The Specials • Friday Night, Saturday Morning

In 1981, The Specials released an EP for Ghost Town, and the three cuts included Ghost Town (Extended Version), Why? (Extended Version), and Friday Night, Saturday Morning. The band, which used the light and poppy sound of ska to make searing political statements on a regular basis. As the band was touring in support of the second album, More Specials, they say the economic conditions around the country take a toll on the people. They wrote songs like Ghost Town, and Friday Night, Saturday Morning, in response. Since it is a Saturday morning, I thought this would work. Enjoy.

Fun Boy Three - Take 2

I can easily admit I am a bit of a Terry Hall fanatic. I had already discussed my love for his band Fun Boy Three in the earlier post here, and thought it was time to return to the band, and offer up the remaining videos they did during their brief run as a band. Fun Boy Three was made up of Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding, who had formerly played together is The Specials. The final single off their self-titled debut was The Telephone Always Rings, a romping retro number that is a delightful cohabitation of the 40s and the 80s.



The next release was a non-album single of the great song composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. Summertime shows Terry's ability to take a classic and spin it to give a new sound, one with a particular 80s twist.



The first single off Waiting, their second and final album, was The More I See (The Less I Believe). The song was written by the trio, and had the hallmark combination of urgency and ennui that was a big part of the New Wave movement. It was also clearly making social commentary, something Terry never shied away from.



The next single off Waiting was The Tunnel Of Love, a rather interesting view of love and marriage. I'm afraid Fun Boy Three's view of the institution was not as sweet and idyllic as other might promote.



The next single was Our Lips Are Sealed, written by Terry Hall and Go-Go Jane Wiedlin and part of the previous post. Then came The Farmyard Connection, a return to the Ska roots of the boys.



Hope you enjoyed Fun Boy Three! Pretty impressive videography for a band together for just two years. Terry Hall, call me, I'd love to do an interview...

Worth Another Listen - Fun Boy Three

While it was first recorded by The GoGos, Our Lips Are Sealed was written by Go-Go's guitarist Jane Wiedlin and Specials and Fun Boy Three singer Terry Hall. As a bit of a Terry Hall fanatic myself, I have always shad a soft spot for the version released in 1983 by his band, Fun Boy Three. The band was around from 1981 to 1983 and was formed by singers Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding after they left The Specials. The amazing wit found in the lyrics of all of Hall's work makes me smile.



Their first trip to the UK charts was in 1981 with the odd and eerie song,
The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum) . It is off the self-titled debut album, released in 1982. The song was composed by the guys, but certainly had the feel of an old, Tin-Pan-Alley song.



This time out the gate, they took an old jazz standard and reworked it for the time. And they utilized the help of good friends Siobhan Fahey, Keren Woodward and Sara Dallin, better known as Bananarama. This is It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It).



And while they had the ladies around, they recorded a song by Motown Records songwriters Norman Whitfield, William "Mickey" Stevenson, and Edward Holland, Jr. in 1964 and made it a hit in 1982. This is Really Saying Something, once again featuring Bananarama.



You know, I had so much fun listening to Fun Boy Three again, I think I will have another post soon with some more music. I am such a fan of Terry Hall - and have been since finding him in The Specials. From there to Fun Boy Three, to The Colourfield, and on to solo work.

Worth Another Listen - The Specials

Formed in Coventry, England, in 1977, The Specials were a band like few others. Born out of the post-punk, pre-New Wave era of music, they joined the ska beats with the drive of punk to make a dance music that swept the world. Formed by songwriter/keyboardist Jerry Dammers, vocalist Terry Hall and guitarist Lynval Golding, the put together a big rhythm section and The Specials were born. Part of my unnatural fascination with all things Terry Hall, I was crazy about this music back in the day. And 33 years later, they appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on April 13th of this year. The song they performed in a private show was Little Bitch from their self-titled first album, released in 1979. This is the performance on the Jools Holland show.



But back in 1979, the band was working on their first album, and it also included that amazing song A Message To You, Rudy. Originally written by Dandy Livingstone in 1967, it scored #10 on the UK pop chart. Singing background vocals was an amazing singing, Chrissie Hynde.



Then in 1980, the band released the single Rat Race. The song, included in import versions of the sophomore effort, More Specials, but not the UK version, climbed to #5 on the UK charts and made the Top 100 of US Dance music.



The first cut off the second album was the 1949 song Enjoy Yourself, best known when performed by Guy Lombardi and the Royal Canadians. On the album version, the background vocals were offered up by the ladies of The Go-Gos. Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey could be heard on the album, but here in this live version, it is the boys in the band.



In 1981, they released Ghost Town, another single that wasn't on a album at first. That, however, did not stop it from heading all the way to #1 on the UK Pop chart, and securing more fame for the band.



Not long following this success, Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding broke away from the band to start their own group, Fun Boy Three. In this group, Terry had much more control, both musically and artistically, giving him much more room to experiment. Jerry Dammers continued on, sometimes using the moniker The Specials, other times using Specials AKA, until 1984, when he dissolved the band to move into political activism. The band reunited in 2007 for a 30th anniversary celebration, and have been together since, touring and working on some new music. For more about The Specials, check out their website here.

Worth Another Listen - The Colourfield

Part of my youth was spent listening to anything by Terry Hall. Hall had a penchant for starting a band, putting out 2 albums [they were albums and not CDs in the 80s], and then moving on. There was The Specials, Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield, Terry, Blair & Anouchka, and Vegas [with Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics]. Then, he went solo.



Terry was the quintessential pouting British schoolboy, with a sense of detachment and a full understanding of the existential problems in the world. The Specials were a ska band, as were Fun Boy Three. The Colourfield and Terry, Blair & Anouchka were more retro in feel, and Vegas was just an odd blend of styles. But I followed them all, and listened to it all, and was sure that the world would come to an end when I saw the cover of one of the solo CDs had a picture of Terry smiling - Dear God in heaven, he can't actually be happy, can he?



No matter, for my favorite incarnation was The Colourfield, which from the outside looked like four California college boys, but ended up being the Beach Boys with lyrics by Sylvia Plath. I loved the song Pushing Up Daisies.



Terry always tended to be a ahead of his time - and kept him from being much more than an icon to other musicians and geeks like me. He is currently working on a reunion with The Specials, and has almost no web presence. You can find him on MySpace, or an unofficial fansite. Or in a corner bar in England, smoking ciagarettes and lamenting the human condition. Ah, yes, the good old days!