ALBUM REVIEW: The Specials – Protest Songs 1924-2012 (Island Records)
The Specials probably surprised even themselves when Encore, their first album for 18 years, gave them their first UK No 1 in 2019.
But they enjoyed the experience so much that they’re having another tilt at late-career success with this follow-up.
Originally emerging in the late 1970s as the multi-racial flagship of the 2-Tone movement, they sang about racism, unemployment and injustice.
Still relevant
Sadly, more than 40 years later, the world is still awash with social, racial and political unrest, which makes their message just as relevant.
This album is a very different beast to what The Specials planned to make when they gathered in February 2020, just before lockdown.
A reggae record was planned, then covid hit Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter, and they were forced to put their plans on hold.
After George Floyd’s murder and the waves of protest that followed, Hall suggested they make a different kind of record – a protest album.
A few of the core trio’s personal favourites are included, along with songs they unearthed after spending months seeking out suitable material.
Worthy addition
It quickly took on a life of its own, and even though all 12 tracks are cover versions, it’s a more-than-worthy addition to their canon of work.
It opens with their take on Freedom Highway, a song by the Staple Singers which was written for the US freedom marches in the ’60s.
Hall is joined on vocals by young Bradford singer-songwriter Hannah Hu, who also guests elsewhere on the album, and it’s a joyous, upbeat opener.
By contrast, Leonard Cohen’s Everybody Knows is a bleak choice hand-picked by Hall (who else?). Its lyric “old black Joe’s still picking cotton for your ribbons and bows” still resonates.
Another downbeat number, Chip (Wild Thing) Taylor’s Fuck All Those Perfect People, is the most recent song, dating from 2012. But, as the title suggests, some picks date back almost a century. Some are well known, others more obscure, but all carry important messages.
Lyrical clout
Few carry the lyrical clout of poet Rod McKuen’s anti-war anthem Soldiers Who Want To Be Heroes, while Golding’s genial handling of bluesman Big Bill Broonzy’s Black, Brown And White rightfully reclaims it from the National Front.
Hu emerges as a talent worth watching on Talking Heads’ Listening Wind, where she takes lead vocals, and as well as post-punk there’s blues, country, folk and psychedelic rock, but not a ska song in sight.
The nearest we get is Golding’s stripped-bare take on Bob Marley’s rebel reggae classic Get Up, Stand Up, one of the album’s highlights.
Another standout moment is the traditional spiritual Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Us Around, performed partly a capella, with just handclaps for accompaniment and great gospel-style harmonies, before the full band kicks in.
I’ll admit I expected this record to be much feistier, but I guess The Specials are older, wiser and generally less angry now than they were in the late ’70s.
That doesn’t mean they don’t care, they’ve just found a different way of expressing themselves.
Protest Songs 1924-2012 moves even further away from ska than Encore, but if, like me, you’re just glad to have The Specials back and making new music, I think you’ll like this. 8/10.
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