King of Ska

DESMOND DEKKER & THE SPECIALS-KING OF SKA: Honey-voiced Jamaican ska pioneer (a forefather of reggae) DESMOND DEKKER's importance cannot be underestimated. This 1991 release is a perfectly natural, joyous mating of teacher and pupil which mashes up DEKKER with late eighties Two Tone scenesters THE SPECIALS for a pumped up affair brimming with rocksteady chemistry and summery energy. DEKKER's early chestnut KING OF SKA is convincingly resurrected, along with JIMMY CLIFF's KING OF KINGS and BYRON LEE's JAMAICA SKA (which ANNETTE FUNICELLO, of all people, once covered!), salted with peppy horn lines, funky, undulating rhythms and spirited vocals, leaning more towards DEKKER's smooth groove ways than THE SPECIALS' punk-influenced vision. The original versions of 007 (SHANTY TOWN), ISRAELITES and RUDY GOT SOUL, DEKKER's influential ska classics from the sixties, are tacked onto the end of this criminally brief album, a tantalizing trip back to the genre's sublime glory days.