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The Specials are about to release a new album, Protest Songs 1924-2012, featuring the 2-Tone champions’ typically heartfelt take on protest music from the past 100 years. The band put their unique stamp on activist anthems and songs of grievance by The Staples Singers, Bob Marley, Leonard Cohen, Frank Zappa and Talking Heads, spanning a succession of unpopular wars and righteous causes. Their famously dour frontman, however, remains pessimistic about the power of song to affect real political change. The Specials are in a rehearsal studio in south London, preparing for a forthcoming tour. Only Hall, Golding and Panter remain from the original line up, and the rapport between them is relaxed and humorous. The 70-year-old Golding is rambling and loquacious, Horace (67) offers up thoughtful analysis, while Hall (62) chips in, slipping almost imperceptibly between grave seriousness and deadpan humour. He rarely breaks into a smile. Filename G:\EAC What\Terry Hall - Laugh... Plus (1997)\14. Terry Hall - Laugh... plus - Music to Watch Girls By.wav

Oh blimey. I’m not one to rush on here when someone dies. Terry Hall, though. He was such a lovely bloke. A sweetheart. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. Squeeze’s Chris Difford called Hall “a man of few words verbally but so many great words in song. I always admired and envied his sweep of the pen”, while Rowetta remembered him as “one of the greatest frontmen from one of the greatest bands. And a gorgeous, kind, down to earth man.” Badly Drawn Boy called him “a musical hero”, while Sleaford Mods said Hall was “King of the Suedeheads. A big man. Hope you find peace now mate.” Boy George tweeted that he was “very sad”, adding: “Absolutely loved him as an artist. Sad day!” I’ve changed a lot between my teens and middle age, but then and now the visual of a burning bridge is beautiful to me. I love how it looks as the daylight changes, the reflection of the flames on the water. If you are vulnerable, gentle or damaged, you must learn to swim, or evolve until you grow wings and fly. Or, you never actually grow wings because you are a human but you dream about it, and then draw pictures of the dreams, and there’s your art. Filename G:\EAC What\Terry Hall - Laugh... Plus (1997)\16. Terry Hall - Laugh... plus - Love to See You (Acoustic Version).wav

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He has excited less attention and enjoyed less commercial success with his solo career, yet this is a state of affairs that should ideally be rectified. Lil' Dub Chefin' ". Gorillaz-Unofficial. Archived from the original on 20 December 2007 . Retrieved 7 December 2007. Terry Hall and Neville Staple performing with The Specials in 1980. Photograph: David Corio/Redferns There was something unblinking and mournful about his voice, too. Hall never tried to imitate the old Jamaican ska vocalists, even when he was essaying their material. Instead, he sang in a cheerless, unaffected British voice – you could occasionally catch a hint of the Midlands about his vowels – that could rise to a wail if needed. It was perfect for The Specials’ lyrics, which conjured up a spectacularly grim vision of late 70s Britain on their debut album – violence lurks around every corner, different youth cults battle it out and the National Front is on the march – and grew bleaker still on More Specials, where air crashes, ageing, drink-driving and nuclear paranoia (on the Hall co-written Man at C&A) found their way into the mix.

Filename G:\EAC What\Terry Hall - Laugh... Plus (1997)\03. Terry Hall - Laugh... plus - Ballad of a Landlord.wav I was honoured to play a gig for the charity @tonicmusicmh with @libertines where Terry Hall was a patron & campaigner recently. Not just a legendary musician but someone who cared deeply about helping people with mental health struggles. He’ll be very sadly missed. If no one was going to rank 2019’s Encore or 2021’s Protest Songs over Specials and More Specials, they were far better than a naysayer might have suggested a Specials album would be without the input of Dammers, who after all had been the band’s architect, chief songwriter and de facto leader in their heyday. Both albums were admirably uninterested in simply warming over the old Specials sound: you got the feeling that the same restless spirit that had powered Hall’s solo career was behind their diversions into everything from funk to Frank Zappa covers. And so the last at least five years have been unbelievably brilliant and [I’ve been] appreciating things on a different level which I never thought I would. Like, really simple things. On the way here, I saw a folding bike and that has made my day – that you can fold a bike to that size. It’s like origami. If I get one thing like that every day then I’m so happy. So happy,” he said. Filename G:\EAC What\Terry Hall - Laugh... Plus (1997)\02. Terry Hall - Laugh... plus - Sonny and His Sister.wavHe will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him and leaves behind the gift of his remarkable music and profound humanity. Terry often left the stage at the end of The Specials’ life-affirming shows with three words… ‘Love Love Love’. Co-wrote and provided vocals on "Time To Blow" and "Why Should I?" on Leila's album Blood, Looms and Blooms