The Specials: Көбірек Арнайылар альбомы туралы

More Specials is the second album by English ska band the Specials, released by 2 Tone Records in September 1980. After the success of the band's debut album, band member Jerry Dammers assumed the role as the band's leader and stirred them into expanding their 2 Tone sound into other genres of music, most prominently a lounge music and easy listening style inspired by Muzak. Several band members disagreed with Dammers' vision and brought their own influences to the album, including from northern soul and rockabilly, contributing to an eclectic sound palette. The relations between band members continued to sour into the album's accompanying tour and most of the band departed in 1981. The album features collaborations with the Go Go's members Belinda Carlisle, Charlotte Caffey, and Jane Wiedlin; Rhoda Dakar from the Bodysnatchers; and Lee Thompson from Madness. The lyrics on the album, as with the band's debut album, are often intensely political. Upon its release, the album alienated some fans, but reached number 5 in the UK Albums Chart, while its singles reached the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart. The album also reached number 98 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Critics greeted the album with praise, where journalists felt the album marked a bold step for the band. It has been since cited as an influence on the trip hop genre in the 1990s, and has been re released several times.

Formed in Coventry in 1977, the Specials were the originators of 2 Tone music, a style that mixed the Jamaican genres of ska and reggae with the attitude and energy of punk rock and a focus on politically and socially conscious lyrics.

Unlike the first Specials album, which was produced by Elvis Costello in a raw fashion, Jerry Dammers himself produced More Specials with Dave Jordan, except for "Sock It to 'em J. B." which was produced by Bradbury. In contrast to the first album, More Specials was predominately crafted in the studio, as, in his pursuit of musical perfection, Dammers had become infatuated with the idea of a recording studio and the possibilities it presented for numerous overdubs and fine tuning. Consequently, More Specials is more producer dominated than the band's previous work. Dammers saw his contributions as "a DIY punk appropriation of Muzak." Contrasting the often upbeat music, the record's lyrics are comparably bleak, depicting English life "in all its drab, suffocating despair and there's no way out," according to Nick Reynolds. The reprise of "Enjoy Yourself" that closes the album is a collaboration with the Go Go's and is slower and broodier than the first version, Simon Reynolds felt this colour sleeve "announced the end of the black and white 2 Tone aesthetic," even noting that some of the band are smiling, compared to the serious facial expressions on the first album's sleeve. It reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart in September. Released several months later, the second single "Do Nothing" reached number 4 on the chart in December. "Rat Race", included on the American edition of the album, reached number 89 on Billboards Club Play Singles chart. More Specials was released on 19 September 1980 in the United Kingdom by 2 Tone Records. Although the band's new direction bewildered some of their fan base, Dammers recalled band members becoming tired and constantly feeling under pressure, and throughout the tour, they watched "the country falling apart" as shops throughout the British towns and cities they played became shuttered up and closed down: "Margaret Thatcher had apparently gone mad, she was closing down all the industries, throwing millions of people on the dole. We could actually see it by touring around. You could see that frustration and anger in the audience. In Glasgow, there were these little old ladies on the streets selling all their household goods, their cups and saucers. It was unbelievable. It was clear that something was very, very wrong." The popularity of the song was not enough to rebuild relations within the band, and most of the members left later on in 1981, leaving only Dammers and Bradbury, who thereafter added new members and changed the band's name to The Special AKA.

Critical reception to More Specials was very favourable, with Vivien Goldman of the NME, John Orme of Melody Maker, Mike Gardner of Record Mirror and Garry Bushell of Sounds all praising the album and considering it a bold step for the band. In the words of Panter, they wrote of how it was a "[break] away from a safe ska stance, redifining dance music for the eighties (dance muzak for the eighties, to be precise)." In the NME, Goldman felt that "[f]ans expecting more frenetic ska re runs will do a treble flip when they hear the conglomerate of Zhivago esque movie soundtracks and other much maligned musics the Specials have re validated. Their energy has become more sensual, too, less St Vitus's dance, more mellow hip grind." She wrote that she would play side two "more than any other 2 Tone artefact" and concluded that "The Specials' maturing process is a proper tonic." In Smash Hits, David Hepworth felt the decision the change in direction was wise and called the record "[a]n original and highly intelligent album that suggests The Specials can keep it up if you can." In his Record Guide, Robert Christgau was somewhat less receptive, saying that although "they make the ska sound their own by synthesizing its trippy beat and their own inborn vocal attenuation into a single formal principle a platonic ideal of fun," this becomes so conspicuous on side two that "the result is so light it's almost ethereal, political consciousness and all." Simon Tucker of Louder Than War agreed that More Specials documents the point "where the band widen their palette even further with the black and white replaced by rainbow," and felt that it was a shame that the album "signposts what could have been if the band had managed to stay together, but maybe they’d said all they could have as a unit by this time." In his review for BBC Music, Nick Reynolds said that the album "has lots of quality, and is almost a classic," while Martin C. Strong of The Great Rock Bible felt the album proved the Specials "were no one trick pony." Less favourable were Trouser Press, who bemoaned the "more turgid experimental approach."

At the end of 1980, it was named the year's 32nd best album by the NME, and 31st best by OOR. In 1995, Melody Maker included it in a list of "great lost albums," having been chosen for inclusion by Simon Price, who wrote an accompanying essay for the album's entry. The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 1987, Rockdelux named it the 91st best album released between 1980 and 1986. In 2003, Mojo included in their list of the "Top 50 Eccentric Albums," while in 2007 they included in their list of "The 80 Greatest Albums of the 80s." In 2006, Gary Mulholland included it in his list of the "261 Greatest Albums Since Punk and Disco." It is listed in Amy Britton's book Revolution Rock: The Albums Which Defined Two Decades. Steve Taylor wrote in The A to X of Alternative Music that the Specials "made the music less obviously antagonistic and as a result more powerfully brooding."

Ranking Roger of fellow 2 Tone band the Beat poses More Specials as one of the reasons why the Beat became more musically adventurous on their second album Wha'ppen? (1981). He recalled that, unlike the "punkish with an edge" sound of the inaugural Specials album, More Specials "was like Muzak, hotel music! Obviously they’d been on the road too long, that’s what we thought. We thought they’ve been on the road too long cause this is the kind of music we hear in them hotels when we tour round America – everywhere! But it still had a message and that was really successful for them. And maybe it was more successful for them because they challenged to change." He told one interviewer, "[More Specials] was more like muzak and Spanish music and we thought, 'hey up what's going on? It's modern cowboy music or something?' – but people still got into it, they still think of it as a classic." Music critic Jon Harrington wrote that the "eclectic mixture of styles" on More Specials influenced 1990s trip hop acts including Massive Attack and Portishead, Orbital sampled "Man at C&A" on the song "Are We Here?" from Snivilisation (1994). Panter originally felt the album had a strong "beyond cynicism" vibe that seemed "angry at its own impotence. It didn't seem to care." He did not listen to the album for 20 years "because it just reminds me of that time when the band was just falling to bits because it was exhausted." Upon revisiting the album, he found it to be inferior to the band's debut album but noted "it really stands up. Some of the songs are my favourites – 'Man at C&A', I love 'International Jet Set' and 'Enjoy Yourself' has become anthemic these days." The band were considering commemorating the album's 35th anniversary in some fashion in 2015, but these plans did not materialise.