Dance Craze (DVD + Blu-ray)

Product Information

But seeing the potential for the whole 2 Tone movement rather than just the one band, he decided to cover the whole scene. So live footage was shot in 1980 featuring Madness, The Specials, The Selecter, The Bodysnatchers, the Beat and Bad Manners. Madness took their name from one of Buster’s biggest hits, while their one and only 2 Tone release was a tribute to him called The Prince, with the B-side an infectious cover of his single Madness. Their second single, One Step Beyond, was another cover. The Specials themselves naughtily stole the tune of his Al Capone for their debut single Gangsters. Too Hot was a direct cover of another of his songs, while Stupid Marriage borrowed its premise from Buster’s Judge Dread. 2 Tone owed a huge debt to the singer born Cecil Bustamente Campbell. Original stereo and surround sound mixes by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley remastered for this release, plus a new Dolby Atmos surround sound mix approved by Jerry Dammers

The layers of archival treats on this DVD/Blu-ray release include a BBC Arenathat sent NME "cub reporter" Adrian Thrills to the chaotic offices of the record label in Coventry, where Jerry Dammers, the founder of The Specials, and the rest of the band were in fine form. Director Joe Massot, an American living in the UK, had part-directed a Led Zeppelin concert film and had worked with George Harrison, but it was his son’s passion for the 2-Tone bands that led him to film the series of concerts.Highlights include The Specials’ Concrete Jungle, a slice of terrace chant ska with social realist lyrics about streets that are no longer safe and only walking at night where there’s lots of lights. It was thought lost for decades, but a 70mm print from 1981 belonging to cinematographer Joe Dunton has been given the 4K restoration treatment by the BFI and Chrysalis Records. Newly remastered in 4K from original film materials, DANCE CRAZE is presented here by the BFI and Chrysalis Records on Blu-ray and DVD (Dual Format Edition) for the first time, more than 40 years on from its theatrical release. Dance Craze was released in February 1981, the idea originally came from American director Joe Massot (who shot the Wonderwall film), when he met Madness during their first US tour. Originally he was going to make a film about the band but when his son informed him of the wonderful world of 2-Tone, Massot expanded his original plans to include the whole movement. It’s 1980 and the policies implemented by Margaret Thatcher, elected British Prime Minister a year earlier, are already making an impact. That spring, riots broke out in the St Pauls district of Bristol. Inflation rose to over 20%. Unemployment stood at around 1.5 million and by the end of that summer it had risen to 2 million, with young people hit particularly hard. An inquest into the death of Blair Peach, killed as he took part in an anti-National Front protest, returned a much disputed verdict of misadventure, and the man dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper was engaged in a grotesque murdering spree. I could go on but you get the picture.

Yes, the BFI, no less. Which seems like quite an honour. It didn’t seem quite so high-brow when I was watching this on a Saturday afternoon at Bolton Odeon all those years ago. It was utter carnage for the entire screening.Espousing the message of racial unity, the sharp suited band combined choppy Jamaican rhythms with the rawness and high-voltage energy of punk. With help from Chrysalis, they set up 2 Tone Records and just as, say, Glasgow’s Postcard label would worship at the altar of The Velvet Underground, the Coventry imprint adopted Jamaica’s Prince Buster as their patron saint. Brilliantly capturing the vibrancy of the genre, Dance Craze offers a vivid, immersive snapshot of the 2 Tone era, through kinetic concert performances by The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, The Beat, Bad Manners and The Body Snatchers. The disc will feature outtakes, a booklet featuring new writing on the film, plus other extras to be confirmed. DANCE CRAZE premieres at the Glasgow Film Festival on Thursday 9 March and will be screened at BFI IMAX, the biggest screen in Britain – 65 foot high with a 12-channel sound system – on Wednesday 22 March. The already sold out BFI IMAX screening will be introduced by members of the bands featured. 30 x Picturehouse cinemas are holding a special one-off screening on 23 March. The material has been newly restored by the BFI from original film materials. The release will feature a brand new Dolby Atmos sound mix supervised by Jerry Dammers and Dermot James (Chrysalis Records).

The movie doesn’t get many screenings, and it hasn’t had a release on either DVD or Blu-ray. Until now. The BFI has produced a dual-format edition that works as both a DVD and Blu-ray. Available on Blu-ray and DVD for the first time ever, the film is presented in a new 4K restoration (from original film materials) and features brand new sound mixes by Chrysalis Records. Shot in 1980 by Joe Massot, who directed the psychedelic and absurdist Wonderwall in 1968, Dance Craze is a concert footage film rather than a documentary although, around the halfway mark, it’s broken up with some old Pathé news reports on dance crazes such as the Locomotion and the Madison, and a man from Harrogate attempting a world record for playing the piano longer than anybody before had managed (a marathon endeavour aided by ‘eggs, glucose, tea and brandy’ together with a hundred cigarettes a day. Don’t try this at home, folks).

The movie was directed by Joe Massot, who is perhaps best known these days for the 1960s cult classic Wonderwall ( available as a cheapie on Blu-ray if you haven’t got it). He also directed the Led Zeppelin concert film The Song Remains The Same a few years earlier, and following that, he planned to do a concert movie featuring Madness. First pressing only*** illustrated booklet with a new essay by Johnny Mains, the original 1981 press release and original 1981 band biographies, credits and notes on the special features Outtakes (1980, 17 mins): a selection of rare clips, many previously unseen, featuring the bands from the film There’s live performances by The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, The Beat, The Bodysnatchers and Bad Manners (the latter being the only featured band never to have signed to 2 Tone) and the film flits between these six acts for a song or two at a time. Massot and his cinematographer Joe Dunton capture the kinetic energy on display inventively, with Dunton even sharing space with the musicians onstage as they play. Massot intercuts the bands’ live performances withnuggets of archaic 1950s newsreels, complete with cut glass-accented observations about British pop music and dance crazes. It’s an ingenious way to break up the documentary and set the 2-Tone bands in a historical framework.