The Beat at The Box Crewe, Cheshire, England, Thursday August 27 2009
“This is warm-hearted music” said lead singer Ranking Roger before a note had been played and he was right. Very much so.
What he also could have said was this is music that is familiar, reassuring and good as the Beat belted out some classic pop songs in a performance both well-polished and lively.
Background of the Band Fuses Different Musical Styles
One other word that needs to be inserted to explain a lot is “English.” This band, which performs in America as The English Beat is a distinctive fusion of ska, bluebeat, reggae, pop and punk. Very much a key part of the British music scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s they are still relevant and entertaining thirty years later.
They began with a particularly gentle version of “The Doors of Your Heart” that led to the more up-tempo “Rough Rider.”
This was followed by “Best Friend,” which being the consummate performers they are they dedicated to the warm-up act Vavoom, a local band who rather got overlooked as this crowd, a bit older than most, wanted the Beat and their songs.
Smokey Robinson and Other Classics
These they got in plenty including a reworking of the Smokey Robinson classic “The Tears of a Clown,” the only rather ordinary part of the night although the song that followed it “Drowning,” wasn’t as good as it could have been either, “Looking For My Girlfriend,” a version of “Too Nice To Talk To” which was a lovely surprise after all these years and of course at the end an extended “Mirror in the Bathroom.”
Before all that the audience also got a song written by Ranking Roger’s son, Ranking Junior, that had a freshness and life to match the classics.
Don’t get it wrong it was great gig with a band who know what a song is and how to perform it and how to treat their fans but Junior can not only sing but write classy new pop-songs as well. Called “How Do You Do?” it was a throwback to the band’s ska origins and highly, highly danceable.
A band where the son is preparing to take over might sound a bit dull but one where the son can bring his own music with its own style and verve is obviously going to be one to watch and probably for another thirty years.
There was another display of this in the encore, which expertly wound down the audience and an excellent night when Junior toasted – the British equivalent of rapping but drawing from West Indian rather than Afro-American roots. And then it was back to another classic “Sooner or Later.”
