The early-’80s pop scene got a welcome shot in the arm when a bunch of bands from Coventry welded the energy of punk to the mid-’60s Jamaican ska beat. A two-CD set, disc one of One Step Beyond is crammed with ’60s originals from the likes of Prince Buster, Desmond Dekker and The Skatalites, while disc two documents the ’80s revivalists who enriched the original beat with politics (The Special AKA), music hall bathos (Madness) and pure pop sensibility (The Selector). Which disc is best? That depends on your age.
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