Category Archives: Special AKA

Where’s our ‘Ghost Town’?

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the-specials-ghost-town

So there we were, a week or so ago, out on a Saturday night for a curry, Me and Mrs. 17 Seconds, and quite a few friends, including members of Aberfeldy and the Last Battle.

At one point during the meal – in relation to discussions about the Tory HQ in London being stormed at tuition fees, someone said ‘Where’s our Ghost Town?’

To which someone else replied ‘Give the bands a chance [the Colation]’s only been in for a few months!

I think if you’ve read this blog before, you probably know how I feel about the present government. It’s not to say that having a right-wing government in power automatically leads to a counter-culture of music, books and film, and as Mike Leigh pointed out on TV one night, not something that should be taken as being a good thing either.

But just watching this video nearly thirty years after the song came out…it’s never been more timely, sadly:

The Specials -‘Ghost Town.’ mp3

This was the Specials’ last single before they split; though the Special AKA worked with Rhoda Dakar to produce a record that remains truly frightening, about date rape, entitled ‘The Boiler’ and then to score a major hit with ‘Free Nelson Mandela.’ Two very different and awesome tracks.

Rhoda with the Special AKA -‘The Boiler.’ mp3 (*WARNING* – this track will freak you out. You have been warned)

The Special AKA -‘Free Nelson Mandela.’ mp3

Of course, there were other British folks* writing political music in the eighties, writing about what was happening in Britain and further afield. Elvis Costello wrote ‘Shipbuilding’ about the Falklands War, which was also performed by Robert Wyatt; and also two other classics in ‘Pills and Soap’ and ‘Tramp the Dirt Down.’ Morrissey’s solo debut Viva Hate finished with ‘Margaret On the Guillotine.’ The Jam did ‘Walls Come Tumbling Down…’ and then there was pretty much the whole career of Billy Bragg, New Model Army…yet the last twenty years have seen little to compare with these. Sure there have been a few songs; Apache Indian’s ‘Movin’ On (Special)’ about the election of the first BNP councillor in 1993; early stuff from the Levellers (Check out ‘Battle Of the beanfield’ and Gene’s 1999 single ‘As Good As It Gets’ about New Labour.

Of course, songs do need to be good and get out there. ‘Ghost Town’ was a number one. Billy Bragg’s ‘Take Down The Union Jack’ may have had admirable sentiments but the song was piss-poor, frankly.

What we need is a song that is a HIT that unites the people. Ain’t there one damn song that can make me break down and cry?

Elvis Costello -‘Shipbuilding.’ mp3

Robert Wyatt -‘Shipbuilding.’ mp3

Gene -‘As Good As It Gets.’ mp3

Billy Bragg -‘Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards.’ mp3

* I’m not meaning to undermine how important Hip-Hop was here – Public Enemy alone deserve several posts devoted to them.

Another Festive Fifty themed post

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What can I say? It was just such fun (if bloody time consuming) doing yesterday’s Peel-related Post here that I thought I’d do something similar again…In the process, I have realised that a great number of these come from 1982, confirming my belief that 1977-1982 was the greatest era ever, for music. Followed by 2001-2008, obviously).

First up, Pete Wylie under various guises had several entries in the Festive Fifty, here are two of my favourites. It’s sometimes hard trying to work out what was Wah!, Mighty Wah! or Wah! Heat (or Shambeko Say Wah! for that matter, but I think these were both as the Mighty Wah! That is what the CDs say, anyway)

Mighty Wah! -‘Come Back.’ mp3

Mighty Wah! -‘The Story Of The Blues.’ mp3 (1982 Festive Fifty, No.7)*

The song Shipbuilding was written by Elvis Costello in 1982, about the Falklands War and Robert Wyatt recorded it first, nearly topping the Festive Fifty in 1982. Elvis Costello recorded his own version for Punch The Clock in 1983. Both versions are fantastic, Wyatt’s version and piano are gorgeous, though Costello’s version is great too, and features Chet Baker on trumpet.

Robert Wyatt -‘Shipbuilding.’ mp3 (1982 Festive Fifty, No.2)

Elvis Costello -‘Shipbuilding.’ mp3 (1983 Festive Fifty, No.48)

And in different guises, Coventry also had a fair amount to say about social issues of the time, both at home and abroad.

The Specials -‘Ghost Town.’ mp3 (1981 festive Fifty No.21)

The Special AKA -‘Free Nelson Mandela.’ mp3 (1984 Festive Fifty No.41

As ‘New pop’ replaced or post-punk evolved, depending on your point of view, there were certainly many bands who were commercially successful on in both the charts and the festive fifty (even Frankie Goes to Hollywood made the Festive Fifty in 1984, with their nine-weeks-at-the-top-of-the-proper-charts Two Tribes). Though Peel bemoaned on his 1994 Festive Fifty that some of the records had made the chart, and where had he gone wrong, it’s probably fair to assume he had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek. These are both from 1982:

Yazoo – ‘Only You.’ mp3 (1982 Festive Fifty No.12)

Associates -‘Party Fears Two.’ mp3 (1982 Festive Fifty No.14)

Peel also played Hip-Hop when no-one else on Radio 1 was doing so (Peter Powell reportedly once told him that he shouldn’t on the grounds that Hip-Hop was the music of Black hooligans, allegedly).

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five -‘The Message.’ mp3 (1982 Festive Fifty no.3)

Erik B & Rakim -‘Paid In Full.’ mp3 (1987 Festive Fifty no.27)

* There are several different versions of this track in existence, including the Parts 1&2 version that Peel played on one of his last ever broadcasts in 2004. I have put the ‘Part 1’ version here.

Some ‘Eighties’ Stuff?

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Hi there…still off work and my head feels like it’s overworked…

Anyway…*sigh* here are a few songs, consider this a double post as I didn’t post yesterday.

There is no linking theme here, other than all this stuff came out in the eighties. It really is that tenuous.

One day I am going to do a post on the Ozzy-era Sabbath. Forget the TV show for the moment (though I’d much rather watch that than any other fly-on-the-wall thing), Ozzy has been responsible for some fantastic stuff. This is (obviously) from his solo career, and was later covered by none other than Pat Boone, as heard on the credits to The Osbournes

Ozzy Osbourne -‘Crazy Train.’ mp3

Guns ‘n’ Roses were lumped in with the hair metal lot, but they had more to them, which was probably why they crossed over. It would later all go horribly wrong, but this is where they managed to show you can write a love song that’s got balls. Later covered by Luna (will have to post that some day).

Guns ‘N’ Roses -‘Sweet Child O’ Mine.’ mp3

Utterly different sylistically from either of the above, The Specials and their later incarnation Special AKA wrote fantastic songs, and in some ways were the early eighties version of Massive Attack (if you stop to think about it). Anyway, ‘Ghost Town’ sums up not so much urban paranoia as urban fears coming true, while ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ helped to do exactly that. Where’s the 2000s’ equivalent, dammit?

Specials -‘Ghost Town.’ mp3

Special AKA -‘Free Nelson Mandela.’ mp3

This song’s african drum beats were later sampled for a rather cheesy dance number called ‘Sunchyne’ by Dario G (I think. I’ve not really spent the last ten years paying much attention to it). If this doesn’t move you, at least a little bit, then there’s no hope.

Dream Academy -‘Life In A Northern Town’ mp3

This song was banned by the BBC in 1986 because it was ‘obviously’ about heroin. What with Grange Hill -Zammo especially- telling us just to say no, and Boy George apparently having only eight weeks to live, it was getting a pretty scarey time to be a nine year old. (years later, when I sang in a band called She Will Destroy You, we opened our first gig with a cover of this).

Jesus and Mary Chain -‘Some Candy Talking.’ mp3

Weird, wonderful, and heartbreakingly sad, this must have been one of the most unusual records ever to make the Top 5.

Japan-‘Ghosts.’ mp3

Finally, another case of me having to eat my words. I hated this song in 1988, for some reason I didn’t get house music. Never mind, that 303 will get anyone in the end.

S-Express -‘Theme From S-Express.’ mp3

These links will be up for a week only. May my head and brain start to feel like normal soon, please…