Long Player: Memorable messages in ska party pack

The Specials are to ska what the Rolling Stones are to rhythm and blues - a band whose early, clumsy efforts at imitation evolved into a fresh, distinctly British form of the genre.

As debut LPs go, 1979's Specials is an unlikely vehicle for a UK ska revival.

All but a couple of tracks are either covers or thinly disguised reworkings of '60s originals, and none possess the sunny charm of ska's Jamaican first wave.

Elvis Costello's production on the album lends a chilly edge to the sound, and the musicianship hints at an Anglo-Saxon awkwardness with the form.

But what the album lacks in authenticity it more than makes up in sneering self-confidence and barbed humour.

It speaks directly to Britain's youth entering the Margaret Thatcher era, urging unity and common sense in the face of the challenges of Conservative rule and an increasingly violent, agitated society.

A Message To You, Rudy, a cover of Dandy Livingston's 1967 single, begins with the lines "Stop your messing around/Better think of your future", a theme that recurs in anti-apathy, anti-racism tracks It's Up To You, It Doesn't Make It Alright and Concrete Jungle.

There's safety in numbers and comfort in knowing your mates give a toss about you, and even the erstwhile delinquent rude boys can see no future in mindless violence.

Teen pregnancy is targeted in the acerbic Too Much Too Young, which promotes contraception over the inevitability of forever being "chained to the cooker cooking currant buns for tea".

It's another wake-up call, couched as it is in the infectious bouncing rhythms of ska.

And therein lies the reason for the album's place among British rock's finest.

For all its sermonising, it is primarily an engaging, energetic party pack of dance-floor fillers and sing-along classics, dressed up in stylish two-tone fashion.

What better way to get the kids to commit your message to memory?