Special Beat Service

Special Beat Service is the third studio album by the British ska band the Beat. Like the rest of their material, it was released in the US under the name "the English Beat". It peaked at No. 39 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 1983 on the strength of two singles, "I Confess" and "Save It for Later," the videos for which received modest airplay on the fledgling MTV video network.

Special Beat Service
Studio album by
the Beat
Released1 October 1982[1]
RecordedRoundhouse Studios, London
GenreNew wave, ska, 2 tone, dance-rock, jangle pop
Length39:52
LabelGo-Feet
I.R.S. Records
ProducerBob Sargeant
except "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" produced by Ranking Roger & Mike Hedges
The Beat chronology
Wha'ppen?
(1981)		 Special Beat Service
(1982)		 What Is Beat?
(1983)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Record GuideA−[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]
Rolling Stone[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]
Spin Alternative Record Guide8/10[7]

An instrumental version of the song "Rotating Head" had previously been released as the B-side of the single, "Jeanette", under the title, "March of the Swivel Heads". It was used in the conclusion of the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off in 1986 and in 2015 it was used in Regular Show: The Movie.

The aircraft that the band appears to be disembarking on the cover is a Vickers VC10, a British designed four-engined jet.

Ackee 1-2-3

The name of the song and the lyrics from the chorus, are a regional variation on the name of the children's game, Forty forty as used in the bands home town of Birmingham.[8]

The lyrics for the first half of the second verse, "Forward where the knocks are hardest, some to failure, some to fame; Never mind the cheers or hooting, keep your head and play the game", are from the King Edward's School, Birmingham 'School Song'[9] which was written by Alfred Hayes.

The song has strong Latin overtones, employing a Mexican-style mariachi trumpet and a short conga dance rhythm at the end.

Critical reception

The Spin Alternative Record Guide wrote that "'Save It for Later' and 'End of the Party' are romantic, piano-driven pop gems."[7]

Track listing
  • Per label: All songs written by the Beat
except "Pato and Roger a Go Talk", words by Pato & Roger, music by the Beat
  • Per ASCAP: All songs written by Roger Charlery, Andrew Cox, Everett Morton, David Steele and David Wakeling
except "Sorry", "Sole Salvation" and "Sugar And Stress" written by Charlery, Cox, Wesley Magoogan, Morton, Steele and Wakeling
"Pato and Roger a Go Talk" written by Charlery, Cox, Morton, Patrick Murray, Steele and Wakeling

LP

Go-Feet FEET-5, 1982

Side A:

  1. "I Confess" – 4:34
  2. "Jeanette" – 2:46
  3. "Sorry" – 2:33
  4. "Sole Salvation" – 3:05
  5. "Spar Wid Me" – 4:32
  6. "Rotating Head" – 3:24

Side B:

  1. "Save It for Later" – 3:34
  2. "She's Going" – 2:10
  3. "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" – 3:19
  4. "Sugar and Stress" – 2:57
  5. "End of the Party" – 3:32
  6. "Ackee 1-2-3" – 3:12

CD reissue

A 2 CD + DVD Deluxe Edition of this (and the earlier 2 albums) was released in July 2012. The DVD contains the performance of the band on the short lived ITV programme OTT. The CDs contain a version of the original album plus many bonus tracks of outtakes, extended versions, live versions and a John Peel session.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the Special Beat Service liner notes.[10]

Additional musicians
  • Bob Sargeant – Telephone, marimba
  • Marc Fox – Percussion
  • Jack Emblow – Accordion
  • M. Mishra (John Chao) – Tabla
  • Vince Sullivan – Trombone
  • Dave Lord – Trumpet
  • Steve Sidwell – Trumpet
  • Pato Banton – Toasting
Technical
  • Bob Sargeant – Producer
  • Trevor Hallesy – Engineer
  • Mark Dearnley – Engineer
  • Geoff Pesche – Engineer, Remastering
  • Mike Hedges – Producer, "Pato and Roger a Go Talk"
  • Ranking Roger – Producer, "Pato and Roger a Go Talk"
  • Marv Bornstein – Mastering
  • Bob Carbone – Mastering
  • Paul Fox – Drum Tech
  • Martyn Atkins – Art Direction
  • Brian Gaylor – Contributor
  • Nick Rogers – Contributor

References
  1. "News". Record Mirror: 7. 28 August 1982. Retrieved 8 February 2021 – via flickr.com.
  2. Greene, Jo-Ann. "Special Beat Service – The English Beat". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 April 2006.
  3. Christgau, Robert (1990). "The English Beat: Special Beat Service". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  4. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press.
  5. Schaffner, Nicholas (11 November 1982). "The English Beat: Special Beat Service". Rolling Stone (382). Archived from the original on 23 June 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2006.
  6. Considine, J. D. (2004). "English Beat". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). London: Fireside Books. pp. 277–278. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  7. Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. p. 127.
  8. "Brummie Sayings & Language: Hide and seek". Birmingham History.
  9. School song
  10. Special Beat Service (CD booklet). the Beat. Go-Feet Records. 1982.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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