[daz2008]

I love my ska music amongst many other genres of music, just wondering how many of you that get on the Digital Spy forum listen to ska?

Cheers
Daz

[mushymanrob]

original ska or the two tone revival material?

like both, got a real soft spot for two tone, the life and energy it brought to my generation.

[Alrightmate]

I was really into the Two Tone revival stuff.

Which made me aware of the Ska which was around before that era which I now also enjoy.

[LaVieEnRose]

Me, I loves me a bit of ska. Going to see The Specials in May.

[iseloid]

Moi
My family are from the West Indies, so I got to listen to the classics here

[daz2008]

Originally Posted by mushymanrob

original ska or the two tone revival material?

like both, got a real soft spot for two tone, the life and energy it brought to my generation.

I love both , got into it through my brothers as I was too young to be properly aware of it in its hey-day.

[marcusgv]

I loved the Two Tone revival although my favs were The Beat and The Selecter at the time rather than The Specials and Madness. I don't know how many times I have seen The Beat and I notice their back catalogue has just been re-released.

[RetroMusicFan]

Yes, Madness and the Specials.

[gemma-the-husky]

I got reggae chartbusters 1 and 2 and 3 on vinyl

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur...9QEwBQ&dur=183

do they count as ska?

I have a Tighten Up as well. The one with the girl and the snake on the cover.

[Capablanca]

I was a 12 year old 'rude boy' in 1980. Cropped hair, Brutus button down, tonic trousers, Harrington jacket and Frank Wright tassles. Loved my 2-Tone.

I love the original 60s Trojan stuff as well.

[rfonzo]

Yes, I do listen to Ska and Reggae music. My Auntie used to listen to it, so that is where I became accustomed to it.

[Alrightmate]

Originally Posted by marcusgv

I loved the Two Tone revival although my favs were The Beat and The Selecter at the time rather than The Specials and Madness. I don't know how many times I have seen The Beat and I notice their back catalogue has just been re-released.

The Beat and The Selecter seem to have been forgotten about as when early 80s Ska gets mentioned it's always Madness and The Specials as though there was nothing else.

The Beat and The Selecter were great. They had a faster more 'punkier' feel, even though The Beat were a bit more 'poppy', if that can be a word.
The Beat especially were very big at the time and possibly had as many or more hit singles than The Specials.

People tend to mainly remember the hit singles of all these groups. Because they were groups then, not bands.
But many of the album tracks by all these acts were very interesting.
Stand Down Margaret by The Beat and Man at C&A by The Specials are two album tracks which spring to mind from the top of my head.

[Alrightmate]

Some 2 Tone era ska songs on youtube.
I deliberately chose not the most popular songs you'll be likely to know, and instead went for choices which you may have forgotten, or may not have even heard before.

I may as well add that they all seemed to drift away from being strictly ska as time went on. Some more so than others.

The Specials - Man at C&A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul_Ahhuto98

The Specials - Do Nothing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-fEr0kv-E4

The Beat -Rough Rider
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CXJCnHsT9E

The Beat - Stand Down Margaret (Dub)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDr8cnH6-SU

Madness - Cardiac Arrest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s359OsWRBLM

Madness - Tomorrow's Just Another Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSlHSq3cFAg

The Selecter - The Selecter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czVEty7-n6E

The Selecter - Celebrate The Bullet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-SZD_ffiBc

[mushymanrob]

too nice to talk too....

[mgvsmith]

Originally Posted by Alrightmate

The Beat and The Selecter seem to have been forgotten about as when early 80s Ska gets mentioned it's always Madness and The Specials as though there was nothing else.

The Beat and The Selecter were great. They had a faster more 'punkier' feel, even though The Beat were a bit more 'poppy', if that can be a word.
The Beat especially were very big at the time and possibly had as many or more hit singles than The Specials.

People tend to mainly remember the hit singles of all these groups. Because they were groups then, not bands.
But many of the album tracks by all these acts were very interesting.
Stand Down Margaret by The Beat and Man at C&A by The Specials are two album tracks which spring to mind from the top of my head.

Two of The Beat or The English Beat turned into Fine Young Cannibals, who were a pretty mean outfit as well.

Three other favs by The Beat

Mirror in The Bathroom

Tears of a Clown

Save it for Later ( Not strictly ska the last one)

The Beat did receive a little criticism for having a lot of songs at the same pace.

As for The Selecter (got a hello from Pauline Black once)

On My Radio

Missing Words

Great musical heritage in the British Isles.....

[daz2008]

Did anyone ever hear of a ska band called 20 Dead Camels? They used to have a load of songs online years ago but I think they have now split up as I've never came across them since. Also new ska music is about to appear from Lee Thompson's Ska Orchestra they are about to release their first album which a clip of the first single appeared on the facebook page yesterday for fans to check out, this features guest vocals from Bitty Mclean,
https://www.facebook.com/groups/138362986238425/

Im loving the clip of the song and im quite excited for the album.

[Capablanca]

Twist & Crawl was another great album track by the Beat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bch9DuV0Y8o

[scrilla]

Yes, I listen to almost exclusively black music styles these days from reggae to jazz, soul and funk, rhythm & blues, hip-hop and Brazilian and African music so ska and rocksteady are in my Jamaican selection. I tend to neglect ska a bit as I wasn't around at the time and can't afford to buy the great tracks that have never seen reissue.




Justin Hinds & The Dominoes - Carry Go Bring Come
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrYmZPxTJqs

Baba Brooks - Shank I Sheck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvr0dfrrtU8

Don Drummond - Eastern Standard Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBB3KnLWZXs

Lord Creator - Don't Stay Out Late (1962)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNKg1XA06Lw

Roland Alphonso & The Skatalites - Skaravan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NP06-vh3MI

The Maytals - Treat Me Bad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55FyZiIj3gQ

Prince Buster - Wash Wash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yx_L1uC8I0


.. and one of my favourites:
The Maytals - Dog War (a.k.a. 'Broadway Jungle')
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suLMSIZ55GI



Here is a reggae cut of the Shank I Sheck riddim from Yabby You. Notice the tempo compared to Baba Brooks ska:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXPb7pxOyTA
(ignore the year on the clip - this came out mid-70's)

Like a lot of 'foundation riddims' Shank I Sheck has been versioned numerous times. Here's Bounty Killer on a 90's cut:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFkYoWJpokQ



A reggae cover of 'Wash Wash by producer and artist, Carlton Patterson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReOT9Wc-7AI



... and a couple of recordings of jazz standard 'Caravan' by the man mostly associated with it, Duke Ellington and which, of course, is the basis of 'Skaravan':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUUYp3nmsXE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNoLbP5s-68


Ska guitarist Ernest Ranglin's 1996 jazzier version of 'Ball Of Fire' which was recorded in the 60's by The Skatalites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jt-J28JYy0

[scrilla]

Originally Posted by gemma-the-husky

I got reggae chartbusters 1 and 2 and 3 on vinyl

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur...9QEwBQ&dur=183

do they count as ska?

I have a Tighten Up as well. The one with the girl and the snake on the cover.

No that's early reggae, not ska but I was looking at a 'Ska' compilation cd in a store a while back and half the tracks on it (maybe a slight exaggeration, I can't recall) were NOT ska.

[scrilla]

Originally Posted by Capablanca

I was a 12 year old 'rude boy' in 1980. Cropped hair, Brutus button down, tonic trousers, Harrington jacket and Frank Wright tassles. Loved my 2-Tone.

I love the original 60s Trojan stuff as well.

Of course Trojan is just an English label who licensed original Jamaican recordings from their producers.

[Missli]

I loved the Dance Craze album. Had it on cassette.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dance-Craze-.../dp/B000008ETH

[shackfan]

Originally Posted by marcusgv

I loved the Two Tone revival although my favs were The Beat and The Selecter at the time rather than The Specials and Madness. I don't know how many times I have seen The Beat and I notice their back catalogue has just been re-released.

Saw all these at their height and The Beat (at Moles in Bath 1980) was one of the best concerts I have been to up to now. I would love to see them again but would miss Dave Wakering. The best recent ska group I have heard and loved are The Dead 60s. A brilliant mix of the above groups.

[daz2008]

Madness' sax man Lee Thompson has a new single Fu Man Chu feat Bitty Mclean with The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra the video can be seen here http://youtu.be/_VdEHp3jLT0