The news that Ranking Roger's Beat (as opposed to Dave Wakeling's English Beat) were to release 'Bounce', their first album for 30 years, didn't exactly fill me with anticipation. Don't get me wrong, I loved the original incarnation of the band and one of Roger's showcases, 'Pato and Roger a-Go Talk', was a big favourite round at my house in 1982. Dave & Roger's post-Beat outfit General Public released a few storming tunes too. But that was all a long time ago and Roger's new line-up of The Beat (featuring his son Ranking Junior as co-vocalist) contains no other original members of the band. The latest single from the album, 'Side to Side', proves that this old cynic was a tad hasty to pass judgement though. It's ancient, modern and very catchy.
I saw this version of the beat last year. They were great and the new stuff sounded good.
ReplyDeleteThey played a very good live set for Steve Lamacq's show just before Christmas, as did The Selector, who also have a new LP on the horizon. 2017, the year that Ska returns!
ReplyDeleteThat works really well. It really shouldn't, but somehow they've taken the best of the old and updated it... while avoiding the worst of the new.
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