Man, we were big into The Specials in High School. Their look-the suits, suspenders, and wing tips was both hip and elegant, and their sound was utterly refreshing amid the pap I had grown up with in St. Louis.
A Midwestern kid transplanted into the boarding scene of The East Coast, I was blessed with a roomate, Tim Smith, who was born and bred in Manhattan, and whose urbane taste in music was always spot on. Tim had the first Specials album, produced by a young Elvis Costello, which was released in 1979 and played like a greatest hits package. We played it until the grooves wore out.
Tim also had the vinyl maxi-single of 1981's non-album track Ghost Town.
The Specials were a multi-racial band who managed to flourish amidst severe racial unrest in Thatcherite England, and make it a central topic of their music. I found out recently that this track was written in response to Margaret Thatcher's policies, believed by the band to be responsible for increasing massive unemployment already present in Britain, and resulting racial tensions. It hit home for the Specials especially (like that?)as they were from Coventry, a city with unemployment at levels of 20% and higher at the time. It was also the summer of large-scale riots in Brixton, London and Liverpool, where there was alleged heavy-handed police treatment of young black men. Indeed the single was unusual in that it hit the top of the UK Top 40 at the exact time that the riots occurred. A crystalized moment where music mirrors society directly.
DOWNLOAD GHOST TOWN BY THE SPECIALS
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