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Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for The Best Ska Album in the World Ever - Various Artists on AllMusic - 1998. Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for The Best Ska Album in the World Ever - Various Artists on AllMusic - 1998. View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2001 CD release of Best Of Ska on Discogs.
Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time |
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1 | 2:19 | ||
2 | Lloyd Chalmers / Jerry Dammers | 2:03 | |
3 | 2:45 | ||
4 | Morris Levy / J. Roberts / Robert Spencer | 2:02 | |
5 | 2:30 | ||
6 | 3:42 | ||
7 | 3:28 | ||
8 | Roger Charlery / Andy Cox / Everett Morton / Dave Steele / Dave Wakeling | 2:49 | |
9 | John 'Brad' Bradbury / Roddy Byers / Jerry Dammers / Lynval Golding / Terry Hall / Horace Panter / Neville Staple | 2:46 | |
10 | 2:29 | ||
11 | Howard Barrett / Tyrone Evans / John Holt | 2:39 | |
12 | 2:41 | ||
13 | 3:08 | ||
14 | 3:18 | ||
15 | 3:32 | ||
16 | Dawn Agard / Sydney Crooks / Earl Robinson | 2:42 | |
17 | 2:46 | ||
18 | 3:01 | ||
19 | 3:31 | ||
20 | 3:05 | ||
21 | 2:56 | ||
22 | 2:38 |
Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time |
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1 | 4:33 | ||
2 | 2:54 | ||
3 | 2:55 | ||
4 | Henry Cosby / Smokey Robinson / Stevie Wonder | 2:41 | |
5 | 3:41 | ||
6 | 2:22 | ||
7 | 2:58 | ||
8 | 3:23 | ||
9 | 2:17 | ||
10 | 2:44 | ||
11 | Dorothy Fields / Jimmy McHugh | 2:30 | |
12 | 2:24 | ||
13 | 3:03 | ||
14 | 2:15 | ||
15 | 2:44 | ||
16 | 3:02 | ||
17 | 3:01 | ||
18 | Louis Cook / David Farren / Chris Kane / Andrew Marson / Alan Sayag / Martin Stewart | 3:19 | |
19 | 3:06 | ||
20 | 2:38 | ||
21 | 2:41 | ||
22 | 3:02 |
Hey, it's been a helluva year (so far!)
Well, what a year it’s been. Yes, you’re right, we’re only in February, but we’ve been inundated with amazing albums since 2018 fucked off with a final sad splutter, so let’s bathe our eyeballs in words about them, and then perhaps even inject our earholes with the sounds themselves, because the good times, surely – surely! – cannot last. (Spoiler alert: I’ve seen the release schedule and they most definitely can.) Anyway! You’re after loved-up electronica? Raucous punk? Near-perfect indie singer-songwriter stuff? Politicised veteran ska? Hoo boy, are you in luck.
Here, then, are the records that have been blaring out the NME office stereo since January (so far!).
Lifafa, ‘Jaago जागो’
Suryakant Sawhney, frontman of Peter Ca Recording Co., the weirdo nu-jazz collective from New Delhi, released this eight-track electro solo banger to uproarious applause from us. Four Tet: watch your back.
The NME review concluded: “Without saying much, Sawhney has carved a path for himself, setting himself apart from the moody, ambient tracks or heavy, militant and precise electronic projects that has come to characterise the Indian sound in recent years. ‘Jaago जागो’ confirms Lifafa is creating the most singular music in South Asia.”
Sharon Van Etten, ‘Remind Me Tomorrow’
The New Jersey singer-songwriter, having been away for five whole years, returned with the fantastic, thumping electo-pop of ‘Comeback Kid’, the first release from a record by turns reflective (‘I Told You Everything’), fierce (the whopping ‘Seventeen’) and raw (‘No One’s Easy To Love’).
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The NME review concluded: ‘No One’s Easy To Love’ is full of beefy basslines and shuffling drum beats, while the slinking ‘You Shadow’ is both laid-back and arresting, as Van Etten’s piercing vocals act as the song’s driving force… [this] may well be her most intoxicating and impressive work to date.”
The Twilight Sad, ‘It Won/t Be Like This All The Time’
The Twilight Sad
![Best ska songs Best ska songs](/uploads/1/2/6/1/126165222/101927943.jpg)
The Cure’s Robert Smith has spoken of his love of the Scottish doom-mongers, and their fifth album proved exactly why. Recorded after the death of Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison, it’s a meditation on grief and inner-demons, on the redemptive power of music and the hope it inspires.
The NME review concluded: “Rather than being owned by their demons, The Twilight Sad have created an 11-track exorcism to master them. It’s a full-bodied and inescapable mood-piece, and a visceral account of their victory in the fight to exist. We should feel grateful to have them.”
James Blake, ‘Assume Form’
The feted producer, having previously submerged his identity in glitchy electronica and production credits for other artists, returned with a bold, bright album that stripped back the layers, offering unfiltered insights into his thoughts on mental health and a new relationship. And that Andre 3000 feature was great, too.
The NME review concluded: “‘Assume Form’ finds James Blake clear-headed and in focus like never before… The album’s opening title-track sets that newfound clarity front-and-centre. Gone is the hazy, south London night bus ambience of Blake gone by. In its place is a newfound sharpness.”
FIDLAR, ‘Almost Free’
The LA garage punks broadened and polished their sound a little for album three, a collection that contained breathtaking frank lyrics about the struggle for sobriety, which are all the more powerful for being set to songs that – on the surface – sound like fun, dumb party tunes.
The NME review concluded: “Stuffed with fizzing hooks and brilliantly frank lyrics, ‘Almost Free’ could be FIDLAR’s best record yet. A blistering collection of eclectic tunes threaded together by punks’ fearless riffs and unguarded admissions, which add even more weight to their sound.”
Sneaks, ‘Highway Hypnosis’
A marked progression from her previous (brilliant) post-punk albums, Eva Moolchan’s third record was a masterclass in understatement, drawing on hip-hop, ’90s rave and the post-punk scene from which she emerged; the tracks were short, clipped, like bangers slowed down and played backwards.
The NME review concluded: “‘Highway Hypnosis’ is Sneaks’ longest (just over 28 minutes) and by far most worked-up record to date, layers of electronic instrumentation demonstrating a keen attention to detail… A unique record from a self-assured talent.”
Bring Me The Horizon, ‘amo’
Bring Me The Horizon.
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15 years into their career and light years from their deathcore beginnings, the Sheffield band embarked on an odyssey in sound, turning in a pop-metal album that touches on ambience, electro-pop and a cameo from Dani Filth.
The NME review concluded: “[This album is] proof alone that this band can do what they want and get away with it. There’s nothing as exciting as a surprise that pays off. It ain’t rocket science, it ain’t heavy metal, it’s just class songwriting.”
The Specials, ‘Encore’
Surviving members of the veteran ska band addressed Brexit, austerity, Tory rule, Black Lives Matter and mental health on album eight, their first in 20 years, and what a blessed relief it is. This was fingers up to the establishment, delivered through the time-tested mediums of mellow ska, reggae and funk disco.
The NME review concluded: “These are tracks cutting deep into the malignant tumours of society, out to heal them by brutal, frank exposure… We need right-thinking rebel records like ‘Encore’ now more than ever.”
Boy Harsher, ‘Careful’
The Savannah, Georgia, duo explored a poppier side of their darkwave electro with a pulsing album that revels in the complexities of love, in the atavistic pull of a relationship that you just can’t leave alone.
The NME review concluded: “At their grungiest and most claustrophobic, dance duo Boy Harsher hang in similar shadows to Factory Floor and Chris Carter; at their most unguarded and upbeat, they’re letting their hair down in San Junipero.”
Ariana Grande, ‘Thank U, Next’
Ariana Grande
Only six months after her career high record ‘Sweetener’, one of the biggest names in pop surprise (ish) released this 12-track sassfest, an album that took tragedy and trauma and transmogrified it into pure pop magic.
The NME review concluded: “Above all, ‘Thank U, Next’ is a document of self-care; a guide to getting through bad times even when you think nothing could ever be good again.”
STATS, ‘Other People’s Lives’
This crisp collection of retro-pop brilliance was overseen by STATS head honcho Ed Seed, who spent one year stitching jam sessions into a coherent album that comes off like Groove Armada doing David Byrne.
The NME review concluded: ‘Other People’s Lives’ has achieved a wonderful thing. It is both calm and collected, but wildly unhinged at its core, which bubbles away with insecurities and mysteries.”
AJ Tracey, ‘AJ Tracey’
The lad from Ladbroke Grove, NME’s Big Read cover star, proved there’s way more to UK rap than drill and this joyous debut bumps from booming hip-hop to garage via the grime that made him a star.
The NME review concluded: “As a document of British rap’s indefinable present – a snapshot of a time that’s seen UK rappers springboard from grime’s international explosion, and warp sonic expectations at every opportunity – AJ Tracey’s debut is perhaps the best of the current crop.”
Little Simz, ‘Grey Area’
Where the north London rapper’s last album, ‘Stillness In Wonderland’, was a dense concept album that required the listener’s conscious perseverance, this is a short and sharp collection of bangers that combines fantastic, punchy lyrics (“I’m a boss in a fucking dress!”) with golden-era hip-hop production.
The NME review concluded: “She’s crafted a knockout record – and finally come true on her early promise. This is the best rap record of the year so far.”
Foals – ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost: Part 1’
The lads from Oxford became a four-piece following the departure of bassist Walter Gervers, but that did nothing to deplete their rhythm section, as ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost: Part 1’ – the second instalment’s due later this year – is a funktastic rocker that manages to deepen the band’s sonic textures even as it makes you groove.
The NME review concluded: “It’s like ‘Antidotes’ with a protein shake, or ‘Total Life Forever’ on a pinger… . If this is just the first act of ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost’, then this era may just prove to be Foals’ making.
2 Chainz – ‘Rap Or Go To The League’
The Georgia rapper stepped out of his own shadow on this wild solo record, turning in nutty turns of phrase (““Got a bottle of cologne that cost more than your rent”) atop muscular production overseen by basketball ace Lebron James. Finally, he made the record worthy of his supreme talent.
The NME review concluded: “This record displays obvious artistic growth right from the jump. ‘Rap Or Go To The League’ isn’t the classic album that 2 Chainz craves, but – on this evidence – he’s not far from delivering one.”
Solange, ‘When I Get Home’
Best Of Ska Music
This jazzy, elliptical record – songs offer up woozy snippets of melody and usually clock in at fewer than three minutes, and often much less – proved divisive, but there’s no doubt that ‘When I Get Home’, an ode to the singer’s hometown of Houston, is a singular statement from a rare talent.
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The NME review concluded: “‘When I Get Home’ is a celebration. A celebration of females. A celebration of black culture. But mostly a celebration of music… This surprise album of 2019 was something we didn’t know we needed.”
Dave, Psychodrama
Dave.
Everyone knew was Dave – aka 20-year-old David Orobosa Omoregi – was in incredibly talented rapper, but few could have predicted that his debut album would be this good. A moving exploration of cultural identity, it also packs bags of attitude, juxtaposing moments of quiet introspection with blasts of ebullience.
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The NME review concluded: “Possessing a boldness you only encounter in a handful of albums a year, the record’s greatest strength is his ability to garner quiet moments of pondering in among the loud and rage of the world… The lessons you learn with Dave are sure to live long in the memory.”