Special Beat Service

Special Beat Service
Studio album by the Beat
Released	1982
Recorded	Roundhouse Studios, London
Genre	New wave, ska, 2 Tone
Length	39:52
Label	Go Feet I.R.S. Records
Producer	Bob Sargeant except "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" produced by Ranking Roger & Mike Hedges
The Beat chronology
Wha'ppen? (1981) Special Beat Service (1982) What is Beat? (1983)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Christgau's Record Guide	A−
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

Special Beat Service was the third album by British ska band the Beat. Like the rest of their material, it was released in the US under the name "the English Beat". It reached #39 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 1983 on the strength of two singles, "I Confess" and "Save It for Later," the videos for which received modest airplay on the fledgling MTV video network.

An instrumental version of the song "Rotating Head" had previously been released as the B-side of the single, "Jeanette", under the title, "March of the Swivel Heads". It was used in the conclusion of the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off in 1986 and in 2015 it was used in Regular Show: The Movie.

The aircraft that the band appears to be disembarking on the cover is a Vickers VC10, a British designed four-engined jet.

Ackee 1-2-3

The lyrics for the first half of the second verse, "Forward where the knocks are hardest, some to failure, some to fame; Never mind the cheers or hooting, keep your head and play the game", are from the King Edward's School, Birmingham 'School Song' which was written by Alfred Hayes.

This song has strong Latin overtones, employing a Mexican-style mariachi trumpet and a short conga dance rhythm at the end.

Track listing

• Per label: All songs written by the Beat

except "Pato and Roger a Go Talk", words by Pato & Roger, music by the Beat

• Per ASCAP: All songs written by Roger Charlery, Andrew Cox, Everett Morton, David Steele and David Wakeling

except "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" written by Charlery, Cox, Morton, Patrick Murray, Steele and Wakeling

LP

Go-Feet FEET-5, 1982

Side A:

1. "I Confess" – 4:34
2. "Jeanette" – 2:46
3. "Sorry" – 2:33
4. "Sole Salvation" – 3:05
5. "Spar Wid Me" – 4:32
6. "Rotating Head" – 3:24

Side B:

1. "Save It for Later" – 3:34
2. "She's Going" – 2:10
3. "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" – 3:19
4. "Sugar and Stress" – 2:57
5. "End of the Party" – 3:32
6. "Ackee 1-2-3" – 3:12

CD reissue

A 2 CD + DVD Deluxe Edition of this (and the earlier 2 albums) was released in July 2012. The DVD contains the performance of the band on the short lived ITV programme OTT. The CDs contain a version of the original album plus many bonus tracks of outtakes, extended versions, live versions and a John Peel session.

Personnel

• Ranking Roger – Toasting, vocals, percussion
• Dave Wakeling – Vocals, guitar
• David Steele – Bass, banjo
• Andy Cox – Guitar, mandolin
• Everett Morton – Drums
• Saxa – Saxophone
• Wesley Magoogan – Clarinet, lyricon, saxophone, sax FX unit
• Dave "Blockhead" Wright – Keyboards, piano

Additional musicians

• Bob Sargeant – Telephone, marimba
• Marc Fox – Percussion
• Jack Emblow – Accordion
• M. Mishra (John Chao) – Tabla
• Vince Sullivan – Trombone
• Dave Lord – Trumpet
• Steve Sidwell – Trumpet
• Pato Banton – Toasting

Technical

• Bob Sargeant – Producer
• Trevor Hallesy – Engineer
• Mark Dearnley – Engineer
• Geoff Pesche – Engineer, Remastering
• Mike Hedges – Producer, "Pato and Roger a Go Talk"
• Ranking Roger – Producer, "Pato and Roger a Go Talk"
• Marv Bornstein – Mastering
• Bob Carbone – Mastering
• Paul Fox – Drum Tech
• Martyn Atkins – Art Direction
• Brian Gaylor – Contributor
• Nick Rogers – Contributor