This was really added on 16/2/23…

It was bound to happen at some point…of course my collection isn’t static, I’m still adding to it and this morning I added this one. It’s The Best Of The Beat plus a bonus LP of extended mixes of some of their stuff. I’ve inserted it as #18a which is where it would have been had I owned it when I was writing about the Beastie Boys.

The Beat were ace. They perfectly rode the back of the Two-Tone explosion (I’d argue Reggae flavoured pop but never Ska) and wrote songs that moved both the feet and the head. They were also Brummies so I was genetically disposed to liking them.

The run of singles starting with “Mirror In The Bathroom” and taking in  “Best Friend”, “Hands Off She’s Mine” and “Too Nice To Talk To”, name me another run of 4 such fantastic singles. And then down the line there was “Save It For Later” and their B-sides were better than some bands singles, “Ranking Full Stop”, “Stand Down Margaret”, “Twist And Crawl”…hells teeth they were on fire for a time there.

Ranking Roger’s Mom used to live on the bus route I took to work every day and for years (decades) there was a Beat sticker in the window of the front room. I drove past there recently and it’s gone <sad_face>.

Best Friend - https://youtu.be/AOR90QKJmOA