Live From Planet Ska

Perhaps realizing how little the success of Green Day did for contemporary releases and reissues by the likes of Buzzcocks and the Undertones, record companies haven't exploited their ska back catalogs as fully as they might have in light of the music's current popularity with teens and ad-agency types: More Specials has been tossed back in print, and that's about it. This midline-priced collection, though, gets back to the roots of the '97-'98 ska revival revival by dropping four 1979 performances by that band into a mix of newer cash-in tour tracks by Special Beat (Specials members fronted by the English Beat's Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger), the Selecter, and Bad Manners. Maybe surprisingly, those cuts do a lot more than just move right along; you'd have a hard time distinguishing them, with their force and commitment, from tracks by the acts' first go-rounds. Special Beat is a lot livelier than Wakeling and Ranking Roger were on their "revived" General Public's listless version of "I'll Take You There," and Selecter frontwoman Pauline Black has the confident, nervy wit to announce, "This one's for us," before a late-'91 college-gig version of "Three Minute Hero." Another of her dedications glances off "all the radio stations who won't play ska"—but they're playing it now, and they should be playing this.—Rickey Wright