The Specials - Vote for Me (Live - the One Show) (2019) (HD)
1979 to 2019… Celebrating 40 years of what is arguably one of the most important and influential music genres/ movements ever to influence the British music scene in it’s history… 2 Tone… which for many became much more than just music, it has been a way of thinking, a way of being and a way of life… :-)
So finally after 37 years of waiting and hoping here is the first brand new release by The Specials in all that time…. :-)
Titled “Vote For Me” then it seems to have picked up right where “Ghost Town” left off with overtones of it’s haunting melody clearly being heard in there along with the social/ political commentary that made the Specials & 2 Tone one of the most influential & important things that ever happened in the British music scene and which shaped an entire era of youth culture & society in the UK and still holds true to this very day… :-)
As for this track itself, it’s not a let down by any means as it does contain certain haunting overtones of the likes of “Ghost Town” and strangely enough sounds/ styles of songs like “Racist Friend” “Bright Lights” and “War Crimes” which of course were from the “third album” of “In The Studio” which sadly came after the initial split of the band and still to this day is the subject of debate by many Specials fans…
Sounds good to me though and it’s nice to hear the boys (well the three that’s left, Terry, Lynval & Horace) have with the lyrics kept to that most important factor of 2 Tone and kept the social commentary in there reflecting current society and politics, something which has been badly missing from most of todays music and songs…
The new album “Encore” is released in just a few days on February the 1st 2019 and hopefully the rest of it is as good if not better than this one…
Whatever the case may be I’m just glad I survived long enough to experience something new from what for me is, has and always will be the greatest band ever and which shaped my life and still 40 years later plays just as big a part in it now as it alway has done for the past four decades… :-)
Welcome back the spirit of 1979 & The Specials you’ve been sorely missed, especially in this grey world of division, self serving politics, greed and racial tension which all have once again reared their ugly heads in recent times…
It’s time for a new generation to get the message of 2 Tone and hopefully they will now that The Specials are well & truly back… ;-)