The Specials – More Specials
welcome back to the Skaject folks! i realized late last week that i got my planning tool mixed up, and that i’ve been doing the 1980 records out of order – even so, we’re gonna go ahead and cover More Specials, by the Specials, before i try and get back on track.
Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think) is a fun little romp to kick us off. i hadn’t heard this music hall standard before, and this is a very fun rendition. Man At C&A is a weird, strange, drifting kind of track – having a track that expresses fear of nuclear war causes some interesting interpretations on Enjoy Yourself, too. Hey Little Rich Girl features sax from Lee Thompson of Madness, which is a fun touch. neat track – feels like an older song, haha. Do Nothing has a more laid back beat to it – a nice little groove. Pearl’s Cafe has Rhoda Dakar providing some vocal support – im not big on this one, to be honest. Side One of the record wraps up with Sock It to ‘Em J.B. – fun instrumentally but i’m not really digging it lyrically. Stereotype (pt. 1 & pt. 2) kicks off the back side of this record – this track has a real strong start but drifts a bit as it runs, i think. Holiday Fortnight is an instrumental track, with some pretty distinctly Mexican influence – fun stuff. not a fan of I Can’t Stand It. i feel very mixed on International Jet Set. neat to see them experimenting, but a lot of this just seems dissonant in ways i don’t like. the Reprise for Enjoy Yourself closes the record out – serves its purpose but otherwise it’s just okay.
faves – Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)
dislikes – I Can’t Stand It
yeah dunno. there were some bright parts to this, and i think i could come around to some of what wasn’t immediately appealing, but there are chunks of this that i straight up don’t really enjoy at all. i think some of the more dramatic musical experimentations just didn’t mesh well or inform some of the other tracks around them, and in the end, its just not a complete package i enjoy that much.
More Specials – 4/10
next week, we’ll be checking out the first Bad Manners record, Ska n’ B!
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