Dance Craze - The Reception

 

Promo poster for the screening of the original film in New Zealand.

Record Mirror (7th February 1981)

THE PREMIERE of 'Dance Craze' , the Two - Tone movie, was an extra special event held on Saturday for several hundred under - 18s. Tickets were distributed via a Record Mirror competition and direct invitations to childrens' homes such as Dr Barnardo's. Our 14 year old correspondent Sean O'Donovan hot - footed it from Canvey Island to the Sundown in Charing Cross Road and sent us this report:

AT 4 PM the waiting crowd were at last let into the premiere of 'Dance Craze'. hailed as 'the best of British ska - live' and starring the Beat. Madness. The Bodysnatchers, Bad Manners, Selecter and the Specials. As the mass flocked in, the walls were stripped bare of all posters and LP covers. Down on the stage. Radio One's Richard Skinner was playing some of the aforementioned groups' hits, which got us up onto the dance floor for a moonstomp. At 4.20 the first of the groups' members entered - John Bradbury,  drummer of the Specials, came in rather unnoticed. Suggs. However  made a dramatic

entrance and was immediately mobbed by autograph hunters. I don't think anyone could not have noticed Madness because they were wearing black dress suits with red carnations and canes for the event.

Arriving later were Terry Hall, Rhoda of the Bodysnatchers, Ranking Roger and Dave Wakeling of the Beat, Charley ex of Selecter and many others. They gathered in the Liggers' bar above the main hall, talking to fans and signing the posters and LP covers previously decorating the walls.

The music played for an hour, with records, T-shirts. posters (which were ripped to bits) and badges being distributed to the madding crowd. Five o'clock and the film was underway. The fans were not exactly ecstatic - no one danced! – but clearly enjoyed it nevertheless.

As the crowd filed out, the announcement came over the speakers that more merchandise was being given out at the door. This caused havoc, but luckily order was maintained.

The one question being asked at the end of the event by all the girls was about Suggs and Bette Bright. Is she really going out with him? SEAN O'DONOVAN

THE OPENING of the Two - Tone movie is a spoof of the old 'Look At Life' short films that used to precede the main feature at Odeons up and down the country, and though many of its audience won't remember such things, it's a nice witty way to start.

The Specials' 'Nite Klub' is first up, followed by Madness with 'The Prince'. A new technique has been used for the live footage of which the film largely consists, and very effective it is too. The hot, jumpy atmosphere of the various gigs is splendidly captured throughout.

The Bodysnatchers' cover of old fave '007' comes next, and it's a heartening sight to see the girls - girls! hooray! - keeping well up with the male musical competition. Pauline Black of the Selecter looks exceeding well, too, and I hope she' ll forgive a totally non - sexist comment here: the camera seems

reluctant to move away from her bottom (clad in white ski - pants) and I don't blame it a bit.

During Madness's ska 'Swan Lake ' there's some really tasty footage of loafers and Dr Martens slow - motion dancingl, and amusing cuts to a ballet company performing to 'Swan Lake' in its onginal form. I only wish there'd been more of this sort of thing; it would have broken the relentness flow of live

performance to good effect.

Ah well, on with the bands . .. Bad Manners don't come off too well I'm afraid. particularly when following the Bodysnatchers; they look so big and white and male. The Beat quite simply steal the show, with Ranking Roger in particular walking off with my personal Oscars for best dancing, best hat, most charm and totally infectious enthusiasm.

Halfway through we break for a section of Pathe News, hilarious stuff showing dance crazes of yesteryear. This would have been better cut up and shown in bursts throughout the film methinks,  but it's a good idea .

More stand - out bits: Madness's 'Razor Blade Alley ' and ' Night Boat to Cairo' . the staged fight during Selecter's 'Too Much Pressure ', the bottle of Lucozade on Jerry Dammers' piano and the closer - ' Nite Klub' again – with Terry Hall deadpanning beautifully throughout the scathing lyrics.

See it, dance to it, sing along and cheer for your laves. It's that kind of movie and I loved (almost) every minute of it. SUNIE.

Record Mirror (7th February 1981)

DANCE CRAZE (Soundtrack)

(CHR TT 5004)

By Sunie

YOU'VE FLOCKED to the gigs, you've thrilled to the hits, you'll soon be queueing for the movie - now hear the soundtrack! Let's skank through the tracks on this live monument to the Two-Tone story so far, before sitting back for some armchair analysis ...

Side One opens with the Specials' 'Concrete Jungle', followed by the Beat's 'Mirror in the Bathroom', the

latter surprisingly sounding more sinister here than on the studio version. Anti-stoutism's firmest

advocates Bad Manners are next with 'Lip Up Fatty', which is hearty enough but suffers rather from

foliowing the much more subtle Beat sound.

Absolute stand-out on this side is 'Razor Blade Alley' by Madness, a superb slice of finger-snapping

sleaze closer to Tom Waits than to Prince Buster, which tells of losing virginity and health in one brief

encounter. On to 'Three Minute Hero' by the Selecter after that brief change of tempo; I never reckoned

this song much, but that's just my grouse. The Bodysnatchers' sole contribution to the LP is 'Easy Life',

wrapping the liberation v procreation dilemma in delicious girly harmonies and what I imagine to be a rock-• steady rhythm; it sounds different from pure ska, anyway. The Beat reappear with 'Big Shot' and

Madness end the side with an insanely fast and saxy 'One Step Beyond' .

Side Two kicks off with the seat's 'Ranking Full Stop', a lively if unexceptional number brought up to

scratch by Ranking Roger's sheer exuberance. Specials next with 'Man at C&A'; then the Selecter's

'Missing Words', smashing melodic pop deftly performed. Bad Manners' 'Inner London Violence' is more of their razzy stomp, but with considerably more musical ' substance than their previous effort.

'Night Boat to Cairo' is the song that made me fall for Madness, and here it is in all its glory: I don't know

which I love more, Lee Thompson's marvellous sax or Suggs's inimitable vocal. Then we're back to the

Selecter for 'Too Much Pressure' , and the set ends at the 'Nite Klub', with brass ensemble Dick & Rico well to the fore of a steamy Specials sound.

Each group uses its own producer, and since the list of those gentlemen's names reads like a studio

'Who's  Who’, you may rest assured that the quality throughout is triff.

It's positively mind-boggling to consider that each of these bands owes their first taste of success, at

least in part, to J Dammers Esquire's vision, and trying to count the sum total of their hits brings me and my abacus out in a cold sweat. It's been said many times before, but it is a truly joyful thing that such groups as these are actively breaking down barriers of race, age, gender and musical style. More

power  to them. + + + +

Smash Hits (19th February 1981)

New York Times (25th April 1982)

The sloppy but cheerful ''Dance Craze,'' which opened Friday at the Eighth Street Playhouse, is a concert film devoted to the musical hybrid known variously as ska, or two-tone, or rock steady. The English bands featured here owe a lot to reggae - the best-known British band rockers playing anything of this sort are the Police, who do not appear in ''Dance Craze'' - but have added a thing or two of their own. Flat tops. Checked jackets. Persistent hopping, preferably from one foot to the other. An overall spirit of jubilation.

''Dance Craze,'' which was directed by Joe Massot, shows so little concern for the ordinary cinematic niceties that it never even identifies the bands on screen, except in the opening credits. These groups are the Specials, the Bodysnatchers, Madness, Bad Manners, the English Beat and the Selecter.

The personnel is racially mixed -which is part of why the music is nicknamed ''two-tone'' - and a couple of the lead singers are women. One lead singer, from Bad Manners, is a fat man in T-shirt, droopy pants and suspenders, wearing army boots and a skinhead's hairdo. No one can accuse these bands of lacking either enthusiasm or character.

''Dance Craze'' isn't anything more than a chance to watch these groups for an hour and a half, and to hear a very muddy version of their sound; the lyrics are almost indistinguishable throughout. For anyone interested in this happy, energetic music, that may be more than enough. Janet Maslin

The Cast

DANCE CRAZE, directed by Joe Massot; visual concept and photography by Joe Dunton; edited by Ben Rayner; music produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley; produced by Gav- rik Losey; released by Nu-Image. Running time: 86 minutes. This film has no rating. At the Eighth Street Playhouse, at the Avenue of the Americas.

Some were critical...

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