From The "English" Beat's initial release "I Just Can't Stop It". Love this tune, love the horns - real fun stuff. The Beat were formed in Birmingham, England in 1978. Ranking Roger, one of the band's vocalists, added a Jamaican vocal flavor to the band's sound with his toasting style. Jamaican saxophonist Saxa (b. Lionel Martin, 1930, aka Papa Saxa) added a Jamaican ska instrumental sound. Sa...
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This is just a quick note to thank the charming Erin a.k.a. goodmusiconly for reminding me of the late Chris "Crash" Pryor's birthday with a lovely tribute that you can find here: http://mog.com/goodmusiconly/blog/215691It's been a year or so since his unexpected and unfathomable passing, which devastated a goodly portion of the MOG community. As longtime MOGgers know, Chris - a man of wit, gra...
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I don't know how he does it, but Dave Wakeling from the English Beat is still going strong after 30 years of live gigging! We (The Uptones) had the honor of playing with them last night in Oakland, at the Uptown night club.The house was jam packed! A testament to the new thriving music seen in the Uptown district of Oakland, California. Yes they all came out last night. Around 11pm The English ...
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...three of my dream gigs, if I could go back in time, would be to work for Atlantic Records around the time they got Big Joe Turner - through the Aretha/ Coltrane years and right on up to the days of Led Zeppelin...another is working at Island when Chris Blackwell had signed the the Wailers and then the Slits and up to when he had just grabbed U2 would've been tight...thirdly working at the Be...
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...from the "Don't Call Me Ska Face Dept: I've been writin' all day and I'm feeling rode hard and put away wet...Right about this time I'm going to fade on out and check by eyelids for cracks...but before I do, here's a little Family Guy parody of one of a great movie sequence (the "running back to the crib" scene from Ferris Beuller's Day Off)...it's a double-sweet discovery because it also fe...
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I am *DANCING IN MY CUBE* TO THIS ONE KIDDIES... if you're stuck in an *OFFICE SPACE*... hope you are too :)
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"What song did you wake up to today?":http://mog.com/lampgirl/blog_post/113206 - lampgirlMy brain was transmitting this great English Beat song to my inner ear this morning and I don't know why!
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HISTORY:The Beat were formed in Birmingham in 1978. Soon after, they had to change their name to The ENGLISH Beat to avoid confusion with another band. They are known as one of the leaders of the Ska revivalist movement along with fellow Brits The Specials, Madness, The Selecter and The Body Snatchers.The British ska groups were of course multiracial and were formed by kids who lived in the sam...
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The English Beat, one of the pre-eminent second-wave ska bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s, are touring again this summer, hitting a few spots in the US and a bunch in the UK and more or less taking up residence at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach (CA?). If you were around for the first few years of MTV, songs like "Mirror in the Bathroom," "I Confess" and "Save It for Later" are, mos...
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One of my fave things about MOG is knowing who is into what and thinking of each mogger when I come across the different news stories. Whenever I cover a tour in the US, the first thing I do is scan the dates to see if Minne MN is included because Rawkkiddo has drawn my attention to the fact that so many bands pass that city up. It's amazing how something stands out once you become aware of ...
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Listen to these lyrics closely and you will find your self pondering a positive outlook from dire circumstances.A well written song, arranged a'la Beat stylee under the vocal reigns of one Dave Wakeling; the Michael Jordan of two-tone pop song writing. There have been many times when quite a few of us write something in the two-tone vain, only to realize later that Dave already did it. Just bet...
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An Ode to Leftovers: Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
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1. English Beat, "Mirror in the Bathroom." If the early-80s 2-Tone groups from England were Ska Revivalists, what are the later Ska Revival Revivalists called? Among the possibilities listed in Wikipedia: third wave ska, ska punk, ska-core.2. Blondie, "Call Me." The other evening, I was watching Evil Dead II for the billionth time. My wife and I started wondering how it was that Sam Raimi and B...
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No:477 THE BEAT - I JUST CAN'T STOP IT (1980)I always believe that The Beat were THE most underated of the Two Tone/Ska bands at the time. They combined genuine reggae with super sharp Clash style riffs to create top rate dance floor chaos. This album was brimming with great songs, and although they never quite re-captured the essence that made "I Just Can't Stop It" such an invaluable album, t...
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