jackhammer

The term 'Cod Reggae' was invented for UB40! Such a shame though considering their working class roots and influences that they effectively sold out after just one album. Off topic-sorry!

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right-track

So you should be. Off topic banter is the reserve of the mods and not the common rank and file.

On topic.
The Beat did a passable cover of Robinson's 'Tears of a Clown' if I remember rightly. Sounded like more fun than a tribute though.

Edited to include vid:

jackhammer

Yeah they did cover it. Kind of average too. Anyone who has their first two albums chuck 'em my way though please.

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Gavin B.

Here's an unreleased bootlegged dub version of the Clash doing Rock the Casbah with the Beat's Ranking Roger toasting the vocals. I might try to remix it with a heavier drum and bass because the instrumental track sounds muddy and anemic. Roger's vocal sounds great but it overpowers the rest of the mix.



The second video I'm posting is the Beat rehearsing the Dandy Livingstone ska classic Message to Rudy with the Special's Lynval Golding in May for their up and coming 50 date tour of the USA this summer. The Beat may be joined by a few more of their old Birmingham mates in the Specials on various legs of the tour. The ska band Reel Big Fish will also be playing a lot of dates as the opening band. You can find more info on the 2 Tone bands at Dave Wakeling's website.

Rankin' Roger is now clean cut skinhead style and hardly recognizable without his locks. Lynval is a great edition as a vocalist and guitarist for the band. The band is doing a lot more vocal harmony with three frontline singers. Dave Wakeling has wanted to get back in the studio with a band for a long time and clearly he's in charge of this 2009 edition of the band. The band sounds a lot more cohesive than the 2006 touring edition of the Beat.


Lynval is seen at the far right in video, and is partially obscured at times by Dave who is stage center and Roger is on the frontline stage left nearest the camera.

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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt

Rickenbacker

Whatever dudes. Say what you want, but I though "Signing Off" was fantastic.

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last.fm
rym
Talk About the Passion - R.E.M.'s Discography Reviewed

Gavin B.

I can't tell you what I think of Signing Off because I've never heard it. An album or collection by the Beat titled Signing Off was never releasd the USA. I checked AMG and it isn't in the Beat's back catalog of American releases. Are you sure it's not a bootleg, Rick?

Id' love to get the 2 CD UK retrospective of the Beat known as Beats per Minute issued in 1996. The first CD is a collection of 16 early Beat standards but the bonus cd called Beats Per Minute has 10 unreleased extended remixes and 2 unreleased songs on it. I used to be able to purchase British music downloads at Amazon UK, but recent UK intellectual property laws now say that fobid me from purchasing digital downloads at Amazon UK.


Cover of Beats per Minute

I'll drop an English Beat song every so often during my sound system gigs and inevitably a gaggle of 20-something dancers flock to the booth and ask for the title of the tune. It's interest how the music of the Beat is under the radar of the post Millenium generation even though their music had a crucial impact on the kind of music that is spun on the contemporary underground club scene. The Beat's music has the same sense of immediacy it did in 1980.

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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt

Shoe

I really dig 'em. One of the first ska bands I discovered but I could never find their music on limewire (which is what I was using at the time) so I haven't gotten into them until recently I'm afraid.

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Rickenbacker

That was in response to a point Jackhammer made about UB40.


UB40's debut album was called Signing Off

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last.fm
rym
Talk About the Passion - R.E.M.'s Discography Reviewed

nickbr38

The vid of The English Beat that user Gavin B states is part of a rehearsal with Lynval Golding is in fact footage from a gig palyed at the Tupelo Music Hall in Londonderry NH in 2008. How do I know this? This is my vid!
Lynval Golding is currently touring the UK with The Specials and Dave Wakeling continues to tour his adopted homeland, the US. Also it is not Ranking Roger nearest the camera. Ranking is still a member of the UK Beat and is still based in Birmingham.
To Gavin, get your facts right and don't pass my vids off as something they are not.

nickbr38

Anyone who wants to watch the entire English Beat gig from Tupelos that I taped, go to Youtube and search for English Beat Lynval Golding Tupelo Music Hall Londonderry