Obscure 2 song5/26/2023 ![]() A band that influenced any number of bands that followed in their wake including The Beat in the UK and The Untouchables in the U.S. The Equators - The most talented and most overlooked band of the entire 2-Tone era in the UK. The song was recorded and promoted during the 1981 London Marathon, hence the song title. They recorded a cover of the Spencer Davis Band track which hit #1 in the UK charts in the late 60's (which ironically was written for Spencer Davis by ska and reggae musician Jackie Edwards). The Details - One of the most obscure UK 2-Tone era bands. He also recorded a number of his own songs including this 2-Tone era rocker called 'Round In Circles' which has a great funky 2-Tone meets disco groove thanks to its bass line and hot horns. He was well known in 2-Tone circles for producing several tracks off The Selecter's first album. It's clear that Grant produced the track as it includes his hallmark heavy electronic bass sound.Įrrol Ross - An established Jamaican engineer and producer who moved to the UK in the 1970's. ![]() ![]() They were a UK-based ska band that was signed to Eddy Grant's Ice Records and only recorded one single, a cover version of Dandy Livingstone's 1967 ska song 'You're No Hustler'. The Javelins - Not much is know about The Javelins. Here are highlights about the bands and performers in this week's podcast: What's interesting about the group of bands highlighted in this mix are the links and associations that many of them have to established 2-Tone bands, songwriters or producers. Bette Bright (backed by the Madness production team) and The Belle Stars (featuring ex-members of The Bodysnatchers) definitely had the connections and the material to be bigger than they were. Most of these bands did not garner any radio airplay and fewer headlined any big shows (short of Rico who was touring with The Specials and The Equators who toured with other Stiff Records bands).Of particular note are two bands fronted by women. This podcast includes UK ska and reggae bands that you probably have not heard of before (The Javelins, Errol Ross and The Details) as well as a few that made a dent but did not get the attention they deserved like The Equators, The Ammonites and The Akrylykz. Its a shame that more of the songs in this week's mix didn't reach a wider audience. However, just because they were outside the mainstream and lacked radio play did not mean that they were not good songs. I've gathered together songs from 11 bands and artists who were on the periphery of the 2-Tone mainstream. This week's podcast takes a slight turn to the more obscure 2-Tone era ska that was released in the UK during 1980-81 time frame when the sound was at its peak around the British Isles.
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