U.S. tour sweet for English Beat
Group will play Eugene
By Cort Fernald
Of the Emerald
It's been a whirlwind North
American tour for The English
Beat The seven-man group
from Birmingham. England, has
sold out concerts in major cities
and has had fans coming for
hundreds of miles to see them
They'll be in the fifth week of
their seven-week tour when
they play the EMU Ballroom on
Dec. 8 The Eugene concert is
their first appearance in
Oregon
David Steele, who plays bass
and banjo with The English
Beat, says the whole band is
surprised at how well they are
being received on this tour
"We didn't know what to ex
pect after we came over,"
Steele says "But it's been ab
solute mania everywhere
"All the big cities, all the
major places have been sold
out weeks ago. Some of the
sticks places haven't the same
mania, but they've also been
really good.
"We've had people traveling
hundreds of miles to see us,”
Steele says.
The tour's success is just the
tonic The English Beat needed
at this point in its career The
English musical press had not
been too kind to the band — nor
have the fans
"Third album time for The
(English) Beat, after a dodgy
period which has seen them
failing to dent the charts time
after time," is how Melody
Maker prefaced its ambivalent
review of "Special Beat Ser
vice "
The English Beat was worried
about the reception "Special
Beat Service" would get
"We didn't really know."
Steele says "It could have gone
either way As it happened, it
sold a lot more than the other
two, but if it flopped completely,
I think we would have been
really depressed."
If it had flopped,"! think it
definitely would've been the end
of the band," Steele says
As it stands the album is doing
well in America, and Steele says
I quite
‘-it's quite surprising
like it.”
' Right now the album's
number 33 on Rolling Stone
charts I think it’s number 71 in
Billboard It’s the first time we've
even got in the top 75 in Bill
board "
"Special Beat Service” is a
different album altogether from
the English Beat's previous of
ferings: “I Just Can't Stop It”
and "Wha'ppen?”
The pace of "Special Beat
Service” moves left, right and
squarely center of the more
frenetic "I Just Can't Stop It”
and the moderate 'Wha'ppen?”
Critics will always judge The
English Beat against a scale of
' danceablity." That's too bad
because the band achieves
some astonishing lyrical twists
and vocal harmonies that
promote just as much
"listenability."
In “Special Beat Service,"
The English Beat has eased off
its turgid politicism and has dir
ected its attention toward inter
personal relationships
“We worry about politics
still,” Steele says "It’s just once
you've written an anti-nuclear
song on the second LP you
can't go and write another one
on the third one There s no
point in repeating yourself.”
The emphasis on relation
ships in "Special Beat Service”
has opened new possibilities for
the band
"We don't want to be getting
into that little political band ca
tegory, either That's one good
thing (about the less political
songs), we seem to have broken
that a little bit," Steele says
Steele isn't quite sure how the
single "Save It for Later” from
the album is doing
"It's not in the charts yet The
top-forty stations aren't playing
it — just because they think
we re a punk group ”
The English Beat are far from
punk If one needs to categorize
them — they should be viewed
as part of the vanguard of the
ska and reggae drenched Two
Tone movement Unfortunately,
Two-Tone, at least in England,
has stumbled onto lean times
S4
Photo courtesy of I R S Records
The English Beat — bottom row, left to right: Andy Cox, Wesley
Magoogan, Everett Morton Middle row Dave Wakeling. David
Steele Top row Ranking Roger, Dave Blockhead
The Selector and Specials
split up There's only us and
Madness left," Steele says
Steele isn't confident about
the future of Two-Tone either
“I'd say there isn't any I
mean, Madness are doing
probably really well. They're
probably the top-selling band in
England at the moment And
we re doing great over here as
well “
The opening act for the Eng
lish Beat performance in the
EMU Ballroom will be Crazy 8's
Crazy 8's are a reggae band
from Corvallis who play material
by the Specials and Selector.
Mike Quinn, director of the
EMU Cultural Forum, says
between 1,100 and 1,200 tickets
have been sold for Thursday's
concert There are only a few
hundred tickets left, and Quinn
estimates it will be a sell-out.
"That hasn't been done since
the Talking Heads played in the
ballroom," he says.
Rastafarians in EMU tonight
Good reggae music is hard to find, especially in the
Northwest But tonight at 8 p.m. in the EMU Ballroom, the
EMU Cuttura! Forum and Music Bulletin Productions wel
come® The Rastafarians, practitioners of reggae and ska.
The price of tickets is $6 tor University students and $7 for
the public. Tickets can be purchased at the EMU Main Desk,
Earth River Records and Everybody's Records.
Step 0ne/
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