Customer Reviews
All your favourites - By: T. Currie, 01 Jun 2010 
All your favourites on one album, all you'll ever need. It reminds you how many hits they have had.
SKA ISSUES - By: Kelvin J. Dickinson, 20 May 2010 
Play GHOST TOWN or STEREOTYPE or stunning debut single GANGSTERS & relive again those heady days of the late seventies/early eighties. More than anything the songs on this superb compilation sum up perfectly the culture of social unrest presentin much of Margaret Thatcher's Brave New Britain. For many people life was pretty volatile - due,in no small part, to high unemployment, the poll tax, & the threat (or so we believed at the time) of nuclear armageddon, resultingin an unexpectedly energised left-wing protest movement of which I was a (fairly) active member for a while. That's not to say protesting against the Tory Government was an unrelentingly po-faced endeavour. No, there was a lot of fun to be had simply carrying banners & chanting primitive slogans outside the Houses of Parliament. But that was then.
See? That's just part of what this album does so well. TOO MUCH TOO YOUNG, NITE KLUB, RAT RACE, FRIDAY NIGHT SATURDAY MORNING...THE SPECIALS SINGLES: BEST OF is a scathing period piece & a recognisably human portrait of life, kitchen sinks & all. Yes, you had to be there, but forty-five or older, then you probably were; it just depends on which side of the fence you belonged.
Coventry boys JERRY DAMMERS, TERRY HALL & THE SPECIALS have provided us with the most evocative SKA/PUNK music you could ever wish to hear.
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Danceable melodies !!! - By: MOR :, 27 Sep 2009 This compilation stands out for featuring not just their "hits" but also b-sides, live tracks, & rarities. Of particular note is the inclusion of the powerful & dance-worthy anthem, "Free Nelson Mandela," recorded under the name the Special A.K.A. after the official demise of the Specials.
And the full version of "Ghost Town",a number one hitin Britain is still as mesmerizing & menacing as ever.
This CD is a wonderful mixture of songs that are simply fantastic to listen to combining socially conscious messages with jaunty, danceable melodies.
If you haven't tried Ska then this would be a very good place to start & at a ridiculously low price.
Go get it ..........
Great - By: Colin Mullen, 28 Jul 2009 Just got this recordin the post this morning & have been listening to it ever since! If you are just getting into The Specials then this is the record for you, all the hits & more are on here. Even my 2 year old was dancing around the kitchen to Rat Race!!
definatly something special - By: Stacy Walker, 23 Mar 2009 it is the year 2oo9 & ive found myself listening to ghost town thinking it could be wrote about 2day`s reccesion hit depressing times,as neville staples shouts no job to be foundin this country......for all the rudeboys at the time the specials spoke to them....they spoke to a generation of unemployd teens who lived for the weekend with songs such as nightclub & the realy humourous friday night saturday morning.....the lyrics here are so intellegant & humourous & delivered by terry halls dry wit they pack a punch!!!!!!were it not for the specials that have influenced hundreds of todays bands such as blur & amywinehouse etc.....the album deals with raceism with the brill nelson mandella to the racial attack on lynval goldingin why??allin all the lyrics paint a dark but humourous picture of the eighteys....i grew up with this band,so tunein & enjoy yourself.if you arein your twentys & in2 todays bands then i reccomend this as they have influenced so many of your artists....if you are like me &in your thirtys this will take you straight back to the days of combys & fred perrys,bad manners & madness etc....you will relate to a lot of the lyrics etc,ive lived that friday night saturday morning lifestyle lol
