THE (ENGLISH) BEAT

Here's one I shouldn't have to tell you about. The English Beat (or The Beat to pretty much everyone outside the USA) were a 2-Tone-era ska band from England.

They put out a total of three albums during their career. The first two had several hits in the UK, and other countries, but didn't do well in the States. The third album, Special Beat Service, however, changed that thanks to a lengthy tour of the States, and a descent amount of radio play.

Having finally made it big on both sides of the pond, they promptly broke up. The band's main singer, Dave Wakeling, didn't want to split the touring money between such a large group, so he decided to start a new smaller group, and he convinced the other singer, Ranking Roger to go with him. Together they formed General Public, and had a few more hits.

The two guitarists, Andy Cox and David Steel, went on to form Fine Young Cannibals, and score several hits. The rest of the band did time in several other ska bands, notably The International Beat and The Special Beat.

Though their have been reunion shows in more recent years, the entire original line up has never been on stage again.

Some of these "rarities" have been issued on the many best-of compilations that have been released since the demise of the band. However, to quote Bruce McCulloch, Best-of's are for housewives and little girls. So, if the songs aren't available on the regular albums, I still think of them as non-album tracks.

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The Beat - "Hit It" A single from 1981, not put on their albums.
The Beat - "Which Side of the Bed?" B-side of "Hit It".
The Beat - "Psychedelic Rockers" B-side of "Too Nice To Talk To", which was also a non-album track, but has been added to the cd of Wha'ppen?
The Beat - "March of the Swivelheads" An instrumental version of "Rotating Head" from Special Beat Service. This was also used in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
The Beat - "Mirror In the Bathroom" (Peel Session) Original version is on I Just Can't Stop It.
The Beat - "She's Going" (Peel Session) Original is on Special Beat Service.
The Beat - "Save It For Later" (Peel Session) Original is on Special Beat Service.

The Beat - "What's Your Best Thing?" B-side of "Save It For Later"

The Beat discography:

I Just Can't Stop It, 1980 (buy)
Wha'ppen?, 1981 (buy)
Special Beat Service, 1982 (buy)

Beat discography for housewives and little girls:
What Is Beat?, 1983
B.P.M., 1996
Beat This, 2000 (buy)
The Platinum Collection, 2005 (buy)
You Just Can't Beat It, 2008 (buy)

WONDROUS OBLIVION SOUNDTRACK (Again)

Another one of those "revisiting" posts.

My post on the lack of a soundtrack for the wonderful film, Wondrous Oblivion, didn't seem to go over very big at first. Now, about a year later, it has become my most popular post. So, I figured I'd help out all those wandering souls who've been looking for the songs, and make it easier to get them all.

On my original post, I had each of the ten classic reggae/ska tracks available for download separately. Now, I've put them all in a "rar" file, and added one more song - the jazz piece used in the movie.

Also included in the file are a make-shift front cover, back cover (j-card), and some liner notes - which in this case are just quick little blurbs on each of the artists, mostly excerpted from their Wiki pages, or other websites.

This was originally put together just for myself, so if I've stolen any writing from a website that doesn't want it reproduced in my little booklet, just drop me a line.

Wondrous Oblivion Unofficial Soundtrack

If you want any of the individual songs, they're still available over at the original post.

The DVD can, of course, be had through Amazon, right here.

H08 - MADNESS

Madness - "Carols on 45" A bit more ska. I posted the Bad Manners track first because it's more of an actual song. This one's nice enough, but more of a throw-away track. Released as a single in 1982.

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H08 - BAD MANNERS

Bad Manners - "Christmas Time Again" A single from 1989. A bit of sleigh-ska for you.

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FISHBONE

Fishbone is a ska / punk band out of the same L.A. club scene that bore the Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Minutemen.

I hadn’t heard them until around the Truth and Soul period. Strangely, I first caught them performing the Curtis Mayfield classic “Freddie’s Dead” on a kids’ TV show. It was an odd scene. The manic performance of an anti-drug song in front of a bunch of pre-teens.

After that introduction, I picked up Truth and Soul, and later went back to their first EP, and I was hooked.

A few years later, they released The Reality of My Surroundings, which was quite a bit heavier than their previous work, but with its biting social commentary, it was a good fit. It contained the songs “Sunless Saturday”, “Fight the Youth, and “Pray to the Junkie Maker” which are all among my favorites.

I can’t say I’ve listened to them much after that, though. I heard their next couple of albums, but wasn’t overly impressed with either. I still go back to those first ones quite often. That’s the era that these b-sides and things are from.

Many of these can be found on the out-of-print compilation Fishbone 101, or the Japanese import compilation, Singles. If you happen to have both of those, than you have several of these. For those that don’t, however, here you go:

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Fishbone - “Fishy Swa Ska” B-side of the “Sunless Saturday” CD single.
Fishbone - “Undertsand Me” The other B-side of “Sunless Saturday”
Fishbone with Annette Funicello - “Jamaica Ska” The strangest pairing since Tom Jones and New Model Army, though this actually happened before that. This was recorded for Annette’s movie Back to the Beach.
Fishbone - “I Like to Hide Behind My Glasses” From the out-of-print Set the Booty Upright EP, aka the “Bonin’ In the Boneyard” single.
Fishbone - “Love and Bullshit” Also from Set the Booty Upright.
Fishbone - Skankin’ To the Beat” Originally a b-side, but later on the Say Anything soundtrack.
Fishbone - “In the Name of Swing” Again , from the Set the Booty Upright EP, and also issued on some foreign editions of Truth and Soul.
Fishbone - “Freddie’s Dead” (live Curtis Mayfield cover) From the “Fight the Youth” CD single.
Curtis Mayfield with Fishbone - "He's a Fly Guy" From the soundtrack of I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.
Little Richard with Fishbone - “Rock Island Line” (Leadbelly cover) Another inspired pairing. From the Folkways: A Vision Shared tribute album.
Fishbone - "Let the Good Times Roll" From the soundtrack to the film The Mask.

Fishbone discography:

Fishbone, 1983 (EP)
In Your Face, 1985
It’s a Wonderful Life, 1987 (Christmas EP)
Truth and Soul, 1988 (buy)
Set the Booty Upright, 1990 (EP)
The Reality of My Surroundings, 1991
Give a Monkey a Brain and He’ll Swear He’s the Center of the Universe, 1993
Chim Chim’s Badass Revenge, 1996
The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx, 2000
Friendliest Psychosis of All, 2002 (buy) (EP)
Still Stuck in Your Throat, 2006 (buy)

It appears most of their stuff has gone out of print. The good new is, that means you can hunt them down in used shops on the cheap!