The Specials - Ghost Town
*** (out of four)
I first heard this British ska classic on the soundtrack of Guy Ritchie's film Snatch (really, a musical hodgepodge of all kinds of shit and a soundtrack I highly recommend). Not long after I picked up The Special's Singles Collection, which includes a six-minute 12" version of "Ghost Town." And, yeah, it's a great song - lazy, spooky-sounding reggae with a true atmosphere of its own - but when you sit through six minutes of it, you realize there's not much to it. Two verses, a chorus and a memorable synth and horn line. Four minutes is plenty.
"Ghost Town," the song, came out in 1981 - the birth year of MTV. I honestly can't tell if the video was made that year too or a few years later. (My instinct is telling me 1984, for some reason.) In either event, it's primitive but effective, which the racially mixed band crammed into a moving vehicle at dusk and eventually night. They're rolling through said ghost town, which consists of low-angle shots of big, empty buildings, a long tunnel and lots of lights reflected off the car's windshielf.
The band mugs to the camera more and more as the video rolls on, which keeps the song's protest bent (where are all the jobs? why are there fights at their concerts? etc.) from becoming too heavy-handed. The whole package has held up pretty well after two and a half decades - I'll take this over the "Bette Davis Eyes" or "Maneater" videos any day.
I first heard this British ska classic on the soundtrack of Guy Ritchie's film Snatch (really, a musical hodgepodge of all kinds of shit and a soundtrack I highly recommend). Not long after I picked up The Special's Singles Collection, which includes a six-minute 12" version of "Ghost Town." And, yeah, it's a great song - lazy, spooky-sounding reggae with a true atmosphere of its own - but when you sit through six minutes of it, you realize there's not much to it. Two verses, a chorus and a memorable synth and horn line. Four minutes is plenty.
"Ghost Town," the song, came out in 1981 - the birth year of MTV. I honestly can't tell if the video was made that year too or a few years later. (My instinct is telling me 1984, for some reason.) In either event, it's primitive but effective, which the racially mixed band crammed into a moving vehicle at dusk and eventually night. They're rolling through said ghost town, which consists of low-angle shots of big, empty buildings, a long tunnel and lots of lights reflected off the car's windshielf.
The band mugs to the camera more and more as the video rolls on, which keeps the song's protest bent (where are all the jobs? why are there fights at their concerts? etc.) from becoming too heavy-handed. The whole package has held up pretty well after two and a half decades - I'll take this over the "Bette Davis Eyes" or "Maneater" videos any day.
posted by daytime at 4:47 AM
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