Specials, The

The Specials: More Specials

Review by Vivien Goldman, NME, September 1980

YOU REMEMBER the scene from Hollywood: overnight the lovable brat grows up into the most compelling person in the room. Suddenly – you're beautiful! ...

The Clash/The Specials: Friar's, Aylesbury

Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, July 1978

FOR PEOPLE who like to put things in neat little pecking orders – and because of our conditioning there's a lot of them – the ...

The Damned/UK Subs/The Specials: The Lyceum, London

Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, April 1979

WITH ENOUGH police grouped manacingly outside in coaches, in squad cars and standing around to supervise a couple of Manchester United away fixtures, I suppose ...

The Specials: Specials (Two Tone)

Review by Tony Stewart, NME, October 1979

YOU JUST can't shake the tunes out of your head, can't stop beating your feet to the heat as The Specials' unique excitement surges through ...

The Specials in Hit City

Profile by Van Gosse, Village Voice, January 1980

DADUHDA/DAduhDA/DAduhDA/DAduhDA/DAduhDA/DAduhDA/DAduhDA.... Triplets in two-four, the sound of the Specials: call it ska, call it punky reggae, it's a jumping groove, the group going up and ...

Live In NYC: The Specials

Live Review by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, March 1980

IF THE REACTION of the New York rock press is any indication (and it usually isn't), the Specials are going to be Very Big In ...

The Specials: The Whisky, Los Angeles

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, March 1980

WE GOT to hear the second – the best – half of the show twice. The first time sardined in the long line outside the ...

The Specials: The Whisky, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Mark Leviton, BAM, March 1980

BEFORE THERE was reggae as we now know it, Jamaica had a ferociously happy, syncopated music variously called bluebeat, rock steady or ska. ...

The Specials: Rude Boys Can't Fail

Report by Garry Bushell, Sounds, March 1980

THEY DON'T muck about, the Yanks. These buildings go all the way up like the architect was getting paid by the cubic foot although exactly ...

Specials: Rude Boys Spread Manure In Yank Bed Of Roses

Profile by Simon Frith, Creem, April 1980

THE SPECIALS are the first group I've followed from first gig to international stardom. Nobody else realizes this, but their first ever press mention was, ...

The Specials: More Specials (2-Tone)*****

Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, September 1980

TO BET or not to bet, that is the question. Whether it be nobler to sit pretty with a winning formula or take a gamble ...

The Specials: Stop The Tour, I Want To Get Off

Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, NME, September 1980

IN ST AUSTELL, Cornwall, it is only a few minutes since the pubs have opened for Sunday lunchtime. The red-faced moustachioed police sergeant and the ...

The Specials: More Specials (Chrysalis)

Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, November 1980

CAUTION: Anyone expecting More Specials to duplicate the ferocious wallop of the British ska band’s live performances or debut LP is in for a surprise. ...

Special AKA: New Band, Old Cause

Profile and Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, November 1984

SAN FRANCISCO: Jerry Dammers, leader of the Special AKA, is a very idealistic man. He believes, for instance, that popular songs can change the way ...

The End of 2-Tone: Madness/The Specials/The Selecter

Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, November 1986

Farewell, Madness – the last of the 2-Tone tribe. Phil Sutcliffe follows the fate of the three groups that pioneered the ska revival. ...

The Specials: More Specials (2-Tone)

Review by Lloyd Bradley, Q, July 1989

GIVEN THE QUANTITY of ska compilations on the market at the moment, it's a good time to revive the ska revival of 10 years ago. ...

The Specials: Reissues

Review by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, May 2002

Digitally remastered and enhanced with two videos per disc, the Sound Of Young Coventry before The Streets ...

Jerry Dammers: A Ghost From The Past

Interview by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, April 2007

THE MAN WHO created 2-Tone, Coventry's own Motown, and wrote Britain's most perfect fusing of politics and pop, the single 'Ghost Town' by his great ...

The Specials 2009. But Where's Jerry?

Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, April 2009

SLIGHTLY DOWNWIND of Pentonville Prison in a north London photographer's studio, six Specials are posing for their first pictures since 1981. ...

The Specials: O2 Academy, Newcastle****

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, April 2009

THE PAST three decades seemed to fall away when the Specials began their comeback tour with this explosive and exciting performance in Newcastle upon Tyne. ...

The Specials: 02 Academy, Birmingham

Live Review by Simon Witter, Daily Telegraph, April 2009

FROM AGING ROCKERS who won’t let it be to '80s ravers going to pilled-up, Facebook-coordinated reunions, everybody these days is raging against the dying of ...