Terry Hall Tribute Night (29th March 2024 BBC 4)

 

Last night BBC 4 ran a brilliant thread of music programming in an evening that celebrated the immense talent of Terry Hall, from The Specials, The Fun Boy 3, The Colourfield and back again. The evening started with a new compilation of 'Terry Hall at The BBC' covering his 40 plus years in music. All of the footage was familiar to me except for one show (the name of it escapes me now) where The Band were introduced by Toyah Willcox. Most of this material I have seen in the past, but it was brilliant to see it all brought together and to see it in such excellent quality.

Aside from the BBC music compilation, the highlight for me was the showing of the 'Arena' documentary which saw fanzine writer turned music journalist, Adrian Thrills, travel to Coventry see see what all the fuss, that had turned the UK monochrome, was all about. The scenes filmed in the 'office' of 2 Tone HQ in Albany Road are priceless. I pitied the neighbours! How great it was to find all of the band partying,  larking around and getting on with each other! Gunta loved it too as it showed Coventry city centre as she remembered in back in 1980.

Well done BBC 4 as they would say on 'Points Of View'.

Fun Boy Three Mayfair Suite Newcastle 23rd March 1983

 

There are not so many recordings of Fun Boy Three gigs in circulation, just a handful really and this is one of the better ones from the promotional tour for the second album 'Waiting' in Newcastle. Thanks to the original Dime uploader elegymart. Further details on the recording can be found in the info file in the download folder.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-tXR9BsyAEe

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-WTqKsLazSP

01.  Introduction

02.  Faith, Hope And Charity 

03.  The Pressure Of Life (Takes The Weight Off The Body) 

04.  The Telephone Always Rings 

05.  The Farmyard Connection 

06.  Best Of Luck Mate 

07.  Going Home 

08.  The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum

09.  Things We Do 

10.  Alone 

11.  Well Fancy That! 

12.  Summertime 

13.  Our Lips Are Sealed 

14.  The Tunnel Of Love 

15.  We're Having All The Fun 

16.  Gangsters 

17.  It Ain't What You Do 

18.  Murder She Said 

19.  The More I See (The Less I Believe) 

20.  You're Wondering Now 

Fun Boy 3 - Having All The Fun?

 

Fun Boy 3 on The Tube (Channel 4) in June 1983

It do not suppose for a minute that when The Specials recorded 'Too Much Too Young' it crossed their minds that the stark message to the young mum of the song could be equally applied under different circumstances to The Specials themselves.

For all of Jerry's meticulous planning of the 2 Tone brand from label, to look to sound, I am sure that even he did not imagine that the band's flame would burn so brightly but for such a relatively short period of time. Such were the pressures on the bands associated with the 2 Tone label that none of them (Madness being an exception) enjoyed any prolonged success. As leaders of the 'movement', Jerry Dammers and The Specials felt those pressures more keenly than any of their label mates, including those that moved away from 2 Tone early on, but still flew the flag so to speak. 

The heavy touring schedule across the globe, violence at gigs and personality differences within the band (it was prickly on stage and in the studio) did little to bring longevity to the career of The Specials.

Legend has it that as The Specials appeared on one of their two Top Of The Pops appearances with the seminal 'Ghost Town' the band were in the process of splitting up in one of the BBC dressing rooms. In fact something of a coup was announced when members of the band not in the know were informed that three members, Terry, Neville and Lynval had already split off to form Fun Boy Three.

This 'Specials spin-off' trio it should be remembered were also rather successful, 'enjoying' no less that two top 20 albums (they only released two!) and seven top 20 singles in their short career. The music they produced was rather different from that of The Specials but in fairness that was only to be expected. Since Steve Strange had delivered 'New Romanticism' into the charts things became pretty superficial pretty quickly. At the height of the FB3 success in '82 and '83 they were competing on the record buying front with the likes of Wham and Culture Club! Nevertheless, I have argued it previously on this site that much of the material recorded by the band very much carried on the themes that lay at the heart of The Specials world view. 'The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum' is a natural successor to 'Ghost Town' whilst 'The Tunnel Of Love' echoes 'Too Much Too Young in every respect! Sure, there were lighter moments that perhaps the General would not allowed to appear on a 2 Tone release.... but the subject matter of 'Well Fancy That' is about as bleak as it gets.

A common theme in the bands material is how far removed is the perception of the pop star lifestyle from the reality! Terry sings in 'We're Having All The Fun':

'I live in a flat, I like Manchester United

I live with my girlfriend and my cat, we're really happy

I like watching television wearing pants and moccasins

Eating crispy pancakes and having Monday haircuts that we've done'

How glamorous is that?! But that speaks volumes about Terry Hall as a person.

So whilst many of the glowing obituaries and tributes to Terry gloss over his career beyond The Specials in both their initial and later incarnations, we should not overlook what he did in the interim!

The Fun Boy Three The Ritz New York 7th July 1983 - Don't Mock The Moccasins!

 

Terry Hall.... a national treasure in a country in which I despair about how such characters are defined. I appreciate that not everything he has done musically over the past 40 plus years iseverybody's cup of tea, but the quality has been consistent. The Specials, to the Fun Boy Three, through to the Colourfield and his solo stuff.... be honest a man can't belt out 'Gangsters' for the rest of his life. He has a great voice. His politics are unwaivering.... anti-racist until the day he dies. These three guys have done so much, then and now, to point out the pointless bullshit that racism entails.

In the transition from DMs to moccasins and chinese slippers it was only the footwear that changed... the politics was still there, but the popular musical climate dictated that that it needed to de imparted in a more subtle way. By '82/'83 they were up against the likes of Wham and Roman Holiday for fucks sake!

Anyway, bollocks I love 'em!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-b8bN63LwtI

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-WHjPeGxiWT

01. Intro
02. Faith, Hope and Charity
03. The More I See (The Less I Believe)
04. The Pressure of Life
05. The Farmyard Connection
06. Best of Luck Mate
07. Going Home
08. The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)
09. Well Fancy That
10. Summertime > Alibi
11. Our Lips Are Sealed
12. Tunnel Of Love
13. Gangsters
14. The End (The Doors)
15. It Ain't What You Do
16. Our Lips are Sealed (Reprise)

Lynval Golding Attacked in Coventry January 1982

 

Report of the attack that appeared in Record Mirror 16th January 1982.

I have recently acquired quite a lot of copies of old Record Mirror's and I am more than happy to while away a few hours perusing the singles and album reviews from way back when. But on a much darker note this piece reminded me of what happened to Lynval, guitarist of The Specials and Fun Boy Three man in early 1982. The guy was attacked and his injuries were such that he was lucky to survive. It happened in his home town of Coventry, a multi-cultural city that he and his six fellow Specials had given some meaning to in those dark days of the late '70's/ early '80's.

That band and in particular that man did so much, and indeed continues to do so, to promote the bloody obvious sense of racial harmony. Through his music and his very being he stands up to racist morons. I had the pleasure of meeting him on a couple of occasions and I have never met someone so positive, lively and enthusiastic about his music and what it means. He is a lovely, genuine bloke.

Black Lives Matter (yeah and All Lives Matter and so on and so forth....) everywhere but in particular in the US, where Lynval now resides, things are out of hand.... we shall see what happens in November, but it seems right now that the US is reliving the late '60's. It's all very disconcerting.

20 From '83 (4) The Fun Boy Three Palace Theatre Paris 1983

My appreciation of The Specials is well documented on these pages. That band went west in 1981 for a good few years, but all of the members had more to give, none more so than Terry, Neville and Lynval who formed the leftfield Fun Boy Three.

The quality of FB3's music is seriously underrated I think. OK, the collaborations with Bananarama (surely the only reference that they will ever have on this site!) may have been a bit lightweight in the wake of the show-stopping 'Ghost Town', but listen to 'The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum' and is is clear that this trio were capable of delivering another potent slice of political commentary on the state of the nation that was then being shaped by a recently interred ex-PM. Listen to the chilling 'Well Fancy That!' and dare to describe that as lightweight! Other themes were carried over by FB3 from their time in The Specials.... 'Tunnel of Love' is a perfect sequel to 'Stupid Marriage'.

Performance on the TV show "Switch" 1983
with tracks being "Well Fancy That" ,"Our Lips Are Sealed" and "Farmyard Connection".

MP3: http://rapidshare.com/files/3806003114/Live%20at%20the%20Palace%20Club%20Paris%201983.zip

01. The More I See (The Less I Believe)
02. Going Home
03. The Thing We Do
04. The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum
05. Well Fancy That!
06. Our Lips Are Sealed
07. The Tunnel Of Love
08. Gangsters