★★★★★
Adding "English" to their moniker in order to distinguish themselves from America's own Beat group might have worked well in the early 80s but, since the group's 2003 reformation, Ranking Roger and drummer Everett Morton have continued in this country as The Beat, while Dave Wakeling leads his own English Beat in the US. Confused? Just rest assured that these two early 80s recordings are actually of the original Beat line-up...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
An ideal companion piece to The Complete Beat, the comprehensive chronicle of the Two-Tone band's recording output, this combination CD/DVD set captures the bulk of the Beat's two performances at the groundbreaking US Festival. And though the second of the two appearances occurred near the end of the band's initial run, they acquit themselves equally stylishly on a span of material from their three studio albums...
- www.glidemagazine.com
2012-10-04
★★★★★
It's almost a shame that the English Beat found success on commercial radio, as "Tears of a Clown," "Mirror in the Bathroom" and "Save it for Later" positioned the Birmingham sextet as just another singles band. But the truth is, in three years, the Beat released a trio of albums that would prove to be monumentally groundbreaking. Shout! Factory's The Complete Beat packages their entire catalogue as a stylish box set...
- exclaim.ca
2012-08-09
★★★★★
Discography box sets generally don't have an audience. An example of this would be the recent set from the Smiths. Its price tag is so high that only die hard fans would be willing to pay for it, but it contains all previously released material that those same fans should already own...
- www.punknews.org
2012-07-12
★★★★★
"Itchy finger (FINGER!) trigger (TRIGGER!) click click... clickclickCLICK!" ("Click Click") For the span of its short career, the Beat was a model of consistency. In three years the band fired off three studio albums, 12 songs per album, a big handful of pop hits, and then in 1982 they broke apart--faster faster faster faster STOP. Well, not exactly "stop"...
- www.popmatters.com
2012-07-05
★★★★★
With its remixes, live versions, and non-LP U.K. singles, this Jamaican farewell portends the consumer confusion of compilations to come. Strictly speaking, eight of its thirteen offerings are new to LP, but in general I prefer the original cuts (and sequencing), and I can't understand why the hot disco remix of "Twist and Crawl" was left out of the grab bag...
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
Known simply as the Beat in England, and rightly so--their ska is deep and driven. Thank drummer Everett Martin, born St. Kitt's 1951, with roots from reggae to Armatrading, and bassist David Steele, born Isle of Wight 1960, who's parlayed the usual classical training into a rhythm kid's twist and crawl. That's a title, of course, naming a bass line that moved more feet than anything Bernard Edwards came up with in 1980...
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
Careerwise, a conservative move--never has their four-four come on plainer, and when David Wakeling claims it's harder to write about the personal than the political, you're right to figure the songs will prove it. But David Steele can't resist a slight skank, and Everett Martin, who's such a pro he'd do Ringo imitations if they asked him, is also such a pro he can make any groove move. Anyway, Wakeling is always thoughtful about the irrational fear and real danger of letting go...
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
David Wakeling shows more character (and timbre) than Terry Hall, Ranking Roger could rub his dub in a pedigreed reggae band, and the rhythms aren't solely riddims. So as two-tone grays out, the Beat follow their chops into the world-beat sweepstakes, where snaky grooves are worth their weight in yen...
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
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