Each week
the Don selects a piece of Crucial Vinyl (he calls it his C.V.) from his
collection, that has moved him and shaped his musical taste. He picks three
tracks from it, and explains why it means so much to him.
This week,
it's the 1979 debut by the Specials.
Don says,
"The release of the Specials' self-titled debut album was key for the UK
ska revival. This was music made by the people for the people, and, for a brief
while, it was all about 2 Tone.
Produced
by Elvis Costello, and fuelled by the energy and attitude of punk, the band
re-worked original 1960's Jamaican ska. Too Much Too Young was actually a
version of an earlier hit called Birth Control, and there were also straight-up
covers: Toots and the Maytals' Monkey Man and Dandy Livingstone's A Message To
You Rudy.
Interestingly,
the themes of these old Jamaican records found receptive ears in the UK of the
late 70s. Lyrically they dealt with things the youth could relate to:
unemployment, teenage pregnancy and racism. Crucially, they were all delivered
with tunes you could dance to - this was music for your mind and your
feet."
As ever,
Don's other selections cross time, space and genre.
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