Specials

Never heard this before but I mostly can't stand ska. It's always that same sound with most songs.

Generally I'm not a huge fan of ska (unless it's ska punk like Streetlight Manifesto, only ska band where I like whole albums). Thought I was gonna get a treat with this one leading off with Gangsters, with its very gothic ska, Scooby-Doo ass vibe. Unfortunately the rest of the record is just regular-old ska. Maybe some other stuff thrown in like a little ska punk here and there. Not that it's bad, but it's not something that wows me either.

So yeah. Gangsters is easily the best track on the record with the rest being decent ska.

I will say as a side note, being produced by Elvis Costello tracks. I'd be curious to see the listing of how many albums artists appeared on in any capacity on the list. If so, throw another Costello album on due to this, lol. Bowie's definitely much higher with guest spots and production spots probably all over the list.

Saw that this was ska. Thought "oh, I'll probably like this"

I did!

The mixing is great. The drums really popped, especially in the album's first half.

I'm a casual ska fan. Definitely like this album and appreciate its history in the genre. Not my favorite but we wouldn't have ska as we know it without it.