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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can't be Beat, September 17, 2002
In the second coming of ska (c. 1979-1983) the English Beat ruled supreme. The Beat used ska as a foundation on which they used R&B, punk, rock, dub and Afro-beat as material to build three superb albums and a handfull of singles. This collection does a marvelous job of distilling their all too short career highlghts into one disk. Dancable to the extreme, thought-provoking at several levels, and thoroughly enjoyable, this is an excellent addition to any CD collection.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating Rhythyms of the English Beat Still Sound Fresh, May 7, 2005
I was an American who was living in London when the whole Two-Tone ska revival phenomenon broke and I returned to America in late 1979 to find all of these great Brit bands to be under the radar, or not even distributed in America.
In 1979, American based major music labels were only interested in signing generic arena rock bands or disco singers. There was almost no R&D scouting of UK bands until the Police broke through to the mainstream. The English Beat had to start their own record label Go Feet, to finally get "I Just Can't Stop It" released in the USA in October, 1980. The underwhelming response of American record labels to punk and the burgeoning post-punk scene in the UK was "thanks, but no thanks".
Due to a trademark snafu with another band called the Beat in America, the Beat had to use the English Beat name. Everywhere else they were known simply as the Beat, their chosen name.
55 year old Saxa was the heart and soul of The Beat. As a foundational first wave ska musician, he provided the Beat's musical link to its roots in Jamaica and the rock of the past. Saxa's style was squarely in the tradition of early American R&B sax players like King Curtis, Junior Walker and long time James Brown saxophonist, Maceo Parker. Saxa's distinctive touch was processing his saxophone sound with reverb to give a mysterious other-worldly quality.
Ranking Roger was a one of the band's two lead vocalists, but he possessed a rare gift as a toaster in the dancehall style of Big Youth, U-Roy and Dillinger. Roger's raps were the equal of any of those three Jamaican dancehall pioneers. "Ranking Full Stop" Roger's signature toast only gives you a taste of his humor, creativity and verbal wordplay skills. In a live performance Roger was capable of raising the roof with his nimble tongued toasting.
Largely unacknowledged was the muscular groove laid down by David Steele on bass and Rupert Morton on drums. Steele's bass sound was from Jah Wobble dub juggernaut school of bass, but Steele was a more versatile player who had a command of reggae, punk, pop and soul bass styles. Morton could play off-rhythm, one drop drums in the style of Sly Dunbar or lay down a rock solid beat like rock drummer Charlie Watts.
It really doesn't do justice to the Beat to call them a "ska band" because the band was far too musically ambitious. Dave Wakeling and Andy Cox's guitar cross-fire was classic punk. The band was able to pull off a Celtic influenced version of "I Fought the Law" in live shows, a pumped up ska version of Smokey Robinson's "Tears of Clown", and rhythmically complex version of an Andy Williams ballad, "Can't Get Used To Losing You." The biggest live performance surprise (that never got recorded) was a gorgeous reggae influenced version of Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By".
Dave Wakeling's vocals were often in the crooning style of reggae singers in the lover's rock style, but everyone in the band was a talented singer and the vocals that work the best are the shared ones, or the one's where Roger's jubilant toasting is interwoven into the vocal arrangement. The band used the dub style techniques developed by reggae producers like Lee Scratch Perry and the Mad Professor which created an eerie sense of disorientation. The waves of crashing echo worked especially well on their darker songs like "Click, Click", "Mirror In the Bathroom", and "Twist and Crawl". Producer Bob Sargent was also a multi-insturmental wizard and it's Sargent that plays sun-drenched marimba solo on "Hands Off She's Mine."
"Beat This!" is a fantastic collection that spans the three albums of the Beat's all too short 2 year recording career. When I purchased this collection I was actually looking for a remastered edition of the Beat's first album, "I Just Can't Stop It" and "Beat This" was the only remastered Beat music available. It's a shame, because most of the Beat's 1979 music sounds fresher and far more vital than most of the tepid fare that passes for pop music in 2005.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beat fans you DO need this !, March 29, 2002
Prior reviews of this collection have missed an important detail. The Stand Down Margaret (track 15) included here IS NOT the Whine & Grine / Stand Down Margaret from the Beat's first album "I Just Can't Stop". It is the rare dub version that I believe was only previously availble in the U.S. as a 12" 45rpm import.I remeber hearing this on the radio (small community access station) in the early eighties and have searched for it ever since. It KICKS ! Oh and BTW, with their blending of many musical styles and Saxa, the Beat always ruled. Although a very good ska band, Madness wasn't even in the same league !
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