portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Sunday, November 26, 2023

The Specials: The Best Of The Specials 2008 | TERRY HALL | URBANASPIRINES

Death of Terry Hall

                          A nice tribute to Terry Hall who we lost last year and the SPECIALS hold a special place in UK Music history and were  totally unique and a benchmark in music largely and predominately thanks to the work, singing and songwriting of Terry Hall


On 19 December 2022, the Specials announced on social media that Hall had died at age 63 after a brief 


illness which was later revealed to be pancreatic cancer. They had planned to record a new album in the United States before Hall's health deteriorated.

                     
















Again as ever Kostas does these things so well and this is well worth collecting, reading and enjoying!

The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Jerry Dammers on keyboards, Lynval Golding and Roddy Radiation on guitars, Horace Panter on bass, John Bradbury on drums, and Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez on horns. The band wore mod-style "1960s period rude boy outfits (pork pie hats, tonic and mohair suits and loafers)". Their music combines the danceable rhythms of ska and rocksteady with the energy and attitude of punk. Lyrically, their work (often written by primary songwriter Dammers) presented overt political and social commentary.



3 comments:

Kostas said...

Terry Hall. An amazing musician! Never forget him.

Andy Swapp said...

Indeed Kostas. Terrible loss I feel . . . . . thanks for your posting

Kostas said...

😊🤩☺️