The Specials To Release A New Double Live Album

To celebrate The Specials’ appearance at the Hyde Park Olympic Games Concert (alongside Blur and New Order), representing the best of British music, EMI will release a live document of the band on the 6th August titled: ‘More… Or Less. The Specials Live’ – the ‘best of the best’ tracks taken from their 2011 European tour dates.

As one of the UK’s most important and influential bands of all-time, The Specials’ recent reformation and subsequent live shows were a culturally defining event as the multi-racial band who brought the world the revolutionary 2-Tone movement, fusing punk and ska and much more besides, toured the UK and Europe playing to tens of thousands of people, many of whom never got to see this remarkable band in their heyday.

The Specials have always been considered one of the UK’s greatest, most incendiary live bands and this 26 song, 2CD collection (also available on double vinyl) proves what became legend was always true, then, and, once again, now. The band played sell-out show after sell out-show, starting off in Amsterdam and embarking on a roughly clockwise trek around Europe, taking in shows in Berlin, Munich, Milan, Cologne, Hamburg, Paris and Brussels, and then moving onto the UK (playing shows in Manchester, Glasgow, Nottingham, Cardiff, Coventry, London and more).

It’s a live set of exceptional quality, and this new album was recorded at different venues in Europe & the UK during the 2011 tour. The band themselves have selected the best of all the live recordings available. It’s a set in which the audience play a crucial role, cheering the band on and singing on many tracks, but always adding to the excitement rather than proving a distraction. And the songs – about race, unemployment, or the importance of have a great time – still sound as rousing, thoughtful and relevant as ever.

The tracklisting for the Double CD is:

CD 1
A Message To You Rudy
Do The Dog
It’s Up To You
Nite Klub
Doesn’t Make It Alright
Concrete Jungle
Too Hot
Monkey Man
(Dawning Of A) New Era
Blank Expression
Stupid Marriage
Too Much Too Young
Little Bitch
You’re Wondering Now

CD 2
Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)
Rat Race
Man At C&A
Hey Little Rich Girl
Do Nothing
Pearl’s Cafe
Stereotype
Ghost Town
Friday Night, Saturday Morning
International Jet Set
Gangsters
Guns Of Navarone