#AlternateFridayMusic
Jan 2 2026
We start the year with #Hope

The Specials, “We Sell Hope” from “Encore” (2019)

The Specials were the cornerstone of UK second-wave ska, with mastermind Jerry Dammers founding 2Tone Records.
They came together in the late 70s and splintered in the early 80s, coming back together in a variety of permutations with members of their 2Tone label mates and others, but came closest to a true reunion after reuniting for a 30th Anniversary tour in 2009, with Terry Hall back on vocals, albeit sans Dammers.

The Specials always had a social conscience, being vocally anti-racist. My sense was they looked around in the late twenty-teens and saw they were needed, delivering their message via their first studio album of new material in many years (depending on how you define "they"). With Terry’s passing in 2022, it became their last.

The title of this track shows their sardonic wit had not dimmed, underlining the chorus giving a litany of Orwellian doublespeak. The down-stepping melody of the verses feels ominous, but by taking the tone of a warning, suggests hope to me; only where there’s hope would a warning matter, and indeed the verses turn sincere, using decidedly sweet vocals to give prescriptive measures for arresting our slide into dark times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8KYo8CY8Uw

#TheSpecials #Specials #ska #TwoTone #2Tone #JerryDammers #TerryHall

#MorningCoffeeAlbum with another jam doughnut!

The Specials self-titled

A recent acquisition, this is an early pressing of the debut album from the band most people associate with the 2 Tone ska revival.
This copy was well loved. The back of the cover is covered with writing by the original owner, a self styled Rude Girl named Casebal. I wonder where she is now.

#nowPlaying #TheSpecials #JerryDammers #2Tone #ska #music #vinyl

Specials, Specials, 1979 on Two-Tone

Ska greats The Specials (later renamed The Special AKA) in their debut full length on Coventry label Two-Tone, started by Jerry Dammers (of the Specials).

The Specials included Terry Hall, Neville Staple, Dammers, Lynval Golding, Roddy Radiation, Horace Panter, John Bradbury, Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez.

This album was produced by Elvis Costello, and features some covers: “Monkey Man”, “Too Hot”, and “A Message To You, Rudy” had all been done by Jamaican artists. (Rico Rodriguez had planned on the original 15 years earlier as well!)

My copy is a 2017 pressing of the 2014 “digital remaster” – sounds great.

#1970s #1979 #2Tone #HoracePanter #JerryDammers #JohnBradbury #LynvalGolding #NevilleStaple #RicoRodriguez #RoddyRadiation #Specials #SpecialsAKA #TerryHall #TheSpecials #TwoTone #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

#2Tone #Specials #Documentary #AKASpecials #antiracist #music #Coventry #Selecter #JerryDammers 💓 If you have an hour -- lots of cool archival footage about this bristling era of music for change. Inspiring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM1sv_gQGxw

https://youtu.be/Q8vvCwfz6EY?t=198

#JerryDammers From a 2014 Interview after winning an award and talking about the rise of UKIP and how political parties need to stop pandering to their rhetoric.

Do I spy Vince Cable being spoilt by #JerryDammers and the Spatial AKA Orchestra ? Enjoy

https://youtu.be/JHO5ymJcx4I