Dance Craze — Soundtrack from the Movie “Dance Craze”

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.