Black Cat Bone

I like both tracks quite a bit, though I'm feeling A's groove a little more today.

Both are decent but the ska trumpets and attitude of The Specials is more appealing to me overall even if it's not their best effort.

A

A x

A, most definitely, if only because i find the fact that Valli made it into the seventies baffling.

Nice bassline too!

I like some Specials stuff but this is just them mucking around a bit, albeit having fun while doing so. Entertaining but slight.
I can hear that there are some unusual and dark touches in B, but once the vocals take off it's pretty generic stuff and something of a damp squip after the promising opening moments.

A

Huh, after a 90s cup in which everyone chose songs which wanted to be from the 60s and 70s, the 70s cup opens with a track that makes you think of the 80s. Yeah, I know ska started in the 60s, but this updated midlands stuff is the sound of Thatcher's Britain. Good track, not The Specials' best, but still makes me wish I'd thought of sticking some 2-Tone on my list.

B didn't sound like The Frankie Valli I know. Unfortunately, I don't like the Frankie Valli of the 60s, and I like this less. While the bassline is ok, it sounds like something they'd have used for one of the dance segments of Live at the London Palladium. Brass and cheese don't work for me.

A

A

Cracking start to proceedings - a hugely enjoyable and agreeably lairy romp from the Specials (‘the girls are slags and the beer tastes just like piss’) which has significant misfortune to meet Frankie Valli and the Four Seasins in their short lived Mowest phase, a Northern Soul classic and a track that may have been played as one of a list before but really benefits from the spotlight being shone on it in this format. A banger, no less.

B

A

The other track is ok but Valli is mostly beyond rehabilitation for me.

I like both, even if the Specials track is one of the weakest on the album. But it’s a comfortable

B

Good start, i like both of these. I'm a fan of the Specials without being a mad fan, and am more attracted to their poppier side rather than a relatively 'wacky' track like this, though of course it's fun and enjoyable. B is a classic, and deserves to be although i seldom feel the urge to hear it much now. It's tight and has a winning sound.


B

Hadn't heard B. Don't like it much.

Not a big Ska fan either, but it wins here.

A. For the bassline alone.

I'm not aware of hearing the Four Seasons song before but it made a good initial impression with a lot of classy instrumental touches throughout.


I like some Specials and if A had chosen A Message To You Rudy instead this could have been a close thing but as it is it's a comfortable B

There's not much in life that can distract me from a young Terry Hall * sigh *

But B is MAGNIFICENT.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB.

Bloody good start this. A's always been there, that era of Ska being something thats always threatened to bust into my life but I never get around to it. B I had never heard before, I wish my boss would play a song like that when he commandeers the work stereo instead of his limp Paul Anka shit. It was a lot better than I was expecting.

B

A may not have the immediate punch that many of their hits had but the Specials are a type of band that just rolls on with the tools at their disposal.
I haven't given much notice of Valli outside the 60s but B is pretty good. However,

A

A by virtue of me liking it.

a - never minded the Specials, although I never bothered with their albums, so don't know this. My enjoyment of the band, though, was in inverse proportion to their skaness, and my favourite tracks by them are beyond the scope of this cup. I had a sneaking affection for Terry Hall, despite his unfortunate football affiliations, but could never be bothered with the other two Fun Boys. This is all right, no better than that. 4.5 / 10
b - Well, here's a miracle, someone has posted a single I actually bought, enjoyed, and later made a huge profit on. I was a fan of the Four Seasons pop doo-wop in the early 1960s, had about 15 singles by them, and a good half a dozen of those are better than this, which was taken up by the Northern 'soul' scene (although a less soulful singer than Valli I could hardly imagine), because it had that plodding beat that they could actually dance to without straining anything. But that organ sound, the true hook of the record, is enough to win this match-up 5.5 / 10

B