What makes a protest song? The Specials should know. First time around, back when the 70s were lurching into the 80s, they sang of racism, war, unemployment and the rough edges of urban life, and never in the same way twice. As the multiracial flagship of the 2 Tone movement, they made a political statement every time they stepped on stage. June 2021 saw the 40th anniversary of their last and greatest protest song, Ghost Town, a record that will retain its eerie power as long as there are concrete jungles, empty dancehalls and desperate spasms of violence.
 
It's fitting, then, that in 2021 the Specials are releasing Protest Songs 1924-2012, an unpredictable collection of unique takes which celebrates the long history and endless versatility of the form, from folk to post-punk, from righteous uplift to biting satire, and from Kingston to Alabama. It’s a potent reminder that there are no fixed rules to templates for a protest song. All that’s required is the combination of something that needs to be said with music that needs to be heard. “People have been using music as a vehicle for protest since time immemorial,” says bass-player Horace Panter. “Injustice is timeless.”
 
“2020 was the year of protest, wasn’t it?” says Horace. “It was in the air. The hardest part of the whole record was deciding what songs to use.” Following the musical liberation of Encore, genre was no obstacle. Each song demands a different arrangement or tone of voice. “We thought, let’s throw out the musical constraints of the Specials. There’s not a tonic suit or Fred Perry in sight. We don’t want to deny our past, because that enables us to do what we do now, but we have our own creative minds to make up.”

WELCOME TO THE STRANGE AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD OF VOODOO RHYTHM RECORDS,
HOME TO SOME OF THE MOST IDIOSYNCRATIC BANDS ON EARTH.
HAVE YOU HAD A HEALTHY DOSAGE OF CAJUN CORE THIS MORNING, OR HOW ABOUT
GYPSY FUNERAL JAZZ FOR LUNCH OR A DINNER MADE UP OF XXX HOBO BLUEGRASS
COUNTRY OR A SIMPLY AN INFUSION OF SEXUALLY FRUSTRATED TEENAGE BLUES PUNK
BEFORE YOU HIT THE MAIN DRAG AT NIGHT.
IF YOU HAVEN’T, IT’S ABOUT TIME YOU DITCH THOSE NUTRITION SUPPLEMENTS AND GET
YOUR GREASY HANDS ON OUR RECORDS. FOR MORE THEN TWENTY YEARS NOW WE
HAVE RELEASED A WIDE ARRAY OF INTERNATIONAL CULT BANDS THAT HAVE INVENTED
ENTIRE HYBRID GENRES. HAS THERE BEEN “SURREAL FOLK BLUES GOSPEL TRASH”,
BEFORE REVEREND BEAT-MAN ENTERED THE BUILDING?

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