The fourth song in my trilogy of Terry Hall-related tracks, here he is providing vocals to the 2007 track Running from the Thoughts on the “Speakers and Tweeters” LP by Dub Pistols.
Punk was running out of steam by 1979, but as a seventeen-year-old who was into whatever was new, this was just as exciting as punk to me. Of course, this wasn’t really new, it was a second wave of ska. But it was certainly still pretty exciting. This is the first of a few tracks on this blog that have a Terry Hall connection.
Whatever the genre, a great melody and great singer are a special combination. Night Nurse is such a song, and Gregory Isaacs is such a singer. This completes a trilogy of reggae songs. There are likely to be more some time later.
Although Sinéad O’Connor is an amazing songwriter, she is best known for her version of a song written by Prince. This is a cover, but not that one - this track is from an album she made of classic reggae songs she grew up with.
After a disco period, Jamaican model and singer Grace Jones brought out a dub-heavy reggae album of covers in 1980, and had a hit single with her version of The Pretenders song Private Life.
Arguably even more astonishing is her take on Joy Division’s She’s Lost Control, which formed the B-side of the single.