What does it sound like?:
It’s bank holiday weekend, the sun is shining, the barbecue is sizzling, friends are arriving, and drink is flowing. What better musical accompaniment to proceedings than this 3 cd, 3 hour collection of vintage and contemporary ska sounds.
As always, this set is presumably dependent on licensing availability, but it runs the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous – from the likes of Desmond Dekker, Prince Buster, The Specials, The Beat, Madness and The Selecter right through to Bad Manners. Among the well known classics, there is also quite a bit of filler, but that’s to be expected on this kind of set, and to be fair the familiar far outweighs the forgettable.
Sometimes it does rather stretch the definition of ska – Tom Harks anyone – and it runs out of steam a bit on the third disc. Nevertheless, it’s great to hear again so many of these familiar tunes one after the other. Any album that starts off with Gangsters, One Step Beyond, Mirror In The Bathroom and Three Minute Hero has surely got to be worth checking out.
What does it all *mean*?
Great entertainment for sunny weather!
Goes well with…
Lots of drink, long summer nights and good friends.
Release Date:
Might suit people who like…
Ska, reggae, great pop music.
Kaisfatdad says
That album does sound like a treat. Ska is a truly international music that travels very well-
You can m ix it with
a little Cuban rum
a bottle of San Miguel
or a plate of sushi
Locust says
I have a 3 CD compilation also called Ska Anthems, but mine is from 2012 and doesn’t have any Madness, Specials etc, although Bad Manners get to visit with one track. I confess that I mostly bought it because it cost £1 and came in a nice tin box (which I’m now using for other stuff…)
Lots of fine tracks, but that was just a bonus in this case!
NigelT says
We just got back from the Exmouth Festival and I was moaning about the amount of ska/reggae on the bill – sorry, but for me it just gets very tedious after a while. I realise that others seem happy to jig about to it all evening, but just doesn’t rock my boat – 3cds of it would be purgatory!
Zanti Misfit says
When there is too much of any musical style on the bill it can get boring though.
Mind you, I went to see the Tokyo Ska Orchestra perform about ten years ago and I thought they were one of the most amazing live acts I had ever seen.
However, after about an hour into their set, I realised I never wanted to hear another off beat punchy brass section or witness anymore dancing on the spot with hands over the mic going “chukky-tuk-chukky -tuk-chukky-tuk” for about a year. And I’m saying this as a huge ska fan.
Rigid Digit says
I’ve got about 4 ska compilations of various vintage (plus the various tracks that find their what onto 80s compilations, Mod compilations, whatever), so have probably got all the tracks here.
Having said that, if I see it in a charity shop or carboot sale, it’ll doubtless end up on my shelf
(Yes, I am a hoarder – or as I justify it to Mrs D “an archivist” (she calls me something else beginning with “a”))
Baron Harkonnen says
I have the Trogan Ska box set from the `80`s, no pseudo Ska acts ( The Specials, The Beat, Madness, The Selecter* and err, Bad Manners), all killa no filla.
*That`s not to say that these bands are bad, (well Bad bloody Manners no thanks) they have their place on `Anthems` because they fit but the Trojan box is original and my idea of Ska.