The Specials

I loved this album but I also couldn't wait for it to end.

if the voting structure was out of 10 then most of my 5 star reviews would be 9s. this however would be a big fat 10. i fucking love this album almost as much as a SHACK loves lamb chops.

One of the best albums ever recorded. Huge loss of Terry Hall got me to listen again.

It’s the Rude Boys ‘Abbey Road’, innit? I can see why.

There are two things I know to be true about ska. 1. The Specials are the greatest ska band of all time. 2. Even the greatest ska band of all time cannot make me like ska. That said, I am adding a full star in recognition of "Do the Dog" because it is an all time banger. A generous 3 stars

Absolutely magnificent album. Had the pleasure of seeing the Specials live in 1979 at Loughborough uni on the Two Tone tour with The Selecter and Dexy's. One of the best gigs of my life.

Rarely has a band emerged with its first album with such a clear vision statement. The look, the sound, the politics and the voice of this band is clear and strong on this record. The Specials were an integrated band, with equal influences from black (ska, reggae, soul, r'n'b) and white (punk, rock) forms. Politically engaged in the new Thatcherite England, they were both protesting and ready to party. Elvis Costello did a great job of capturing the live feel of their performances, although some contemporaneous reviews bemoan how much slower the record is than their live shows. Listening to live tracks on the deluxe edition, I can kind of see the point of the criticism. But, as an Australian listener who only heard the studio album and never had the chance to see the Specials live in 1979, the album is still fantastic on its own merits. Smart, political, and above all fun, this is such a great record. It makes me wanna take to the streets in protest _and_ dance.

I had heard of The Specials for years and never gave them a try. Now I wish I gave them a chance sooner. Amazing album front to back. Felt ahead of its time. Not a single song on the whole record that I disliked. I know I'll be coming back to it in the future and it has me interested to check out the rest of their work. Amazing. Favorite Song: A Message To You Rudy

It's incredible that a bunch of kids with learning difficulties can deliver music of this quality.

Iconic album that offered more than the superb tracks it contains. Part of a force that was challenging endemic racism, acceptance of unemployment and community disintegration all done with musicality and energy that would blow your porkpie hat off!

One of their great album. Not sure it's my favorite, but definitely really good. Also, if anyone can see them live, totally worth it (whenever we'll have live shows again, and hopefully they're not dead by then)

Contrairement à ce qu'en a dit eltrapeze, cet album n'est pas nul, il est simplement mauvais.

No thanks, I can 100% say this will never get listened to again

A supreme vibe, some timeless bangers, and redolent of a genre that was stacked with cool bands. Only downside is that there isn't a scene half as cool as this anymore. Cheers for reminding me, lads!

Amazing album, an all-time classic. I love the punk energy and the ska attitude working together. I find the whole thing very moving, reminiscent of a time when music tried to change things (if only peoples’ minds) and be a force for good. Hard to pick a standout track, but have always loved the closing time feel of You’re Wondering Now.

Absolutely love this. One of my favourites as a teenager, I loved this flavour of ska-punk, reminds me of skanking wildly to the local ska punk bands at gigs in dingy basements. Disillusion and hopelessness mixed with funky bass lines and upbeat horns. Deluxe version also has a live disc which is fun, wouldn't normally like live albums but you can feel their live energy. Favourites: A message to you rudy too much too young Monkey Man

I like ska but haven't had enough exposure to everything that's out there. Great record, well played, with some entertaining song choices. I'm slightly tempted to give this album a five, but it's not going to change anyone's life... I suppose unless they are inspired to create a ska band!

A message to you Rudy is superb. Actually the album is superb. Concrete jungle another banger. 2 tone launched a lot of great bands and the specials might have been the best. Ska music is fun and serious.

I found The Specials quite intimidating as a nipper, their pork pike hats and two tone outfits carrying a faint whiff of violence; all the bad kids in school seemed to have the checker logo on their bag. I'm not scared anymore, this is a great debut and was hugely influential on the British music that followed. I'm a big fan of Terry Hall's vocal style and can handle ska skanking much better than reggae snoozing.

If you love spending time after work down at your local drinking lagers with the lads, or chanting club songs in a group on your way to the weekend football match...then this albums for you. I don’t particularly see the enjoyment in either of those activities, hence I didn’t get much out of listening to this music. It’s dated yobbo English reggae and it’s ugly. The whole album reminded me of the tv show Minder and the song from the same era ‘Ullo John! Got New Motor?’ by (I think) Alexei Sayle...both of which should never be allowed out of the late 70s/early 80’s and definitely be kept there under lock and key. I found listening to these tracks utterly annoying and would describe them as sloppy, crass & an insult to my senses. 1 Star

Ska baby! Debut album produced by Declan. As good as it gets. And what it begat…the opening of the door for other great ska acts. Rudy didn’t fail.

Thanks for introducing me the two tone genre. As a punk fan, I absolutely love this fusion with ska. It's jazzy, danceable, and full of punk energy. Lots of diversity in these tracks, setting the standard for later ska bands to follow. They don't repeat the same trick twice; it's full of surprises. Although all the tracks are good, I feel like it fell short starting with "Too Hot", but picked up again with "Blank Expression." Favorite tracks: Gangsters, A Message to You Rudy, Doesn't Make It Alright, Stupid Marriage, Too Much Too Young, You're Wondering Now

I was going to do a my one track mind episode with a woman originally from england about this album. Wish I had gotten to that one before I threw in the towel. I would have loved to hear her more firsthand account of this album's significance. Having an interest in punk music inevitably leads you to it's intertwining with reggae/ska/rocksteady. Jamaican music was sort of the equivalent of HipHop to a certain segment of British youth at the time. I'd also say reggae/dub is the most significant precursor to hiphop in many ways but that's a whole nother conversation. Anyway, The Specials are pretty much THE archetypal British ska/two tone band that set the pattern for so many others to follow in their wake. It might sound formulaic now, but at that time they were creating that formula. Anyway, I like this album but don't love it. I find it very enjoyable and it would probably have been a great live show back in the day. It's fun and has the right amount of punk attitude in flashes so as to not spoil the party.

I loved this album musically, the real blueprint for 2-tone. Massive shame about the adolescent views on relationships and the misogyny on Side B.

I’ve never got into ska. It’s interesting to see it emerging as a sort of oddball love child of reggae and punk at this point in time. But that doesn’t quite equate to me wanting to pop this on and listen to it again.

The Specials by The Specials (1979) Revival Ska is an acquired taste. Accents on the offbeats dominate, spiced by horn flashes, and driven by walking bass lines and rapid, steely percussion fills; it’s music that makes you dance, but not feel or think. The Specials pull off this self-mockingly comic mood without monotony (quite an accomplishment), chiefly because of the excellence of Horace Panter’s bass playing, and very good performances by John Bradbury on drums and Rico Rodriguez (underutilized) on trombone. Having Elvis Costello producing certainly helps. But two things kill this album: horrible singing and idiosyncratic, anti-redemptive preachiness. The less said about this, the better. This not an album for the ages. I’m sure in 1979 is was very cool. 1/5

This is among my favourite albums that have ever been made. I’ve been inclined to give it a seven star rating. I’m taking this amongst my 10 albums on a deserted island.

Loved it, will definitely come back to this again.

Rarely has a band emerged with its first album with such a clear vision statement. The look, the sound, the politics and the voice of this band is clear and strong on this record. The Specials were an integrated band, with equal influences from black (ska, reggae, soul, r'n'b) and white (punk, rock) forms. Politically engaged in the new Thatcherite England, they were both protesting and ready to party. Elvis Costello did a great job of capturing the live feel of their performances (although some contemporaneous reviews bemoan how much slower the record is than their live shows). Smart, political, and above all fun, this is such a great record. It makes me wanna take to the streets in protest _and_ dance.

May go to 5 stars with more listens. I've never listened to a full album by The Specials before, but they were on a lot of CD compilations growing up. Liked it more than I thought I would.

As a survivor of the great ska scare of the mid-nineties, I have mixed feelings here. A message to you Rudy is a bop, I can hear the Costello influence on the whole album. Clearly the best of the genre. It is a comfortable blend of punk and reggae, as opposed to the rock/pop influences of later bands. The specials want to change my mind about ska music. They don’t, but it was close.

The New Jersey underground scene in the late 90’s was a crazy melange of punk, hardcore and ska and it wasn’t uncommon that you’d go to show at your local VFW hall or whatever and see a show that featured a bunch of bands playing any one of those styles played in one night. Hell, you’d probably end up seeing a band that combined two or more of those styles. One of our local places to see punk/hardcore/ska shows was a Chinese buffet, the King Buffet. Once a month on a Friday night, the King Buffett would open its doors to the punks of Hunterdon County, NJ for 3 or 4 hours, charging $5 bucks entry and local bands would play in a make shift stage area in the restaurant. It was really just a large open area not far from the buffet servery that had the tables cleared out for the night. It couldn’t have been more than 25 feet wide by 50 or 60 feet long, but it was the place to be in our podunk county on those Friday nights. You’d see your friends there and you would go and see your friends bands playing there, too. Everyone got along and I don’t think I ever witnessed a fight or anything too untoward go down there.* I mean, there would be teenagers smoking cigarettes in the parking lot off to the side of there restaurant and there were definitely kids who showed up stoned or maybe a little drunk, but to my knowledge there were never any serious incidents or injuries that would have jeopardized the shows from happening.** I’m not sure what it took for Richie, the guy who organized the whole thing, to convince the owner of the King Buffet that he should host punk and hardcore shows at his restaurant, but I’m willing to bet he pulled in some decent extra income on those nights - the place was always packed, probably beyond official capacity for the restaurant. Just think about your local Chinese buffet and then picture people skanking or a mosh pit going on in the middle of the dining area. These shows were a ton of fun, but I’m still shocked, 25 years later, that a restaurant owner was willing to take on the kind of insurance risk that these shows presented. God bless him, though, he did. My band played there a few times, but one show in particular stands out. We were a hardcore band, or maybe “metalcore” would be a better descriptor. There were four bands scheduled to play that night. We were playing third and the fourth band, Stick Figure Suicide, was slated to play some dates on the Warped Tour later that summer. I don’t think it was ever discussed within our band, but I think subconsciously we were primed to show them up. Not because we had any beef with them or anything like that, but more like “Oh, you’re going to be playing on the Warped Tour? Well, we should be the ones playing on the Warped Tour and we’re going to prove it tonight.” It was the kind of hubris that only a bunch of 18 year olds with a chip on their shoulders could muster. In truth, we probably took that approach to any show we played, but I think there was a little more of it that evening. It was a hot summer night and the buffet was packed. There was a kid who, for some reason, brought one of those giant stuffed animals that you win at the boardwalk or at a carnival if you can pop three balloons with a dart. It was like three feet tall and I think it was a monkey or gorilla, but it might have been a bear. The intent, I think, was have it in the pit as a joke or for humorous photos or something. When we played our show, the audience was ready for us, our past performances there might have given us a reputation. Our shows got wild, and we did get kicked off stage during our high school’s Battle of the Bands for starting a mosh pit once, but they were never actually out of control and the pits were usually pretty lively. We played with a focused intensity that night and crowd responded in kind: the undulations of the pit would frequently push people into the makeshift barrier of chairs in the front of the stage. Towards the end of our set, the aforementioned stuffed monkey/gorilla/bear/whatever did indeed make it into the pit. It was promptly torn to shreds and its stuffing was strewn about, littering the floor of the buffet. After we finished our set and moved our gear off the stage, I helped clean up the detritus from the stuffed animal while Stick Figure Suicide set up for their show. By the time they started playing a few minutes later, the buffet had cleared out significantly from the 120 or so people who had attended, to the point where I was standing in the middle of the dining room/pit area holding a garbage bag full of stuffed animal guts and the band was pretty much fully visible to me with maybe only 20 people in front of them on the floor watching. I kind of felt a little bad for them in the moment, they were supposed to be the headliners and we straight up stole that show from them. However, they did get to play the Warped Tour and we never did. Now, I realize this somewhat self-congratulatory story has nothing to do with The Specials, but I associate their music with shows in that place and the people I remember from those days. They were sort of a backing soundtrack to a lot of those shows and friendships. While ska was never really for me, that is where this record took me today. *The King Buffet would stop hosting shows shortly after the events told here. They unknowingly sold alcohol to a minor with a fake ID, which may or may not have been a setup by the local police department in order to put a stop to the shows - I wouldn’t have put it past them. **A friend of mine fell off a chair while filming the show I describe here and broke his arm. He was quickly taken to the hospital by another friend of ours and no emergency services were called, as that would have surely put an end to punk rock shows at the King Buffet.

No. 283/1001 Gangsters 2/5 A Message to you Rudy 3/5 Do the Dog 2/5 It's Up To You 3/5 Nite Klub 3/5 Doesn 't Make It Alright 3/5 Concrete Jungle 2/5 Too Hot 2/5 Monkey Man 2/5 New Eea 2/5 Blank Expression 3/5 Stupid Marriage 3/5 Too Much Too Young 3/5 Little Bitch 3/5 You're Wondering Now 2/5 Average: 2,53 Just not my taste.

I liked this more than I expected, scattershot in a beguiling way. The often volcanic rockabilly guitar surprised me, and while some of lyrics are dated mansplaining, they are interesting, unusual (to me) dated mansplaining - the character and the conceits in the singer’s mode of address hold the attention. The vocals are also pleasingly fey when Hall lets his guard down.

The dark souls of ska

Ouais ça fait changement un ska reaggea.j'ai bien aimé. Ça date en plus mais ça a un bon son 3.75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4KCB3-UZqM Favorite tracks: A Message to You Rudy, Blank Expression, Stupid Marriage. Album art: Really dig this layout, with the track list and everything framing the band photo. 3/5

375 albums in and I'm realizing that my musical tastes do not align with those of whoever made this list. I would rather listen to "A Night at the Opera" 375 times over than ever hear some of these albums - this one included.

Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for this?! best known: "A Message To You Rudy" 2,5

I get it. Proto-ska from the UK. I actually didn’t know that ska was a thing in the 70s but since it was I can see how influential this would have been. It didn’t blow me away but it was fine.

I liked some of the songs, but the overall effect of this left me a bit cold. It's all within the same register for the most part. Doesn't feel too dynamic as an album, even if I didn't hate listening to it. I'd give it 2.5 if I could.

04/18/22 It all sounds the same.

Кринж не прошедший время

Are they called “The Specials” because they’re special? I don’t know and frankly I don’t care- I could barely get through this album once. This may be my least favourite album so far, so in a sense they are special.

I hate ska

Je suis à deux doigts de devenir particulièrement vulgaire pour écrire cette review, comment peut on servir un album aussi minable, mais pire, comment peut on considerer cet album comme "à écouter avant de mourir"? Là Robert, permet moi de te dire que c'est la honte, et que tout le générateur est déçu de ce choix, on pensait que tu valais mieux que ça. Autant en emporte le vent donc.

No. Just no. It sounds like this research that was conducted about the most unlikeable song.

Awesome album. The beginnings of the Two Tone resurgence of ska. It has the angst of the British punks, but with a fantastic, danceable upbeat sound straight from the Jamaican immigrants. Political and a party at the same time. While I haven’t listened to enough of the albums from this era of ska, not full albums anyway, this is my favorite of those I have heard. Super thrilled when this popped up as my album this morning.

Loved it, this has a really nice combination of party songs with social commentary. Ska is not a genre I'm really familiar so that might be why i consider The Specials to have a very distinctive sound. The energy and vibe of the more upbeat songs in particular is really infectious

Day 99 Such a great album, just so fun yet a lot of the songs about serious topics. 9/10 Highlights Too Hot New Era Blank Expression

This is a classic ska album, may THE classic ska album, though maybe the English Beat has something this good too. First song is an earworm that everyone from a certain time and place knows.

4/5 V much enjoyed

Excellent weekend listen - was able to enjoy it a few times. Essential listening. I appreciate that The Specials have never lost their place in the conversation of ska music. Real godfathers and worthy of the legacy.

Great album..my first

Absolutely seminal

The drummer alone lifts this to a 5. 5/5

Joyous, bit punk, bit ska, all briliant and still fresh sounding. Elivs Costello's production did a good job creating something just cohesive enough, I felt if it was cleaned up you'd have lost the political tone. 5

Fantastic. Enjoyed learning more about English ska history.

Beste Unterhaltung

Great debut with a clear direction. 5/5 for sure

Æðisleg plata. Geggjað sound, fyndnir og flottir textar. Töffarar.

Frábær plata. Hressandi ska með beittum textum.

I write ska music and am a big fan of the genre. This is a five star classic. They're bigger than just this album and out of context it might not make a ton of sense. But it's one of the coolest things of all time imo.

Cassettes, CD, I listened to this album for many years and yesterday I was fifteen again, hence the 5 stars.

Classic ska. Fantastic

A strong contender for the coolest album of all time.

What a great seminal album for ska. Who doesn't like The Specials?

The best of Ska!

my 301th album... upbeat melodies! jaunty beats! political lyrics that sounds unserious with the accompaniment! what else could i ask for! 4.5! 5/5

This came to me after I’d already been introduced to the English Beat/ the Beat and FYC. Still formative for my high school era music education.

So many classics from this album a great listen

I don't know if I have much of an opinion about ska. The pop radio hits in the mid 90s were enjoyable for me (unlike a lot of people who hated them) but I never got deep into any ska album or catalogue. Although come to think of it, I did love Less than Jake's Hello Rockview, so maybe I do have an affinity for ska. In any case, I freaking loved everything about this album. It does get a bit repetitive around 2/3 of the way in and the last third is definitely a bit weaker than what came before it, but still overall just really, really dug this.

Two tone tastic. Groundbreaking.

Lowkey timeless.

Classic

excellence

Dimery is a rude boy??? Dude this album was incredible. Another let me paint a scene for you review, it's 5am and I'm setting up speakers for an outdoor event starting in 3 hours. It's a nice 68 degrees out with a little breeze and I'm listening to ska goddammit. So good. I have just about no complaints about this project at all, save maybe the weird voices on Nite Klub but who cares. Stand outs, too much too young is so funny and engaging. Gangsters was great even though I know it's not on the original track list. Monkey man was pretty good. Little Bitch is my favorite from this by far. Such a good song. High energy, skank for days, first album in a long time that I listened to the disc two of the anniversary release. 5/5

Oh so this is where Ska came from? Take this, speed it up, and you got Tim Armstrongs entire discography. This was really good, that bass player is so melodic I couldn’t get enough of it. Definitely started singing some of the hooks in the car. Really fun record, only complaint is that some of the tracks are a little long without introducing new ideas. I get it though, they were just jammin. I also know nothing of the specials, time to Wikipedia. Imma give this a light 5. I like ska adjacent music, this is the first actual ska record that I really enjoyed.

Doux souvenirs de mon époque Ska! Quoique j’étais plus dans la 3rd wave (planet smashers, reel big fish, mustard plug, less than jake, Sublime, etc) que dans ce 2nd wave très british. Qu’importe, c’est entraînant et plus rythmé que le reggae. Ça mets d’bonne humeur. Pick it up pick it up pick it up!

Good vibe

Takes me back to my youth

Classic!

Great bouncy cheer you up FUN!

Bloody love the specials

When people say they hate ska, this is not what they mean. This album is a shitload of fun from start to finish. If you hate this, you hate joy.

Love it

toppa top

Super Dope

Just wonderful music

Great running album, very fun, will listen again

What’s on plate today? From the cover it looks like .. punk? New wave? Then it was a wild ride. Loving the mischief. I smirked the whole album. Sounds like they had of fun doing this and it’s contagious. Plus it’s clever and a good variety without being too experimental. Not something you can listen to every day (I tried the next day - didn't work) but once every few months an awesome listen.

This is just a really good, punchy record full of hooks, energy, and great melodies. It’s similar to their follow-up, ‘More Specials’, maybe a bit more focused, but just as socially relevant, if not more so. It’s excellent from start to finish. Released in 1979, at the height of economic decline, racial tension, and youth unrest in the UK, it captured the frustration and disillusionment of a generation. The band, made up of both Black and white members, was at the heart of the 2 Tone movement—a musical and cultural force that promoted racial unity through a fusion of ska, punk, and reggae. That context adds extra weight to the record, but even without it, the music speaks for itself. It’s all beautifully captured and produced by Elvis Costello, and for a debut album, it sounds remarkably fully formed. Despite its sharp social commentary, biting lyrics, and dark humour, the album never feels heavy or overly earnest—it still comes across as fun, vibrant, and full of life. It’s a good time. ‘The Specials’ is one of those rare albums that has truly stood the test of time. It still sounds fresh, immediate, and relevant today. I love it.

The best music endures through the decades - The Specials were so much a reflection of their time, they captured the zeitgeist as capably of any of their peers, but their music retains it's relevance and vitality to this day. Sublime stuff, with ultra-dry production from Elvis Costello which only enhances the in-your-face attitude. Catchy, danceable ska, but edgy and politically charged at the same time.

Loved

Sums up a time and a place perfectly. Can’t think of a more successful, authentic hybrid of black music with rock. And just a great party album, enjoyed to listening from front to back.

Smart, political, and fun, this is a great record. There are times when a great heaping of ska, just hits the spot. Loved the vibe

Classic album. 2-Tone ska at its finest.

Awesome!

British Ska/2 Tone classic! The Specials is one of my favourite albums of all time. I didn't really know or understand 2 Tone/"2nd Wave" Ska until I heard this, and now I love it. Even without Gangsters - which was included in my version of the album - this is awesome. So much fun, and with a message too (and not just to Rudy!). Liked Songs Added: A Message To You Rudy Do The Dog Nite Klub Concrete Jungle Monkey Man Stupid Marriage Too Much Too Young You're Wondering Now *Gangsters

Great stuff....really seems ahead of its time. Such a clear influence on what came later....wish I had given them a more thorough listen sooner.