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Specials—are black, yet these bands have forged some common musical bond with the island music, doing it honor but making it their own in much the same way that the early Rolling Stones, the Animals and the Beatles excelled in revisions of American rhythm and blues at a similar point in their careers. The Specials flirt with social commentary and take on racial injustice in Doesn 't Make It Alright, whose straightforward lyric and fine-tuned beat steer way wide of solemnity. Specials and Madness members even dress in good-humored approximation of the Kingston "rude boys" of the '60s, from the careless cuffs of their pegged pants up to the porkpie hats that sit on their heads like a street hustler's version of cap and bells. In performance, both bands leap about in transports of benign dementia. The highlight of a Madness show is a ska version of Swan Lake that features a couple of roadies conking their noggins together like a couple of billy goats in a brawl.
The effect of all this is much less that of a musical masquerade than of a soulful affiliation of outsiders who share a taste for a strong dance beat and a sense of fun as strong as all that ganja Bob Marley goes on about. Besides roots, both Madness and Specials hold similar suspicions about mainstream rock. "Me Mum had a lot of Beatles records," admits Madness Organ Player Mike Barson. "I reckon they're pretty good, but a bit wimpy." Observes the Specials' Panter: "I think the Rolling Stones have been playing Honky Tonk Women for the past ten years. It must be quite tedious for them." To stave off occupational hazards, the Specials have formed their own label, 2 Tone, which has no offices, no secretaries and no official phone number, but which nevertheless has managed to sign up a diversity of new bands like the Beat and the Body Snatchers. 2 Tone, in fact, released Madness's first record, and will continue to circulate all new efforts by the Specials, who have just gone back into the studio to cut then-second album.
Says Madness Drummer Dan ("Woody Woods") Woodgate: "Our music is spontaneous. If we knew what we were going to do next week, it wouldn't be worth it." For the new Specials effort, Dammers promises a little more experimentation and a wider range of styles, even speculates in a bemused fashion on a possible wedding of ska, reggae and "lift music — the stuff you hear in America in McDonald's and department stores. It's so absurd." Step back, watch the closing doors. Going up.
—Jay Cocks