The best No 1 records: The Specials – Ghost Town | Annie Nightingale

1981: The mood is both pre- and post-apocalyptic: the lyrics say the crisis is coming while the eerie, hollowed-out music says that it's already happenedForget for a moment the synchronous outbreak of inner-city rioting which made Ghost Town seem like a news report as much as a record. It was a remarkable pop cultural moment but it wasn't what made the song a classic. Hear it instead as the sound of a disintegrating band who stayed together just long enough to record it. The centre cannot hold a...

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