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Specials

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In 2022, it was included in the list "The story of NME in 70 (mostly) seminal songs" at number 19, for "Lacing ska and reggae with the amphetamine edge of new wave". Mark Beaumont praised the song and its "brooding evocation of Thatcher’s wasteland Britain". [25] Barton, Laura (5 May 2009). "Barton's Britain: Coventry". The Guardian G2 Magazine. London, England. p.11 . Retrieved 5 September 2013. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrateded.). Australian Chart Book. p.286. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.

Dammers grew up in The Midlands area of The UK during the late 1960s/early 70s and became influenced with the sounds of Jamaican Ska Music that was now being heard in the UK mainly as a direct result of the Government policy at that time which saw big cultural changes in the area as a whole due to the influx of immigration in cities such as Birmingham and Coventry. Virtually all the 2 Tone artists were from the area; the one exception being ‘Madness’ who are from North London. a b c d Petridis, Alexis (8 March 2002). "Ska for the madding crowd". The Guardian. London, England . Retrieved 5 September 2013. a b c d Montgomery, Hugh; Bignell, Paul; Higgins, Mike (3 July 2011). "Ghost Town: The song that defined an era turns 30". The Independent. London, England: Independent Print Ltd . Retrieved 5 September 2013. In a retrospective review, AllMusic described the record as "a perfect moment in time captured on vinyl forever... It was an utter revelation—except for anyone who had seen the band on-stage, for the album was at its core a studio recording of their live set, and at times even masquerades as a gig". It felt the album captured the feeling of "Britain in late 1979, an unhappy island about to explode", and that "The Specials managed to distill all the anger, disenchantment, and bitterness of the day straight into their music". [3] In 2008, BBC Music agreed that the economic and political conditions of the day had heightened the record's impact, saying, "To understand the impact of this spearhead of the ska revival on early Thatcherite Britain you have to imagine something so left field and yet so apt occurring today. It was as if depression-era dustbowl ballads suddenly became hip again in this era of global economic meltdown. Hardly anyone would have predicted that a musical form so tied to its Afro-Caribbean heritage (as well as its less cool skinhead connections) could, almost overnight, become the trendiest thing across the nation". It concluded that The Specials "was a classic example of a band making an almost perfect first album, acting as both a mission statement (the rise of right wing groups opposed by the message of Two Tone equality) and as an alternative way to have fun without having to pogo or spit... The Specials remains a snapshot of a bleaker time, and a wrily comical antidote to political and cultural indifference anywhere". [16] However, Mojo 's David Hutcheon, reviewing the reissue, felt that " Specials doesn't feel quite as exciting as it did 23 years ago". [17]Jo-Ann Greene. "Ghost Town - The Specials | Listen, Appearances, Song Review". AllMusic . Retrieved 29 March 2014.

The song's sparse lyric alludes to urban decay, unemployment and violence in inner cities. [9] Jo-Ann Greene of Allmusic notes the lyric "only brush[es] on the causes for this apocalyptic vision — the closed down clubs, the numerous fights on the dancefloor, the spiraling unemployment, the anger building to explosive levels. But so embedded were these in the British psyche, that Dammers needed only a minimum of words to paint his picture." [10] The club referred to in the song was the Locarno (run by the Mecca Leisure Group and later renamed Tiffanys), a regular haunt of Neville Staple and Lynval Golding, [3] and which is also named as the club in "Friday Night, Saturday Morning", one of the songs on the B-side. The building which housed the club is now Coventry Central Library. [11] Recording [ edit ] Beaumont, Mark (7 March 2022). "The Story of NME in 70 (mostly) Seminal Songs". NME. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022 . Retrieved 7 March 2022. Kelly, Jon (2011) " The Specials: How Ghost Town defined an era", BBC, 17 June 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2015Matrix / Runout (Side A, stamped / etched, variant 2): CHR TT 5003 A // 3 ▽ E C R S TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN 1 1 5 CHR-TT 5003A3 √ANOS Duran Duran Announces New Album, 'Danse Macabre' ". Spin. 30 August 2023 . Retrieved 30 August 2023. The early label signings such as Madness and The Beat released just one record on 2 Tone before signing for Stiff Records and Go Feet respectively, however The Specials released a successful self-titled LP in 1979 and became the figureheads for 2 Tone Records and the UK Ska scene. The follow up ‘More Specials' was, at the time, considered disappointing but in truth had a hard task following up the first album and was possibly released too late - after the success of 2 Tone was beginning to recede. On some US releases, the song "Gangsters" (Dammers, Cecil Campbell) appears between "Too Much Too Young" and "Little Bitch". In Australia and New Zealand, "Gangsters" was included between "Do the Dog" and "It's Up to You". Top Selling Albums of 1980 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Recorded Music New Zealand . Retrieved 29 January 2022.

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