside look at how Dammers approached the art design of the band and label as well as the behind the scenes role that Storey played.

Almost as much as the music of 2-Tone, the label’s visual identity defined the ethos of the label, much the same as Jamie Reid’s cut-up collages for the Sex Pistols. “It was very much an anti-design ethos,” recalls designer David Storey, who, with John “Teflon” Sims, was responsible for translating Jerry Dammers’ ideas into reality. “Any talk of an art movement or ‘ism’ with Jerry would have raised a laugh. Stiff Records had popularised the, Fuck Art, Let’s Dance, slogan, and that was very much the bottom line. There's an honesty to what Jerry did, like punk in a way, but friendlier.”

Storey’s introduction to 2-Tone was when The Specials first visited the Chrysalis art department, where he and Sims worked. “They were an impressive bunch, all sporting skinhead haircuts and Jerry without any front teeth,” an impressionable Storey recalls. “But talking to them, they were thoughtful, charming characters. I wasn't long out of university and found The Specials such a breath of fresh air. We were more used to pop star breezing into the art department on a clouds of cologne whereas Jerry would shuffle in anonymously, with his carrier bag full of reference bits and pieces.”

From a crumpled carrier bag at their first meeting, Dammers unleashed the component parts that identified 2-Tone: the black-andwhite checkerboard line work; the rude boy label mascot known as Walt Jabsco; the powerful, stark simplicity of the content and presentation. Walt Jabsco had a curious genesis. The name came from an old American bowling shirt that Dammers owned, though he modelled the hands-in-pockets figure (which Sims drew) on a picture of Peter Tosh, in shades and pork-pie hat finery, from the cover of The Wailing Wailers album. The look, which Dammers described as “defiant, Jamaican and hard”, infiltrated all 2-Tone artwork, from sleeves to posters, T-shirts to badges. “What made 2-Tone different to everything else at that time was that Jerry directed all the visuals,” confirms Storey. “He’d say, run the checkerboard pattern right across, move this figure two millimetres to the left… We’d sometimes create these immaculate pieces of artwork, as we did for all Chrysalis bands, but he’d insist we roughed things up. He hated things looking clean and stiff.”

“The cover of More Specials was a Polaroid snatched from the photo session – Jerry wanted things to be home-spun, nothing highbrow – which wasn’t as easy as people think. We’d end up spending twice the time on 2-Tone material than mega budget concept sleeves for the likes of Jethro Tull or Blondie.” As the label progressed, Storey and Sims started bringing ideas to the table, most famously the postcard that Storey found of two skeletons – one upright at the piano, and the other slumped on a chair that became the Ghost Town cover. Another picture Storey found, of an African mask, was used for Rico’s Jama album (representing what Storey calls Rico’s “very lived-in face”), while a book of old advertising art contained the crestfallen pose copied for Selector’s Too Much Pressure cover.

But Storey’s favourite image is Dammer’s own drawing of the face on Rhoda’s single The Boiler. “It’s such a powerful image and fitted so well with the music,” says Storey. When Sims, followed by Storey, left Chrysalis to go freelance, the label kept Storey on a retainer to work with an increasingly wayward Dammers.“Jerry was looking around for a subtle way of moving things forward,” Storey explains. “We couldn’t shoehorn all the releases into a simple black-and-white look, some needed a twist. ”Hence the black and white check turned into brown and gold, and the shift from black and white to colour, such as Storey’s illustration of a sunset used for Rico’s next album, Jungle Music.

The most revealing image was The Specials’ finale, In The Studio, of a bare studio environment. The smiling faces of More Specials were conspicuous by their absence. “I remember that the band were fed up with recording, and it felt like the beginning of the end,” recalls Storey. Looking back, Storey recalls the thrill of “riding the crest of the wave''. It really was a phenomenon. And to see others pick up on the graphics, like the Greater London Council running bold black and white billboard adverts, and Jean-Paul Gautier’s black and white catwalk collection featuring the 2-Tone checkerboard pattern. It gained a life of its own. Even today, you often see references to it.” But, above that, Storey acknowledges the vision of Dammers. “Jerry ensured everything was consistent, which is so integral to good graphic design. The work has a wonderful holistic feel. It’s why people instinctively liked it then and still smile when they see it today.”

You can learn more about David Storey by visiting his web site where you can see more of his artwork.

Rhoda Dakar - The First Lady of 2-Tone Is Back With A UK Tour

Rhoda Dakar began her career as lead vocalist with The Bodysnatchers. Their first single, "Do Rocksteady", b/w "Ruder Than You," written by Rhoda and Gaz "Rockin Blues" Mayall, took them into the UK pop charts (#22 in 1980) and onto Top of the Pops. The Bodysnatchers only released one more single "Easy Life" b/w "Too Experienced" and contributed a live version of "Easy Life" for the the "Dance Craze" film soundtrack (the film about 2-Tone included the live tracks "007 (Shanty Town)" and "Let's Do The Rocksteady").

Rhoda also had a UK hit solo single on 2-Tone Records with "The Boiler" backed by the Special AKA, before becoming a full member of Special AKA and appearing on their album "In The Studio" and the history-changing single "Free Nelson Mandela".

Since then, Rhoda has worked with artists as varied as Apollo 440 and Dr Robert of the Blow Monkeys fame. However, for the last few years, she has revisited her 2-Tone roots, guesting with The Selecter and appearing on a 3 Men + Black acoustic 2-Tone tour with Dave Wakeling (The Beat) and Roddy Radiation (The Specials), as well as, Pauline Black and Nick Welsh of The Selecter. Recently she was very proud to have been asked by the legendary Trojan Records to write a foreword for the latest release in their Reggae Sisters series, entitled 'Let Me Tell You Boy'. Rhoda will also be featured on atleast one track of the new Madness album "The Liberty of Norton Folgate".

Rhoda's first solo album, 'Cleaning In Another Woman's Kitchen', was released in May 2007. The album has been recorded and written with Nick Welsh. Here is a video of Rhoda performing an acoustic ska version of The Bodysnatchers song "Easy Life" that was recorded in April of 2008 with Nick Welsh of Skaville UK:



Rhoda is touring the UK with Skaville UK which includes ex-members of Bad Manners. The tour dates are below:

Oct 28 2008
TUC - Congress House
London

Oct 31 2008
The White Hart (with Skaville UK)
Caldicot, Gwent

Nov 1 2008
Queen’s Hall (with Skaville UK)
Narbeth

Nov 8 2008
The Railway (with Skaville UK)
Burnham on Sea

Nov 9 2008
Speedfreaks Ball 4 (with Skaville UK)
Mablethorpe

Nov 14 2008
Charlie Browns (with Skaville UK)
Luton

Nov 15 2008
The Rifle Club (with Skaville UK)
Portsmouth

Nov 22 2008
Rio’s (with Skaville UK) & The Beat
Leeds

Below are downloads of 2 songs from Rhoda's solo LP "Cleaning In Another Woman's Kitchen"

Rhoda Dakar - Landlord
Rhoda Dakar - Money Worries

Rare Tracks by The Bodysnatchers: "What's This" & "The Boiler"

I discovered a few rare tracks by The Bodysnatchers including "What's This" that the band recorded during a John Peel session in 1980 as well as the original version of "The Boiler" performed by the band live at a show in Folkestone and later recorded by Rhoda with The Special AKA for the "In The Studio" album.

Below are two videos for "What's This". First, the John Peel session version followed by a very short clip of the band performing the song live on ITV TV Program 'Alright Now'. Those video clips are followed by a live recording of "The Boiler" which has always been a difficult track to listen to and must have have been a difficult track to perform live as well.

The Specials - A's, B's & Rarities

Whether you're new to Ska or a seasoned fan of the Specials, this 3 CD set of 46 songs will be a welcome addition. Unlike so many "out of the vaults" boxed sets we're seeing nowadays, these CDs are not full of stuff that would have been better left forgotten.

The Specials were a band of two halves. The 'classic' Specials were one of the most exciting bands to emerge in the post-punk period. Then they split and Jerry Dammers continued with what was left, his now departed creative rivals replaced by various guests. The first CD covers the 'classic' period and is pretty much flawless. From Gangsters to the import only Concrete Jungle/Raquel they can do no wrong. All the singles (a's b's and a few odds and ends) are here.

The second and third CDs cover the post-split band Special AKA (except for longer versions of Ghost Town and Why?). This version of the band only recorded one album (In The Studio), but left behind many more 'remixes' and 'alternative' versions than the original band. It has to be said, however, that the consistent brilliance that marked the first CD sags a bit here. The distinct identity of the band is also lacking, and at times it's like listening to a various artists collection. There are some classics here ('Nelson Mandela', 'Racist Friend', 'What I Like Most...') as well as the hard to find "Ghost Dance '91" and three attempts to blend Ghost Town with new song 'Let Us Unite' (with a bit of 'Nelson Mandela' thrown in).

Tracklist:Disc: 1

1. Gangsters
2. Message To You Rudy - Specials & Rico
3. Nite Klub - Specials & Rico
4. Too Much Too Young
5. Guns Of Navarone
6. Skinhead Symphony Medley
7. Rat Race
8. Rude Boys Outa Jail
9. Stereotype
10. International Jet Set
11. Do Nothing - Specials & Rico
12. Maggie's Farm - Specials & Rico
13. Braggin' And Tryin' Not To Lie - Specials & Roddy Radiation
14. Rude Boys Outa Jail (Version)
15. Ghost Town
16. Why listen
17. Friday Night Saturday Morning
18. Concrete Jungle
19. Racquel

Disc: 2

1. Boiler - Specials & Rhoda
2. Theme from the boiler - Specials & Rhoda
3. Jungle music - Specials & Rico
4. Rasta call you - Specials & Rico
5. Easter Island - Specials & Rico
6. War crimes (the crime remains the same) - Specials
7. Version - Specials
8. Racist friend - Specials
9. Bright lights - Specials
10. Nelson Mandela - Specials
11. Break down the door - Specials
12. What I like most about you is your girlfriend - Specials
13. Can't get a break - Specials
14. Nelson Mandela (1) - Specials & Friends
15. Ghost dub '91 - Specials
16. Let us unite - Specials

Disc: 3

1. Ghost town - Specials
2. Why - Specials
3. War crimes (the crime remains the same) - Specials
4. Rascist friend - Specials
5. Bright lights - Specials
6. Nelson Mandela - Specials & Friends
7. Break down the door - Specials
8. What I like most about you is your girlfriend - Specials
9. Can't get a break - Specials
10.Nelson Mandela - Specials & Friends
11.Ghost Dub '91/Let us unite - The Specials

The Specials - Stereo-Typical A's, B's and Rarities Disc 1
The Specials - Stereo-Typical A's, B's and Rarities Disc 2
The Specials - Stereo-Typical A's, B's and Rarities Disc 3