Thankyou Horace!!!
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This book is AMAZING!!!
I was a bit worried about buying this as I lack attention span and can barely make it through a chapter at the best of times! But this book has me hooked and within a day of buying it I am already a third through this book.
This book is fully detailed and gives you a clear idea of how hard Horace and co worked to create what we now know and love as The Specials. Being a pretty hardcore Specials fan since I was 11 (I'm only 20..) this book contained details I had no idea about! And has answered a few questions I have always wondered.
If anything I appreciate The Specials now more than ever. I have been fortunate enough to have seen Jerry and Neville and I find myself agreeing with the stage energy that Horace describes so vividly in this book, though I wish I had been around to have seen the whole band perform.
I would like to thank Horace for writing such a fantastic book. The Specials will always have a place in my heart.
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The Story of Two Tone
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This book tells it like it was from a man on the front line.Mr Panter shares the ups and downs of the beginning and end of one of the most infuential bands,from only just getting there to support The Clash to the number 1 of Ghost Town and beyond,this is one must read for all Rude Boys.Hopefully the reunion The Specials this year will result in a long awaited tour.Brilliant
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Sir Horace
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A cracking read. Horace has a lovely written style and reveals plenty from this era. I thought i was pretty clued up on the Specials but learnt a hell of alot. I read it in 2 days sat on a beach with my Ipod playing all the tunes. Well worth buying
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A Special Book
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I bought this 2 days ago and haven't been able to put it down since. Like many others, The Specials were the start of my musical (and in some respects political, sartorial and social) education, although being 11 or 12 at the time, I was too young to go to any gigs etc. After almost 30 years, they are still my favourite band and both albums are in my top 5.
On to the book then, which for me fills in a lot of the gaps as to why the band split up - how the band was bought together, the hectic schedule - and also what it was like on the rollercoaster that is the music industry.
Written by one of the more unassuming members of the band, I get the impression that this account is probably as close as possible as to what actually happened. Not just a book for Specials fans but anyone who is into music.
Buy and enjoy!!
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Dawning of a Second Era
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A few years ago on being asked for any New Years Resolutions on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny Phil Jupitus answered to `get the band back together' he went on to say `it might be difficult as he wasn't actually in The Specials'. Phil has, however, contributed in his own way by writing the foreword of the memoirs of Sir Horace Panter Gentleman `Ska'd For Life'.
An apt title if there ever was one as The Specials Ska'd the lives of not only bass player extraordinaire Panter but also fans Phil Jupitus and myself to name but two. The Specials informed my politics, I was against racism before I really knew what it was and in fact before I met anyone whom was coloured, coming from quite a leafy English suburb. They informed by dress, I still wear a black suit, Ben Sherman button down and even a Crombie overcoat when the weather is inclement. Most of all The Specials informed my musical taste, a peculiar blend of Ska and Punk which was my first love and what I return to time after time.
Over the last thirty years I've read allot about The Specials and the Two Tone bands and although this doesn't really add anything to the story it is great to hear it first hand from someone who was there rather than watching on, which I was doing myself. The stories reverberate with a freshness particularly in the parts of the book which were taken directly from the tour journal Horace kept throughout the American and Japanese tours which ultimately led to the break up of the band.
Horace's account is well written and the book expertly paced, it is the greatest book on The Specials I've ever read, it was however difficult to finish as I had to keep getting up and moving to the Black and White decked LP's I played whilst reading this book. Now that the band are indeed reforming maybe Horace will get to write a sequel `Dawning of a New Era' anyone?
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