Special Beat Service

Untitled

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Robert Christgau	A−
Rolling Stone
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 Swivelheads". It was used in the conclusion of the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off in 1986.

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

Save It For Later

"Save It For Later" was covered by Pete Townshend, who played it live from 1985 and recorded it for White City: A Novel (1985), though the recording was not released until 2006. Townshend and David Gilmour had trouble figuring out the song's guitar tuning of DADAAD.

Pearl Jam, in their live concerts, often uses the song as a improvisational tag to their songs "Daughter" and "Better Man".

American rock band Harvey Danger covered the song for the soundtrack to the film 200 Cigarettes.

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

The Beat

• 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 – Keyboards, piano

Additional personnel

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

Technical personnel

• 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