Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It might have come out the blue, in the eyes of the fans and the casual listener a return of a sound, the unexpected and impromptu, unassailable positive siren like melody that comes from the most feverish of expressions; out of the blue but tremendously welcome and yet arguably a sadness in that was thought diminished in the U.K., has become a battle ground to which The Specials have to stand their ground and open fire with scintillating progressive thought.
The U.K. may have lost its way politically, socially, a deep unfathomable rise in old ideas and disgusting notions means that what had been once beaten now threatens the peace and good nature of all, and yet despite all this, The Specials, including the superb reappearance, perhaps homecoming, of Terry Hall to the line-up, find a place in the spotlight and damn all who seek destroy what was achieved.
The Specials were truly that, a band for the moment, a band that created a vision of what was happening, a band to whom now embrace another view with the inclusion of a woman who has become a heroine in the national identity, the superb Saffiyah Khan, who typifies the reaction to the insanity and disgrace that others bring down upon the streets of Britain.
Joining Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter on the album is to be considered an honour, a place in the beat that has been sadly missing, an Encore that has come at the right time, and as songs across the two C.D.s blend and weave a tale of modern Britain and a wider view people in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement take hold, what is there in the foreground is a stark reminder that we must never allow all that was beaten, extinguished, to reappear like a ghost at the graveside.
Whether in the new songs recorded, such as Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys, Breaking Point, Commandments, Embarrassed By You or The Life And Times (Of A Man Called Depression), and in the superb live section of the album, A Message To You Rudy, Redemption Song, Too Much Too Young, Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think), Ghost Town and the gorgeous finale of All The Time In The World, what matters is the creative pulse has re-emerged, a band for the times perhaps, but they deal with it with honour, the siren in search of truth is never too far from being heard and admired.
A welcome return, gritty, steeped in the real. The Specials deserve their own Encore.
Ian D. Hall