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Specials v Madness - The Peel Sessions.
What could be better than to rake over the ashes of an old 2 tone rivalry. The Specials and Madness head to head in the Peel Sessions play off. First off though allow me to say if it hadn't been for the Peel Session releases in the late eighties I think I may have lost it completely because frankly there was "cough all" else going on at the time - they should be revered for this fact alone.
Specials - The Peel Sessions.
The session was recorded on the 23 May 1979 between the DIY release of their first single Gangsters and being signed by Chrysalis Records on the 8 June 1979. Once in the distribution hands of Chrysalis the single went on to reach No.6 in the UK charts.
So fittingly a version of Gangsters the single that started the whole 2 Tone & Specials thing rolling opens up the EP. Unlike the 2 tone release there is no skidding intro and Jerry Dammers keyboard is highest in the mix for the opening riff (originally the Prince Buster - Al Capone riff). The riff playing honours are left to the Roddy's guitar & the Horace bass alone on the single. Of course when recording a peel session time was at a premium. The same material given the full treatment with a longer time frame recorded in a studio & with a producer of choice should always be a more polished item. But in the longeurs of production sometimes the bands exuberant joy of creating music is lost and that is what certainly seems to have occurred on the 2 tone single when compared to the peel session. Yes the lead vocal production is handled expertly and both the vocal and instrumental harmonies are tighter on the 2 Tone version, but what is lost is the glorious exit of the peel session version, a Gangster chorus of La - La La La La whilst Neville Staple does his thing with an increase of raw passion more ranting than toasting all the way to his final “Killer!!!”
Next is Too Much Too Young a curates egg of a track, punk reggae ska amalgam, gun loaded, fired, target hit in two minutes flat. But how to capture it at its best seems to have been a problem. On the Peel Session it's played straight no trickery no nonsense and the result though not drab doesn't have much life to it either. When the problem was handed to Elvis Costello producer of the Specials debut LP he obviously recognised the stand out quality of the track and wanted to make more of it. His production begins with the massive drum intro snatched from the drum intro of his own earlier reggae foray “Watching the Detectives”. And the whole thing gets slowed down. After the two minutes, the song exhausted, the drum intro returns and heralds a dub style reprise of the track with Jerry Dammers plinking in and out creating a wonderful ska sound (a sound that would enter the Attractions Steve Neive's repertoire on EC's forthcoming Get Happy and Trust LPs). Why the media tried to crucify Costello for his production back in the day was a mystery to me it still is. But more importantly why does my Specials album have a Side Two label on both sides? Anyone who knows please assist! The live single (or EP) release of Too Much Too Young in early 1980 could never be described as drab more an amphetamine charged incendiary, the band tight as a ducks thingy Terry and Neville in full crowd control punch punch punch punch,“Cap Cap Cap cap cap cap” done!
They'll never get away with only playing that once a night on their return.
Side two and Concrete Jungle. The specials were certainly musical magpies (hence the black and white livery) but when you take on a Bob Marley song title from a truly great album like Catch a Fire, your song better be good. This Roddy Radiation penned track certainly was. Growing up in the '70s in Wolverhampton not a million miles away from Coventry his song captures the time perfectly. Football and music were a much closer experience then - standing, drinking, smoking, singing, fighting, bottles, knives, kung fu stars, us v them. You were just as likely to be chased by Coventry skinheads after a game as chased by the National Front skins after a gig. “You're going home in a F'in Ambulance” or “You're going home like Sandy Richardson” if you don't know what the later means, sorry I haven't got the space to explain it - Hartley again “The past is a foreign country”. Anyway the Peel Session version of Concrete Jungle is not dissimilar to album version which would be recorded later in the year, except for Lynval's Peter Tosh like guitar which drifts beautifully in and out and seems higher in the mix and all the better for it.
Monkey Man a cover of the Toots and the Maytals original completes the four tracks (don't worry Bigot I'm not going to mention the Slimy Crackhouse version here). Originally penned about a Jamaican producer of Chinese extraction called Leslie Kong, The Specials neatly altered the target of the lyrics on their debut album to that of the great British bouncer (the bouncer of the 70's is a totally different beast compared to the health and safety attendants we have today - generally). Anyway the device is not used on the peel session instead we have a little bit of monkey mimicry - those school trips to Dudley Zoo were not totally in vain. Other than having a more immediate feel to it and Neville's toasting starting with a mega reverb bucket the Peel version is again not too dissimilar to the Specials album release.
Madness - The Peel Sessions.
Recorded on the 14 August 1979 prior to the now fabled 2 tone tour in October of that year. Like on the Specials session the EP it opens up with a version of the bands first single and only 2 tone release Prince penned by Lee Thompson as a tribute to Prince Charles. No sorry Prince Buster. It's got quite a few pluses in comparison to the chart single. The staccato guitar sound is higher in the mix and drives the whole piece along with more intent, the sax solo is brighter and less rasping, frankly there's just a lot more life here all the way to the final crescendo and church organ fade.
Bed and Breakfast Man follows and is sung here by Mike Barson, band fulcrum and writer of the piece. He used to sing My Girl live also if my memory serves me correct. So somewhere between this session and their first Stiff Records release the collective paradigm of multi vocalists was obviously put to the sword. Unlike the Suggs treatment found on the One Step Beyond LP chirpy and jaunty this is not, but I love this Peel Session version. It has a bit of London grime about it, The Bed & Breakfast Man is somehow a seedier character in the hands (voice) of Barson. A bit of an enigma Mr Barson why we have never had a solo album from him is a complete mystery - but then what do I know.
Over goes the vinyl to side two and Land of Hope and Glory Lee Thompson penned again and his turn at the mike also. Back in the day I thought the song was a Carry On in the Army caper only to find out later it was actually Carry On in Borstal routine - how wrong could I be. Anyway the Peel version does lack the opening military drum rolls as served up on the first Madness LP that may have had something to do with my confusion. Still how easily I was duped. Anyway what a joyous track gleaned from less than joyous material.
Finally we have Stepping into Line written by Suggs & Bedders. I can only think that this was work in progress at the time of recording and the great producer Bob Sargeant had popped out the booth for a moment, because the whole of the track is hampered by the volume of the bass drum which breaks up the tracks flow. Stepping into Line didn't make it onto One Step Beyond but can be found on the B side to “My Girl”. There the execution is perfect and it is a little Madness gem from beginning all the way through to the end with Suggs's Ian Dury like “ILL!” being the highlight.
The great asset of both Madness & The Specials was their extensive personnel but this was also their down fall, it was never going to be possible to get all the band members to always if ever agree. The Specials seem to have perpetuated and elevated there disagreements into an art form. From early on it is apparent that both bands were pulled by outside and inside forces in different directions. Madness drifted away from the Nutty Boy sound in pursuit of what The Specials had “critical acclaim”. The Specials fractured and the Fun Boy Three seemed in pursuit of what Madness had - “commercial success”. It's the British way as soon as we excel at one thing we become embarrassed, find it wasn't what we wanted any way, or just become restless and move on usually to disaster. Over the pond in the Americans they do things differently, bands like Iggy Pop & the Stooges, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Blondie etc go on and on hardly deviating from type slowly perfecting what they do best. Vivre the difference I suppose.
Anyway who wins the clash of the Peel Sessions? Is it too close to call? Personally I think The Specials just snick it, mainly due to the Peel version of Gangsters, for me superior to the 2 tone release and due also to the immediacy of the whole session, an immediacy that was perhaps not required on their debut LP. But both EPs are worth eking out even by the most transitory fan.