Are you kidding? This record is great
Joaquín Felipe | 09/03/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The most glorious moments of late Specials (by which I mean anything after the first record) were "Ghost Town" and "Friday Night/Saturday Morning" - the hyperactive ska beat gone and replaced by .. well, a sense of loss. The rest of The Specials later output wasn't that great, really. Where did all that thrill and wonder go? Here. In fact, the best of late Specials sounds like this record: stripped of almost everything except gorgeous harmony and beats that sound like tomorrow morning's faulty memory of last night's unsettling dream. I bought this record in 1982 or so; for the last 20 years some of these songs have stayed in my head like nursery rhymes for (grown-up) children who remember what hope tasted like just enough to know it's gone. The slow resigned ache of "The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum", building and dissipating without benefit of climax or release, was at the time one of the best and most emotionally apt political songs reflecting the dread and near-despair of the Reagan/Thatcher era. I've been playing it again lately, and guess what? It's one of the best and most emotionally apt songs reflecting the dread and near-despair of the Bush/Blair era. Many of these songs have an emotional impact far out of proportion to their lyrics or apparent subject; the spare, almost broken-sounding instrumentation and the stunning voices of Hall and Staples in combination are unforgettable."
Specials fans will be interested
Joaquín Felipe | 08/19/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is the album that essentially broke up the Specials, but in many respects it sounds like it could have been the third full length Specials album, a proper follow up to "More Specials." This album continues in the aforementioned's tradition of moody pop music with a hint of reggae in the background. The difference, of course, is that Fun Boy Three fully embraced the generic 80's sound and sound substantially less original than the Specials (seriously, just look at the cover). Yeah, it's easy to hate Fun Boy Three, but hearing Terry Hall's punky whine and Neville Staple's deep chants together again is still too much for any Specials fan to pass up."
Not so good as the next and last album
Joaquín Felipe | spain | 10/13/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I would say this 1st album from FB3 has some interesting hints, but the next one "Waiting" is the real thing: good songs really developed, complete sound that you really can relate to The Specials and leaves you waiting for more... but that never happened.
Instead, here I think songs are half cooked and relay too much on that "african slave hangawa-hangawa" rhythm."
