Mod-A-Day: The Specials

In the late 70s The Specials spearheaded the new ska sound of the ere, the two-tone sound. The band's first self-titled album was produced by Elvis Costello and was a tour de force of covers of ska songs, or semi-originals that were largely based on sixties ska. Based on Jamaican ska and northern soul, The Specials spiced up their sound, turning it into a kind of punkified ska. Songs like "Concrete Jungle", "Too Much Too Young", "Dawning of a New Era", and "Little Bitch" fit perfectly with the Britisk punk explosion of the day.

The Specials were as much a cultural force as anything else. They had their own label, 2 Tone Records, that helped to establish a racially diverse, politically progressive cultural movement that included ska lovers, skinheads and mod revivalists. Along with The Beat, Madness and Bad Manners, The Specials drove the ska revival to the top of the UK music charts with seven consecutive top ten singles between 1979 and 1981.

Their second album was more divers than the first. Jerry Dammers directed their sound into wildly new territory for a rock type act. It has a heavy loung feel and incorporates not just ska and soul, but lounge music as well. Gone for the most part was the punk angst that had dominated their first release. It was replaced by synthesized keyboards on "Stereotypes", lilting male/female vocals on "I Can't Stand It", loungy and syncopated rhythms on "International Jet Set", and a much more caribean island feel as on the instrumental "Holiday Fortnight". I'm certain that this album along with Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66's first release are what pushed me into my love affair with lounge music.

The band broke up in 1982. Terry Hall went on to Fun Boy Three, but Jerry Dammers reformed the group as The Special AKA. As always Dammers' timing was perfect, capitalizing on the anti-apartheid movement that was growing world wide their politically inspired album was fairly sucessful in 1984 spawning the top ten single "Free Nelson Mandella". Other members of the band worked with a number of the other two-tone bands, most notably in Special Beat with members of The Beat.

The Specials are back together celebrating 30 years, though sadly without Jerry Dammers. For whatever reason, the rift between he and Terry Hall, and the rest of the band really, doesn't seem to be one that will be mended anytime soon. Still, if the band does make it to Seattle someday you'll find me in the front row.

The Specials -- International Jet Set

The Specials -- Holiday Fortnight

The Specials -- Too Much Too Young

Mod-A-Day: Paul Weller aka The Modfather

You don't get to be called the Modfather unless you've had a huge impact on the mod scene. No one has had a bigger impact on mods in the last 30 years than Paul Weller. In the mid-70s he fronted The Jam and launched the mod revival. In the 80s he moved forward by melding soul, jazz and new wave with The Style Council. And in the 90s, he reestablished himself as a leading figure in British music by ushering in the first wave of Britpop and acting as a mentor to bands like Oasis, Blur and Ocean Color Scene.

His solo work really took off with his second solo album Wildwood, and has had it's ups and downs as Weller mined the sounds of the past with each new release. His influences flowed from the heavy sound of Traffic and Humble Pie to the melodic psychadelia of Cream and as always the northern soul sound. At times he even took inspiration from more modern bands of the Britpop scene and produced a number of indie rock type tracks, and has worked with Graham Coxon, Noel Gallagher, Steve Craddock, Andy Lewis, Amy Winehouse and a number of other contemporary artists.

In addition to the music, he made himself a fashion icon. Like Madonna, he changed his looks often when he was with The Jam and The Style Council, taking retro sixties styles and reinventing them with modern flourishes. As an elder statesmen of rock he has settled on a mature, distinguished, very sixties styled look that suits him perfectly.

Here are three of his solo tracks, the first off of his debut self-titled disk "Round and Round" which could have fit into a number of The Style Council's albums. The second comes from Stanley Road, "Broken Stones", is a soulful number finding Weller getting back to his roots in many ways. The last is from his 2005 release As Is Now and is an upbeat floorshakin' rock and soul number, "Blink and You'll Miss it".

Paul Weller -- Round and Round

Paul Weller -- Broken Stones

Paul Weller -- Blink and You'll Miss it


Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher -- That's Entertainment

Mod-A-Day: The Who

More than any other group The Who is the public face of the original mod movement. Coming in to their own as a part of the British invasion of the mid-sixties they share a love of melodic pop music with their contempories such as The Beatles and The Kinks. At the same time they also incorporated blues into their amphetamine fueled R&B, though not to the extent that The Stones or The Yardbirds did.

Their sound was bombastic from the very beginning. The punching power chords of Pete Townsend's guitar, backed by the crunchy basslines of John Entwistle became the trademarks of power pop. Propelled forward at a breakneck pace by Keith Moon's animal like drumming was one of rock music's most powerful and distinctive vocal talents, Roger Daltry. Four different parts that came together to make one incredible whole.

Thanks to having these four distinct voices at play, The Who did something unique in melding all of the different influences at play in the British invasion into a whole package and deliver it with both aggressive intensity, and youthful sensitivity. That package found a home with the nascent mod movement, which was more of a lifestyle than a style of music. The Who embraced that lifestyle of living life in the moment, along with its love of soul and blues, and incorporated those into their early recordings and stage shows. The made the Union Jack suitcoat a mod icon, along with the RAF target, two-tone arrows, and a penchant for overzealous stage antics that led to infamous moments of destruction.

Backing up that bravado though was some of the best musicianship of the era. Their simplest songs were anthemic in nature like "My Generation" and "Anyhow, Anyway, Anywhere". As time moved on the band incorporated more blues and psychadelic influence into their ringing power pop, that wasn't the pure freakbeat sound of Small Faces or The Creation, but was definitely headed in that general direction like with "I Can See For Miles" and "Magic Bus".

The band's greatest contribution to mod though has to be Townsend's rock opera Quadrophenia. It was set against a backdrop of the tumultous mid-sixties mod era with its drug use, teen angst, and violence. The album is one of the greatest concept pieces ever produced. Ultimately it led to the 1979 film version which helped to make the mod revival a reality and ushered in a whole new era of suit-clad, vespa riding, soul dancing, power pop lovers.

Below is my favorite song from Quadrophenia, "Cut My Hair". And a more obscure song, a Quadrophene demo version of "Four Faces (aka Four Hang Ups)" that was cut from the original rock opera, but was recorded in 1979 for the soundtrack to the movie.

The Who -- Cut My Hair

The Who -- Four Faces

The Who -- Can't Explain

Mod-A-Day: The Jam

The Jam are arguably the most famous mod band ever, perhaps more so than their biggest influence, The Who.

Alongside The Sex Pistols and The Clash, the band's first claim to fame came in 1977 as they headed up the inaugral class of British punk rockers. Fronted by Paul Weller, the band eschewed the typical punk rock ethos of destruction and violence, opting instead to wrap themselves in a more traditional British angst. Initially, nothing suited that better than the power pop styled R&B of their 1960s heroes like The Who, The Kinks, The Small Faces and The Creation.

The Jam took ths sixties R&B sound and fed it through the punk rock era they lived in. Out came the beginnings of the mod revival in the form of 1977's In The City. It was an album full of blistering power pop anthems and kick started The Jam's rise to become the most dominant force in British music for the next five years. The title single was the first of a stunning 17 straight top 40 singles including nine in the top 10 and four #1 hits. Few bands have had such phenomenal success in the charts for such an extended period.

Their first three albums all fit neatly in that same superfueld R&B power pop vein and are the most representative of Weller's infatuation with Pete Townsend's style and Ray Davies lyrical voice. By 1979's Setting Sons, the band was moving slowly towards a more soulful sound, but keeping to the melodic power pop that they'd always embraced. At the same time Weller's songs were maturing, as well as becoming darker and more cynical.

The Jam probably became the definitive mod band when they fully embraced a serious soul approach to their music. Sadly, that came at the band's end and so there's only one full album, The Gift, and one EP, Beat Surrender that benefitted from the evolved sound. But those two releases delivered some of the band's finest work. The Gift has the full on funky soul of the instrumental "Circus", the soul floorshaker "Precious", the jazzy soul of "Trans Global Express", and of course the amped up Motown sound of "Town Called Malice".

Their last release, Beat Surrender, delivered five fantastic tracks of soul laden power pop unamtched by anything the band had done previously. Three were covers that offered new and interesting interpretations of the soul classics "War!", "Move On Up", and "Stoned Out Of My Mind". The other two were Weller originals and fit with the classics like hand in glove, the swank sounding melancholy of "Shopping" and the swaggering soul anthem, "Beat Surrender". With those two tracks the writing was on the wall for where Weller was headed next: the full on mod soul sound of The Style Council. In fact, Weller had the band record an early version of the upbeat and bouncy soul number "Solid Bond In Your Heart" which was later one of The Style Council's early hits.

The Jam -- Saturday's Kids

The Jam -- Circus



The Jam -- Going Underground

Mod-A-Day: The Little Girls

The Little Girls were an obscure 80's power pop band from Los Angeles that was equal parts Toni Basil and The Bangles, with a heavy dose of The Knack, and a splash of Nikki Corvette thrown in for good measure. Their sound was typical of the era, power pop with some synthesizers and thanks to the female vocals a very poppy, at times surf like feel.

They started out in 1980 and like many others I discovered them thanks to Rodney on the Roq playing their singles. With two female leads, backed by an all boy band, they quickly built a solid following in the Southern Californiaarea. But, by 1985 they'd broken up leaving behind an EP and one sole album release. Only recently have they have gotten back together with three original members still in the band.

Little Girls -- How To Pick Up Girls

Mod-A-Day: Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody

Modcast #150: Mr. Suave's 2009 Mod Christmas Extravaganza

No matter what the neighbors think, this is one cool and smooth modcast. I've enlisted Ken from The Shingles to join me in delivering a Christmas dozen -- that's 14 great songs. This is one holiday modcast that will go down in the history books with some great stuff from Miles Davis to The Very Foundation, from Farrah to Girl Trouble. It's all good, and it's all merry, and you're going to love it.

Listen now

Paddy Roberts -- Merry Christmas You Suckers
Jimmy Severe and the Blue Christmas Boys -- Silver Bells
Boss Martians -- 3 Ghosts
Girl Trouble -- Holly Jolly Christmas
Farrah -- Christmas is Cancelled (This Year)
The Very Foundation -- All Lit Up (For Christmas)
LeeVees -- Applesauce Vs. Sourcream
Jeffrey Foskett -- Christmas Time Is Here
Eugene Edwards -- Dear Mom And Dad
Miles Davis & Bob Dorough -- Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern)
Mike Sammes Singers -- Do You Hear What I Hear
Tahta Menezes -- Happy Christmas (War Is Over)
Lou Rawls & Brian Setzer Orchestra -- So They Say It's Christmas
Martin Newell & Andy Partridge -- Christmas In Suburbia


The Hungry Dutchmen -- Lookin' For Santa


Beatles Christmas 2009

Mod-A-Day: Small Faces

In the pantheon of the original sixties mods only The Who stands taller than the Small Faces, and it is arguable that, above and beyond all other sixties groups, the Small Faces are actually the kings of mod. It wouldn't surprise me to look up mod in a dictionary and see a picture of Small Faces and a list of their best their songs used to represent what mod is.

The Small Faces played a hard driven sort of rythym and blues rock and roll, all with tinges of soul and blues throughout. They had the power chord guitars of other sixties rock gods, but they also had a sort of soul that try as they might none of the other bands, not even The Who, were ever able to match.

Most of that was in large part to the big, bold, bluesy voice of frontman and guitarist Steve Marriott. Marriott's voice was one of a kind. The kind that can only be understood when you're hearing it; words don't do it justice. Marriott wore his emotion on his vocal chords. His voice dripped with a honeyed sort of sound that could be both sweet and bitter, both sharp and soft.

Marriott was backed by one of the most accomplished bands that the British invasion had ever seen from the bass licks of Ronnie Lane to the frenzified drumming of Kenny Jones, to the swirling, psychadelic sounds of Ian McLagan's keyboards. As good as the band was, it was still Marriott's voice that propelled them to the heights of the British music scene.

Small Faces took the British invasion R&B sound and highlighted it over the power pop of bands like The Who and The Kinks. They emphasized the blues, and incorporated a very soulful, sort of delta blues style into their early works. Marriott's voice suited such a style, and the band was able to produce a number of critically acclaimed songs that did well in British charts, but were virtually unknown in the US. Songs such as "Whatcha Gonna Do About It", "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" and the UK #1 hit "All Or Nothing". And that was just off of their debut album.

From 1967 to 1969 the band changed labels, had fights with their producers and business minders, and still managed to produce some mind-bendingly fantastic music. Their sound ran the gamut from the soul laden R&B of their earliest work, to poppy psychadelia, to down and dirty freakbeat. Through it all is the blue-eyed soul of Marriott's voice, some of the era's best drumming courtesy of Jones, and a superbly honed and polished late-sixties sound from Lane and McLagan. While they didn't tear up the charts in the UK (and other than the achingly poppy psychadelia of "Itchycoo Park" never made a run at the US charts) they did produce a catalog of some of the sixties best music. Songs like "Tin Soldier", "Don't Burst My Bubble","Understanding", and "Get Yourself Together", became the foundation of the mod sound of the sixties. Eschewing the crashing, crunching, almost threatening guitar assualts of The Who's power chords, Small Faces instead opted for a an intense type of soul music that went beyond the dancefloor and invoked a sort of non-violent aggression.

They originally lasted only four short years (never mind a short attempt in the late seventies at reuniting -- with less than sucessful results), and yet have impacted as many decades of music. The bands of the first mod revival in the late 70s and early 80s mined the Small Faces' catalog, never able to do the songs justice. The Britpop scene of the 90s fared better, as many of the bands invoked the Small Faces as their biggest influence rather than trying to parrott their sound. The effects were most vivid with that era's two biggest groups Blur and Oasis, both showing signs of having studied and absorbed the Small Faces best points.

Small Faces -- Tell Me Have You Ever Seen Me

Small Faces -- Don't Burst My Bubble

Small Faces -- Tin Soldier