Jazzy D's Soul Notes

When I was living in my birth town of Rugby back in the late seventies and early eighties TwoTone was a thing - and based in Coventry just twelve miles away - it was the sound of a new form of ska - that Jamaican sound before reggae. I was well into it and had the two-tone black and white halved shirts and the small thin ties and pork pie hats and so on.

The Specials were the ones for me and early Madness of course.

The Specials - A Message To You Rudy



The Specials - It's Up To You



Now roll on to 2019 - they reformed with three of the original members still alive of course including Terry Hall.

The Specials - Blam Blam Fever



Reviewed in Wire that year as well. And in the current issue of Wire is their brand new album Protest Songs 1924-2012 which is on my want list already. Here is a track from it.

The Specials - Freedom Highway



Written by Pops Staples and performed by the Staples Singers in 1965. The song was written for the Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights.

"Freedom Highway feels very optimistic. Everybody's marching for something. There were so many protests last year and they're still ongoing. People are protesting about very serious issues, people protesting about ridiculous issues. But overall there is that thing in your head that you're on a path or highway, and you're searching for freedom." - Terry Hall

Pre-Order the new album here:
https://thespecials.lnk.to/ProtestSon...


ENJOY

Talking of my old home town - Rugby - where I was born and sixties pop band Pinkerton's Assorted Colours came from(they had great names then) my flirtation with the world of music was that I knew Terry Hall quite well when his band The Coventry Automatics played a few gigs in Rugby late seventies, before they became The Specials. He was born in Coventry just 12 miles away from Rugby.

Now, this year is the fortieth anniversary of the label his band set up called Two Tone records. They set their label up, in the spirit of punk, because no major label would sign them up, because it was thoughts by then that ska was so passe. Thie records fort sold through Rough Trade of London. So, that is how through friendship I got to know Terry Hall, and I went to a few of ther early gigs. I was into reggae and ska anyway by then.

And why Two Tone? The name represented the fact that the band was multiracial - black and white -and became part of the Rock Against Racism movement.


The Specials - Gangsters



The Specials - A Message To You Rudy




I even dressed up in the two-tone fashion. Had a two-tone shirt - black on one side m white on the other.Crazy times!

Finally, their biggest hit- went to number one.

The Specials - Ghost Town



Enjoy.

So another mixed bag of music, and in reply to some comments here is -

Sounds of Blackness - Chains / Optimistic



Bloody brilliant uplifting gospel soul funk from the Jam and Lewis team.
Wiki link here -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Jam_and_Terry_Lewis

That one is for thespian15

Next up ,classic ska -

The Harry J. All Stars -  Liquidator



This one is for dark_phoenix54

Now back to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis productions, and surprisingly they produced this one too -

Human League - Jam



Also they produced some of the best known tracks by the SOS Band, Janet Jackson and others, including one by our very own Spice Girls ("If You Wanna Have Some Fun")

Anyway another soul classic from them -

The SOS Band - Just The way You Like It



And actually this is quite good , another guilty pleasure tune -

Spice Girls - If You Wanna Have Some Fun



Complete list of Jimmy Jam and Tery leiws productions here -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Jam_and_Terry_Lewis_production_discography

Enjoy!