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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Tears of a Clown

English Beat 1979

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3 comments:

Glynn Kalara said...

Of all the music we played in my club those 20 yrs. the best was the English Ska bands of that era. The English beat, The Specials, Madness, The Selector and UB-40 created something from Jamaican Ska that was dazzling to see and wonderfully fun to dance too. It was in many ways the flip side of the Nuwave Rock scene, where Rock influence Ska the way Reggae and Ska flavored so much of that eras Nuwave Rock music. It's ironic that in so many people's minds Nuwave is grouped mistakenly along side Punk which it only shared some stage style but not musical substance. Punk was related to early 50's rock, glitter rock and the late 60's bands of New York like Velvet Underground and others. Ska never sold commercially in the US and was blocked for the most part from FM radio here. Largely, because all these bands were English and not owned by the American Record companies. The 3rd Wave of Ska bands in the 90's was American and also had a few real stars like the Mighty Bosstones. But, it lacked the shear nerve and power of the late 70's early 80's English Ska scene. Every Wed. for close to 15 yrs. I had a Ska/Reggae night and it was always packed. People love the music and even today it's widely played in clubs but oddly still not on radio.

12:44 PM
Jim Sande said...

Thanks GK, I always learn something from you.

I once opened up for these guys back in 1980, it was fun. We liked them.

I will post the boss tones.

1:50 PM
Glynn Kalara said...

Lucky u. I don't think any of those bands came here touring more then a few times. The Specials seemed to have had the most success.

2:49 PM

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