A couple of weeks ago, Mat and I were driving back from DC and searching for common interests on the ipod. Enter The Specials. We made it through their first two LPs, both of which I plan to review some day. In the interim, I found this great concert footage recorded in late 1979 and aired in early 1980.Apparently the BBC (and NPR-types like myself just love the BBC) had a four year series (1978-1981) called "Rock Goes To College", where up and coming bands played at college venues in the UK. Few of these concerts are available in any format now (cf. the Pink Floyd 1970 KQED concert), but fortunately The Specials concert exists on YouTube.
The concert is early in their career, drawing from their first LP, EP, and single. The track list:
- (Dawning of a) New Era
- Do the Dog
- Monkey Man
- Rat Race
- Blank Expression
- Rude Boys Outta Jail
- Doesn't Make it Alright
- Concrete Jungle
- Too Much Too Young
- Guns of Navarone
- Nite Klub
- Gangsters
- Longshot Kick de Bucket
- Madness
- You're Wondering Now
This is a fun 1979 time capsule from a great band (check out audience on stage at the end). And in an interesting cross over with the archival aspect of my professional career, if you study all the other episodes that were broadcast you'll be hoping they surface some time too. Hey BBC, open up your archives!
