Dance Craze (DVD + Blu-ray)

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million and by the end of that summer it had risen to 2 million, with young people hit particularly hard.

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. There’s a whole lotta skanking goin’ on and a joyous mass stage invasion too during the film’s ‘encore’ of The Specials’ Nite Klub. There are surviving 35mm prints but in much worse shape than Dunton's 70mm print (which the featurette refers to as "rare" rather than "only"). The journalist also saw The Specials playing their local Tiffany’s and much of the documentary took place in the 2 Tone HQ. Distractions were much sought after, and luckily music at least was in a particularly healthy state in this era of hopelessness with a variety of scenes springing up across the country.

UK / 1981 / colour / 88 minutes / English language, with optional subtitles for the Deaf and partial hearing / original aspect ratio 1.

The soundtrack album spent 15 weeks on the chart reaching a high of number 5, underlining the fact that 2-Tone was not a spent force, a fact that was further verified that troubled summer when the Specials released 'Ghost Town'. Directed by Joe Massot (responsible for the Led Zeppelin concert film The Song Remains The Same) Dance Craze was originally released at a selection of cinemas across the UK, US and Australia and there was an album release at the same time (on cassette and vinyl). It was filmedin 1980 and released in cinemas for fans of The Specials, Madness, Bad Manners, The Beat and The Bodysnatchers. It’s 1980 and the policies implemented by Margaret Thatcher, elected British Prime Minister a year earlier, are already making an impact.Something else entirely, the groundbreaking visual concept of Dance Craze was devised by the now-legendary technical innovator Joe Dunton. And there is another lost musical component, the instrument that pop forgot: the saxophone, honking, barking and wailing through almost every track. The movie is a madeleine for people of my generation: summoning up the sweat of venues such as London’s Lyceum Ballroom in the Strand, it shudders with the bands’ inexhaustible jogging-on-the-spot energy, the kind of live show where the singer lets rip directly into the ecstatic faces of the people at the front, virtually snogging them. The film gives it's audience no time to catch their breath, cutting from one song to the next in the bat of an eye, this is where backstage footage could have vastly improved the movie.

Special features include a rare episode of the BBC series Arena exploring the rise of 2Tone and a selection of rare clips from the film, many previously unseen.A soundtrack LP was issued on 2-Tone Records to coincide with the release, although some of the tracks are different recordings than those featured in the film.

The Specials’ Too Much Too Young is as thrilling as ever, and as ambiguously angry and contemptuous: “You’re married with a KID/When you could be having FUN WITH ME,” they snarl, adding the despairing Alf Garnett insult: “I’d hate to have the same name as you/You silly moo. Massot intercuts the bands’ live performances withnuggets of archaic 1950s newsreels, complete with cut glass-accented observations about British pop music and dance crazes. Sadly the film sticks to concert footage and there are no backstage interviews with the bands, this was a real opportunity missed as a documentary style film would have been a wonderful document of the 2-Tone movement.I bought the new bluray/dvd set, and the three disc lp set featuring all the songs featured in the movie.