In The Studio [40th Anniversary Edition] Half-Speed Master

Special AKA

SKU: CHRTTH5008

Barcode: 0840401703922

28.00 £28.00

Forthcoming

Add to your Wishlist

On November 8th, 2Tone Records/Chrysalis Catalogue will release a 40th Anniversary Half-Speed Mastered Edition of The Special AKA ‘In The Studio’ album.

This release has been liaised and approved by the band’s founder and main songwriter Jerry Dammers.

Formed in Coventry in the mid-1970s, The Specialswas the idea of musician Jerry Dammers, who brought together an eclectic array of individuals to fulfill his vision of a multi-racial band, fusing the energy of punk with the legendary but, at the time, often overlooked, sound of Jamaican ska. The band rose to prominence along with the 2Tone movement, which included two No. 1 singles, Too Much too Young and 1981’s Ghost Town, which theme still resonates today before Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Neville Staple left to form the Fun Boy Three and Roddy Byers left to tour with his band the Tearjerkers.

The remaining members, Dammers, Bradbury and Panter, recruited guitarist John Shipley from The Swinging Cats, ex-Bodysnatcher Rhoda Dakar and lead vocalist Stan Campbell,reverting the original band name of The Special AKA and set to work on a new album. Released in 1984, ‘In the Studio’ was a brave mix of bold and challenging music, with a strong political, social and moral conscience. The album made it into the Top 40, and while it might not have been a huge commercial success, it was, and still is, an astonishingly unique work: a haunting, claustrophobic mix of lounge, soul, reggae, jazz and Arabic rhythms, with uncompromising subject matter. It featured two classic singles: the joyous, yet serious rallying anthem for the then imprisoned South African ANC leader, ‘Free Nelson Mandela’, and ‘What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend’. As time has gone by, the status of ‘In The Studio’has grown, and today it is rightly viewed as a genuine lost classic.

Like the previous two Specials 40th Anniversary vinyl editions, this has been newly remastered and cut at half-speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, London.

Artist
Genre
Label
Buying Options
Format , ,
Condition
Country

Track Listings

  1. Bright Lights (2024 Remaster)
  2. The Lonely Crowd (2024 Remaster)
  3. What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend (2024 Remaster)
  4. Housebound (2024 Remaster)
  5. Night On The Tiles (2024 Remaster)
  6. Nelson Mandela (2024 Remaster)
  7. War Crimes (The Crime Is The Same) (2024 Remaster)
  8. Racist Friend (2024 Remaster)
  9. Alcohol (2024 Remaster)
  10. Break Down The Door (2024 Remaster)

Share this

More from Reggae / Dub / Ska

View Product

Various Artists

V4 Visions: Of Love & Androids – National Album Day 2023

Jazz Dance / Fusion | Secretly Canadian | 2LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve
Released 14th October 2023
£33.00
  • Genre: Jazz Dance / Fusion
  • Label: Secretly Canadian
  • SKU: NUM194LP-C3
  • Formats: 2LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve
  • Released Date: 14th October 2023