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elcome to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blog. The aim of this blog is to introduce the readers to music that is out of print, commercially unavailable, released under a creative commons license, or with approval by the featured artist. The majority of the music posted here would be considered underground. Don't let that fool you into thinking that the music featured here might be any less enjoyable than that of the mainstream artists you hear on the radio, as this couldn't be further from the truth. Please keep in mind that the majority of the artists that appear on this blog, along with their respective record labels, are not wealthy and need your support. If you enjoy the material that you find here, please support the artists/labels by purchasing their material afterwards. If you are an artist/label that would prefer to have your material removed from this blog, simply leave me a comment, and I would be more than happy to promptly remove the offending post. In addition to running this blog, I also work on a few other projects during my spare time. You can find links to those, as well as a few other important links associated with Digital Meltd0wn in the menu bar above.

Friday, January 25, 2013

The (English) Beat - I Just Can't Stop It

While the Euro-disco beat of Munich Machine had my toes tapping & my fingers snapping, I really needed a more English beat.

The Beat were known in North America as The English Beat so as not to be confused with The Beat who were known as Paul Collins' Beat to the rest of the world so as not to be confused with The Beat (English???).

Are you confused yet? I know I am.

The English Beat were a ‘2 Tone’ ska revival band founded in England in 1978, whose songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae, new wave, & punk rock.

Now I’ve never been a big fan of ska (disregarding the fact that the ‘only band that matters’ [re. The Clash] & Rancid both ska it up a great deal) but songs like “Click Click”, with its socio-political lyrics raise the ska ante. Yet this album has fond, fond memories to me.

1980 was the year that the Black Dahlia (the legendary Dolores Dahli von Rijn, mi esposa) & I hooked up for the first time. We hit the danceclubs hard. She was a Disco Dahli & I was a Nothin’ punk, so we’d hit the Laundry Works, Hotel St. Claire, One Step Beyond or Keystone Palo Alto & shake a tail feather to that dance-able New Wave sound.

Now I’ve never been a big fan of New Wave, but...

I think we wore out our first copy of I Just Can’t Stop It by 1981 & had to get a replacement. Songs like “Mirror in the Bathroom”, “Hands Off...She’s Mine”, “Twist & Crawl” get me going every time I hear them (plus great covers of “Tears of a Clown” & “Can’t Get Used to Losing You”).

Now that Dave Wakeling has resurrected The Beat for 2009, this is timely indeed. So...

Back to E without too much delay. E...E...Enjoy!

Year of Release: 1980
Label: Sire Records Company SRK 6091
Genre: Ska

Tracklist:
Side 1 -
Mirror in the Bathroom
Hands off... She's Mine
Two Swords
Twist & Crawl
Tears of a Clown
Rough Rider
Click Click

Side 2 -
Ranking Full Stop
Big Shot
Whine & Grine / Stand Down Margaret
Noise in this World
Can't Get Used to Losing You
Best Friend
Jackpot

Download: The English Beat - I Just Can’t Stop It
Download Size: 94.3MB (ripped from well-played vinyl at 320Kbps)

5 comments:

Let's Find H-Man A Wife said...

The first great album by the English Beat..Good choice there.

said...

Thanks, Bill. If there's any interest, I'll post their second one, Wha'ppen?

wytchcroft said...

christ knows how many copies of this (and sundry 12 inches) i've worn out down the years. One sweeeeet record!

Anonymous said...

Dead link :(

Moustro said...

graciela