Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. It was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods. Later it became popular with many skinheads.
Prove You Wrong is the third album by the metal band Prong. It is their only album with Troy Gregory on bass guitar. The album includes a cover of "(Get A) Grip ", originally by The Stranglers.
Roddy Radiation is an English musician who played lead guitar for The Specials, as well as many rockabilly bands such as the Bonediggers and the Tearjerkers. He wrote the Specials favourites "Concrete Jungle", "Rat Race" and "Hey, Little Rich Girl", later covered by Amy Winehouse. Currently, Byers leads The Skabilly Rebels, a band that mixes ska rhythms with rockabilly.
The Selecter are a 2 Tone ska revival band from Coventry, England, formed in mid-1979.
The Specials is the debut album by British ska revival band The Specials. Released on 19 October 1979 on Jerry Dammers' 2 Tone label, the album is seen by some as the defining moment in the UK ska scene. Produced by Elvis Costello, the album captures the disaffection and anger felt by the youth of the UK's "concrete jungle"—a phrase borrowed from Bob Marley's 1972 album Catch a Fire but equally apposite used here to describe the grim, violent inner cities of 1970s Britain. The album features a mixture of original material and several covers of classic Jamaican ska tracks, a debt which went uncredited on the 1979 release.
Symarip were a ska and reggae band from the United Kingdom, originating in the late 1960s, when Frank Pitter and Michael Thomas founded the band as The Bees. The band's name was originally spelled Simaryp, which is an approximate reversal of the word pyramids. Consisting of members of West Indian descent, Simaryp is widely marked as one of the first skinhead reggae bands, being one of the first to target skinheads as an audience. Their hits included "Skinhead Girl", "Skinhead Jamboree" and "Skinhead Moonstomp", the latter of which was based on the Derrick Morgan song, "Moon Hop".
Kinda Kinks is the second album by English rock band The Kinks, released in 1965. Recorded and released within two weeks after returning from a tour in Asia, Ray Davies and the band were not satisfied with the production. The single "Tired of Waiting for You" was a #1 hit on the UK Singles Charts.
"I Can't Explain" is a song by the English rock band the Who, written by Pete Townshend, and produced by Shel Talmy. The song was issued as a single on 15 January 1965 in the United Kingdom and December 1964 in the United States. There was a misprinted label re-released in 1968 on the second color band series label entitled "Can't Explain" but it was soon withdrawn and released with the correct title of the song as released on the first 1964 release, and other previous and future label releases.
Too Much Pressure is the first album by British ska band The Selecter. After the band's official formation in 1979 in Coventry, following the release of a song entitled "The Selecter" by an unofficial incarnation of the band, the band's hit single "On My Radio" prompted their labels 2 Tone and Chrysalis to ask the band to record their debut album. Working with producer Errol Ross, the Selecter recorded the album at Horizon Studios over two months. The album contains original material, mostly composed by band founder and guitarist Neol Davies, as well as numerous ska and reggae cover versions, in a similar fashion to the Specials' debut album.
Beyond Salvation is a 1990 album by hard rock band The Angels. It was released in Australia in early June 1990 and reached No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart and it also peaked at number 3 on the Recorded Music NZ The first single released from the LP was Let the Night Roll On in early January 1990, six months prior to the album's eventual release. The second single from the album Dogs Are Talking included on its flipside, tracks from young bands who would be touring in the support slots in both Australia and New Zealand, The Hurricanes, Baby Animals and The Desert Cats.
The Sorrows are a rock band formed in 1963 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England by Pip Whitcher, and were part of the British beat boom of the 1960s. They were a fixture in the English mod scene and are sometimes referred to as freakbeat.
Celebrate the Bullet is the second album by British ska band The Selecter, released in February 1981 on Chrysalis Records after the band had left the 2 Tone label. The album was recorded with producer Roger Lomas, who plays bass on some songs, and frequently seeks a more slow, eclectic sound, with new wave influences. Band members Charley Anderson and Desmond Brown, uncomfortable with the new approach, left the band during production and after the release of 1980 single "The Whisper" to form the band The People. They were replaced by keyboard player, James Mackie, and bass player, Adam Williams. Ian Dury and the Blockheads bassist Norman Watt-Roy played bass on the title track and "Washed Up and Left for Dead".
Today's Specials is a cover album by The Specials, released in 1996. It is the first studio album by the group since 1984, although not in the full original line-up. Original members Neville Staple, Roddy Byers, Lynval Golding, and Horace Panter are joined by new members Mark Adams and Adam Birch, along with a number of sessions musicians. Lead vocals are mostly handled by Staple and Golding, with Neville's daughter Sheena Staples contributing backing vocals to the album.
Conquering Ruler is a cover album by The Specials, released in 2001.
Blue Plate Specials is a live album by The Specials, released in 1999. The material on the album is sourced from two separate performances: a 1980 concert by The Specials, and an earlier show when they were still known as either Coventry Automatics or the Special A.K.A.
Ghost Town Live is a live album by The Specials, recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1995 and released in 1999.
The Happy Album is the third studio album by British ska band The Selecter, and their first following their reformation in 1990, released in 1994 on Demon Music in the UK and Triple X in the US. Their first album of new material in thirteen years, The Happy Album follows their successful live reunion tour of 1991 and its respective live album document, Out in the Streets (1992). Founding member Noel Davis left the band between Out in the Streets while fellow original member Arthur "Gaps" Hendrickson rejoined the band. The new line-up recorded The Happy Album with production from Aswad guitarist Jimmy "Seyna" Haynes
Encore is the eighth studio album by the English ska revival band The Specials. It is their first studio album of original songs since 1998's Guilty 'til Proved Innocent!, and their first new material with vocalist Terry Hall since 1981's "Ghost Town" single.
