SPECIAL BEAT live - Enjoy Yourself
02 monkey man
The Midlands of England in the summer of 1979 was birthplace to one of the most unexpected music revivals in UK history. Punk rock had lost its sense of fun, and its shock value, with bands becoming either too political or too commercial. The middle ground was there for the picking and was niftily conquered by groups comprised of disillusioned punks who recognised the opportunity of having fun whilst still making a stand for the blank generation of the mid seventies. They discovered Ska music, and made it their own.
Bands such as The Specials, Madness, The Beat and Bad Manners won international acclaim and enjoyed massive commercial success, many artists going on to become celebrities in their own right. Sadly, by the mid eighties, it was all pretty much over bar the shouting. Then in 1990, from the ashes of arguably the two most groundbreaking bands, The Specials and The Beat (or English Beat in the USA), the Special Beat was born.
Headed by Beat toaster, Ranking Roger and Specials "Rude Boys" Neville Staple and Lynval Golding, the band toured extensively and produced two live albums. In 1992 they toured Japan and now, for the first time, the footage from the Tokyo show on that tour is available on DVD and features numerous classics from the back catalogues of both the 2-Tone era giants.
Order the DVD now at http://www.cherryred.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=2744