The Beat: You Just Can't Beat It: The Best Of The Beat

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Of the late seventies/early eighties UK "two tone" punk meets ska groups, it was Birmingham's The Beat who were always my favourites. I seriously loved their first two albums and was lucky enough to catch them live on a couple of occasions. They were great. 

A six-piece, they featured the clever, culturally-relevant lyrics and distinctive voice of Dave Wakeling on shared lead vocals, shared with the ebullient Ranking Roger. The group's distinctive saxophone sound was delivered by Saxa, a veteran Jamaican who was said to be fifty, sixty, seventy, or eighty. Nobody really knew. It added to the mythology. The music was essentially ska, full of lilting guitar licks, dub influences and that deep, gloriously tuneful saxophone wailing away beneath nearly every tune.

This is, by far, the best Beat compilation, featuring pretty much all three of their albums, save for one track off the third album, Rotating Head. They may as well have just put it on there.

So, let's get a load of those great songs - "Saxa - oh la! Good God!!".

They are dealt with in more detail on the individual album reviews (click The Beat label link at the bottom of the page) but my personal favourites from Disc One are their convincing cover of Smokey Robinson and The Miracles' The Tears Of A Clown, the totally joyous and frantic single Hands Off...She's Mine, the mysterious ska of Mirror In The Bathroom, the traditional Jamaican ska of Jackpot, a wonderful anti-Thatcher anthem in Stand Down Margaret, the very Jamaican Rough Rider and the melodic grooves of Too Nice To Talk To and All Out To Get You. 

Disc Two gives us great ones in the sad. romantic Walk Away, the saxophone-driven Doors Of Your Heart, the pop of Save It For Later, the smooth Andy Williams cover Can't Get Used To Losing You, the uptempo and topical Get A Job, the rootsy Monkey Murders and the chilled-out but cynical vibe of Cheated. Spar Wid Me gives us a bit of dub too. 

Look, I like the whole bloody lot, let's be honest. For a couple of years - 1980 to 1981 - The Beat were the dog's bollocks.

Secondary, 3 of 5

Comments

  1. bobbyb20/04/2024, 09:57

    I had a best-of that was kind of like this but not as long. My favorite ones by them are I Confess and Save it for Later. My favorite on the first album is Can't Get Used to Losing You. What was that? Burt Bacharach or something? I know it was an old-timey song. And Twist and Crawl is great too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Punk Panther20/04/2024, 10:11

      It is a Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman song from 1963, made famous by Andy Williams.

      Delete
    2. bobbyb20/04/2024, 11:08

      Oh yeah. Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. I knew it was somebody Brill Building but I couldn't remember who. I knew it wasn't Carole King.

      Delete
  2. bobbyb20/04/2024, 10:07

    I always forget if bollocks means ass or balls. I know it's one of those two but I can't remember which. You said dog's bollocks which probably doesn't mean dog's ass, so it must be dog's balls. Or maybe not. You never hear that word over here unless someone's talking about the sex pistols.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Punk Panther20/04/2024, 10:16

      One's bollocks are one's balls. The expression "dog's bollocks" means very good. One might say "Sticky Fingers - that album is the fucking dog's bollocks",meaning it's superb. On the other hand one may use the word "bollocks" to mean "rubbish", as in "never mind all that shit - here's The Sex Pistols" or as a reactionary retort, such as "what you are saying is absolute bollocks" i.e. I violently disagree with you.

      Delete
    2. The Punk Panther20/04/2024, 10:20

      You may say, for example "The Panther's reviews are the dog's bollocks" but you may also say - "that Christian and that Aphoristical write absolute bollocks". You would be right on both counts :)

      Delete
    3. bobbyb20/04/2024, 11:03

      I know. I don't go to Aphoristical anymore cuz he went all Woke and everything and I just can't stand all that virtue signaling. Maybe its still cool in New Zealand but everybody is sick to death of it over here.

      Delete
    4. The Punk Panther20/04/2024, 11:09

      Yes, he has precious little sense of humour. He shocked me recently by saying he only knew two songs by Diana Ross & The Supremes! Christian claimed to be some sort of expert on Ian Hunter but he said all he knew from Mott The Hoople was All The Young Dudes! Shameful.

      Delete
    5. The Punk Panther20/04/2024, 11:10

      I've never trusted Apho since he blurred out Roxy Music's Country Life cover!

      Delete

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