This is one of those local punk rock flea market buys, picked up sometime early 2019. Saw it in the bins and realized that although I like ska and two-tone, I own very little of it. Odd, but just not an area I ever invested in. One of our favorite bands from our undergraduate days, Syracuse’s My Sin, was on the edge of two-tone, and one of my favorite events ever was a black and white party hosted at The Firebarn, where everyone dressed up, the music was fun and funky and the whole scene was just funnnnnnnn. So I should have been way more into it than I was. But did I ever picked up so much as a Madness record? I did not. Listen, there’s no explaining my early 20s, not even to myself. Especially not to myself.
So, looking to fill in holes in my collection, when I found this at the PRFM, grabbed it and gave it a go. After all, it’s “The best of British ska . . . live!” Turns out it’s actually the music to a concert movie I was unaware of, “Dance Craze,” which featured The Specials, The English Beat, The Selecter, Bad Manners, The Bodysnatchers, and Madness. It’s a pretty fun record. Can’t say it’s the best-recorded live album I’ve got, but it’s still pretty fun. So when I’m feeling like something upbeat, high speed and fun, when I feel like either rankin’ or skankin’ (way too old to do both), I’ll throw this one on the turntable.
