Special Beat Service


Special Beat Service was the third album by British ska band the Beat. Like the rest of their material, it was released in the US under the name "the English Beat". It reached #39 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 1983 on the strength of two singles, "I Confess" and "Save It for Later," the videos for which received modest airplay on the fledgling MTV video network.
An instrumental version of the song "Rotating Head" had previously been released as the B-side of the single, "Jeanette", under the title, "March of the Swivel Heads". It was used in the conclusion of the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off in 1986 and in 2015 it was used in .
The aircraft that the band appears to be disembarking on the cover is a Vickers VC10, a British designed four-engined jet.

Ackee 1-2-3

The lyrics for the first half of the second verse, "Forward where the knocks are hardest, some to failure, some to fame; Never mind the cheers or hooting, keep your head and play the game", are from the King Edward's School, Birmingham 'School Song' which was written by Alfred Hayes.
This song has strong Latin overtones, employing a Mexican-style mariachi trumpet and a short conga dance rhythm at the end.

Track listing

Go-Feet FEET-5, 1982
Side A:
  1. "I Confess" – 4:34
  2. "Jeanette" – 2:46
  3. "Sorry" – 2:33
  4. "Sole Salvation" – 3:05
  5. "Spar Wid Me" – 4:32
  6. "Rotating Head" – 3:24
Side B:
  1. "Save It for Later" – 3:34
  2. "She's Going" – 2:10
  3. "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" – 3:19
  4. "Sugar and Stress" – 2:57
  5. "End of the Party" – 3:32
  6. "Ackee 1-2-3" – 3:12

    CD reissue

A 2 CD + DVD Deluxe Edition of this was released in July 2012. The DVD contains the performance of the band on the short lived ITV programme OTT. The CDs contain a version of the original album plus many bonus tracks of outtakes, extended versions, live versions and a John Peel session.

Personnel

;Additional musicians
;Technical