The English Beat – I Just Can’t Stop It

How did it come to be that I never really got into much two-tone or ska? I have only a handful of ska records, most acquired within the past few years. There was a heavily two-tone-influenced Syracuse band, My Sin, that we absolutely loved in the early ’80s, but I never looked much further into their influences. I’d heard of The English Beat (or just The Beat), I’d heard of The Specials – I was reading about this type of music in NME and Trouser Press, but somehow I never connected with the style.

I think I have to lay some of the blame on Madness – they hit big when I was in college, and quickly came to represent ska to a statewide, white audience. “One Step Beyond” was absolutely ubiquitous – but it never set me on fire, and neither did any of their other stuff. It always struck me as too frenetic for sustained listening. Great on the dance floor, nothing I wanted to hear in my home. And that kinda colored all my impressions of ska and related sounds – just not my thing for home listening. Even when I started to pick up a few examples of the genre a few years back, like Dance Craze, they weren’t getting a lot of spins.

But here in 2024, I’ve been branching out a bit and when this expanded re-release of The English Beat’s “I Just Can’t Stop It” came out for Record Store Day last November, I decided to take a chance. It really blew away my preconceptions of what ska was, because here were songs that weren’t necessarily frenetic, songs that had some deep emotional lyrics, that really connected, and a sound that was a bit more in line with my tastes. This came out in 1980. How have I not been listening to this for decades? Ah well, it’s a good thing life is long enough that I get to recover from some of my mistakes.

This RSD reissue has some nice bonuses and a live side that sounds great!