One of the CDs he gave me was The Specials: Specials.
The Specials original line-up had actually broken up the year before I was born, and to this date have not played together in their entirety, although many of the original members have formed and re-formed many times in many combinations over the last 30 years to put out an occasional album or play on tour here and there. I remember a concert for the Special Beat being advertised by KJQ. According to the house rules, I wasn’t old enough to go.
That is pretty much where it all started. Since the first time, The Specials have always been music that I could get down to. In San Diego, some of the local radio stations play “A Message to You, Rudy” a couple times a day. It is my all time favorite “on the way home from a 10 hour day in the work truck and stuck in traffic because it took us too long to get the job done” song. Sometimes during my shifts at Starbucks, I get to listen to some of my old time favorites: “Monkey Man,” “Nelson Mandela,” “Ghost Town,” and even their version of “Pressure Drop,” as they have made it onto official “hear music” play list.
However, none of the aforementioned songs were ones that I would listen to on repeat in my room for hours at a time while reading or playing videos games or whatever. “Doesn’t Make It Alright” was.
To my brother, I say: thanks for sharing.
To everybody else, I say: enjoy.
Click to Play———–> “Doesn’t Make It Alright”
Peter Breinholt is a guest contributor for La Musica Coolica, and Jake’s brother. All of Peter’s contributions can be found here | Peter’s personal blog can be found here.