The Beat – Special Beat Service
welcome back to the Skaject folks! this week we’re taking a look at the third and final album by the Beat, Special Beat Service.
I Confess is a stylish, extremely clean opener. lotta fun with this one, they’re really killing it here. Jeanette utilizes a strange rhyme and a fantastic beat – love the solo on this one too. very funny topically to have a track about a fling right after I Confess, a song about regretting cheating on your partner, too. damn Sorry doesn’t let up either – excellent track. Sole Salvation has some really fun guitar and bass work backing up a really neat track. Spar Wid Me brings a more reggae influence and slows the pace down a bit – probably a welcome break after the first four tracks were all high-energy like that, haha. Rotating Heads conveys a specific kind of anxiety – it’s definitely energetic but in a brooding, just under the surface kinda way, haha. Save It For Later reminds me of some other pop songs around this time that i can’t place, haha. it’s a p good track. She’s Going is p good – has some interesting vocal parts and some killer sax. Pat and Roger A Go Talk brings a bit more reggae energy back in. Sugar & Stress is my top track for the record, hands down no questions. love this track so much. End of the Party feels like it could be the closer, as a kind of let down, but then Ackee 1 2 3 feels like a big party track, musically, haha.
faves – I Confess, Jeanette, Sorry, Sole Salvation, Rotating Heads, Sugar & Stress
dislikes –
this record does a fantastic job of mixing some like, new wave sensibilities with the Beat’s style of ska, with a bit of reggae tossed in for fun, and the result is probably my favorite Beat record. it’s consistently fun and energetic throughout, there’s some fantastic musical and lyrical moments, and it’s just a great time. it’s a tad same-y, stylistically, but it’s hard to count that against them when the style is very good. check this one out for sure.
Special Beat Service – 8/10
next week, we’re looking at the Rise & Fall of Madness!
previous: Gosh It’s… Bad Manners | next: Rise & Fall
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