A wonderful monochrome cover - featuring the 2 Tone label icon - adorns this great new double-CD collection.
To celebrate the music and cultural movement that the 2 Tone label helped inspire, Parlophone has created a new compilation that brings together the best tracks from the label's history.
The Best of 2 Tone features 18 tracks, including the first single from Madness ("The Prince"), the Beat's classic cover of Smokey Robinson's "Tears Of A Clown," and Bodysnatchers' "People Do Rocksteady," plus three more songs by The Selecter: "On My Radio," "Three Minute Hero" and "Missing Words."
Half of the album features some of the great tracks recorded by the band that became the leaders of the Ska revival scene in the late '70s, The Special AKA, which was shortened later to The Specials.
Along with "Gangsters," the collection also includes both of the band's U.K. #1's - "Too Much Too Young" (1980) and "Ghost Town" (1981) - as well as several Top 10 songs: "A Message To You, Rudy," "Rat Race," "Stereotype," "Do Nothing," and "Free Nelson Mandela."
Tracklisting
Disc: 1
1. Gangsters - By Special AKADisc: 2
2. The Selecter - By The Selecter
3. The Prince - By Madness
4. On My Radio - By The Selecter
5. A Message to You Rudy (feat. Rico) - By The Specials
6. The Tears of a Clown - By The Beat
7. Too Much Too Young (Live) - By The Special AKA
8. Three Minute Hero - By The Selecter
9. Ranking Full Stop - By The Beat
10. Rat Race - By The Specials
1. Let's Do Rock Steady - By The Bodysnatchers
2. Missing Words - By The Selecter
3. Stereotype - By The Specials
4. Sea Cruise - By Rico
5. Do Nothing - By The Specials
6. Ghost Town - By The Specials
7. Nelson Mandela - By The Special AKA
8. The Boiler - By Rhoda with The Special AKA
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For those unfamiliar with this top group, here are a few details! The Beat (strangely, known in North America as The English Beat) is a 2 Tone ska revival band founded in England in 1978. Their songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock and their lyrics deal with themes of love, unity and sociopolitical topics.
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