451 Goodbye The Beat - Ackee 1-2-3

Chart  entered : 7  July  1983

Chart  peak : 54

Bad  Manners  were  swiftly  followed  by  another  ska  act  in  vacating  the  charts.

The  Beat  peaked  early  when  third  single  "Mirror  in  the  Bathroom"  made  number  4  and  its  parent  album  "I  Just  Can't  Stop  It"  made  number  3. Though  the  follow-up  "Wha'ppen"   equalled  that,  it  quickly  fell  away  and  its  singles  performed  poorly. Dave  "Blockhead"  Wright  the  former  lighting  guy  who  played  keyboards  on  it  as  a  session  player  was  upgraded  to  a  full  member  afterwards  and  veteran saxophonist   Lionel  "Saxa  Martin  stepped  down  from  live  and  promotional  work  in  favour  of  Wes  McGoogan  previously  with  Hazel  O'Connor  and  responsible  for  the  famous  solo  on  Will  You . Both  Lionel  and  Wes  played  on  their  next  recordings.

  By  the  time  of  their  third  album "Special  Beat  Service"  in  1982,  they  were  clearly  toiling  and  despite  excellent  reviews  it  didn't  make  the  Top  20.  By  1983  singer  Dave  Wakeling  was  ready  to  call  it  a  day  and  they  released  their  version  of  Andy  Williams'  "Can't  Get  Used  To  Losing  You"  from  the  first  album  as  a  farewell  single. To  everyone's  surprise  it  raced  up  to  number  3. While  the  band  stuck  to  their  guns  Go-Feet  decided  to  strike  while  the  iron  was  hot  and  release  another  ( the  fourth )  single  from  "Special  Beat  Service".

An  ackee  is  a  tropical  tree  cultivated  in  West  Africa  and  the  Caribbean  for  its  fruit  which  are  edible  as  long  as  picked  at  the  right  moment. "Acky  1  2  3"  is  a  Midlands  variant  of  Hide  and  Seek  where  the  person  getting  to  the  post  has  to  shout  it  before  the  seeker  reaches  the  post. Therefore  the  title  is  a  little  pun  which  fits  in  with  the  tumbling  calypso  rhythm. Dave  Wakeling   wrote it  as  a  self-admonitory  instruction  to  stop  feeling  sorry  for  himself  ( presumably  at the  band's  declining  fortunes ). It's  a  nice  tune  embellished  by  child  voices  ( including  the  offspring  of  drummer  Everett  Morton )   on  the  chorus   but  Dave  does  sound  like he's  trying  to  cram  too  many  words   into  the  verses  which  makes  them  sound  slightly  clumsy. It's  got  a  great  brass  break  though.

The members  went  off  in  a  number  of  different  directions. We'll  come  to  the  next  venture  of  guitarist  Andy  Cox  and  bassist  David  Steele  soon  enough  and  that's   a  pretty  unique   story  ; I  can't  think  of  any  other  example  in  pop  where  the  side  men  have  so  emphatically  trounced  the  front  man  ( or  men  in  this  case  )  in   terms   of  subsequent  success.

At  the  time  it  was  assumed  that  the  best  bet  would  be  the  new  outfit  formed  by  Dave  Wakeling  and  co-singer  Ranking  Roger  . They  re-emerged  at  the  beginning  of  1984  in  General  Public   with  ex- Specials   bassist  Horace  Panter  and  ex-Dexys  men  Micky  Billingham  and  Andy  Growcott  on  keys  and  drums. Mick  Jones  from  The  Clash  was  initially  involved  but  quit  the  project  halfway through  the  recording  sessions   before  anything  came  out.

The  first  single  "General  Public"  was  a  big  disappointment.  The  loss  of  Everett  and  David  is  immediately  apparent  in  the  lumpen  ungainly  rhythm. Roger  does  the  lead  vocal  , mouthing  a  long  series  of  slogans  starting  with  a  string  of  "-ation"  rhymes  in  the  manner  of  Eve  of  Destruction . Lacking  any  hooks  at  all  it's  turgid  and  boring  and  did  well  to get  as  high  as  number  60. The  instrumental  B-side  "Dishwasher"  became  a  fluke  hit  in  Holland  after  its  use  as  a  closing  theme  to  a  radio  show. In  the  UK  it  scuttled  them  immediately  and  the  parent  album  "All  The  Rage"  failed  to  chart.


The  second  single  "Tenderness"  , a  slight  but  attractive  Motown-influenced  pop  tune  did  nothing  here  but  was  a  Top  30  hit  in  the  US  ( helped  by  a  video  which  excised  every  member  bar  the  front  two ) and  Canada. The  album  went  gold  in  the  latter  country.  As  a  result  I.R.S.  released  a  number  of  singles  across  the  Atlantic,  as  the  band  became  effectively  based  there,  whereas  Virgin  stopped  bothering  over  here. "Never  You  Done  That  "  was  another  pop  soul  tune  in  the  same  vein  while  "Hot  You're  Cool"  is  a  steamy  but  vacuous  modern  dance  pop  number. Neither  followed  "Tenderness "  up  the  charts.   

They  released  a  second  album  "Hand  to  Mouth"  in  1986. Panter  later  described  it  as  "rather  sterile"  and  it's  pretty  generic  mid-eighties  pop ; take  away  Dave's  distinctive  voice  and  you  could  be  listening  to  Brother  Beyond  or  Living  In  A  Box. None  of  it's  bad , just  forgettable. In  the  UK  just  the  one  track  the  chirpy  synth-pop  of  "Faults  And  All"  was  released  as  a  single. In  America  I.R.S. chose  "Too  Much  Or  Nothing"   (  a very  minor  hit  in  Canada )  which  is  all  gated  drums  and  Fairlight  brass  and  little  song  and  "Come  Again"  which  is  a  better  song  but  still  over-produced.  None  of  them  made  any  impression  and  at  Christmas  1987  Dave  called  time  on  the  group.

Dave  remained  in  California  under  contract  with  I.R.S.  and  re-emerged  in  1988  with  the title  track  to  a  John  Hughes  film  She's  Having  A  Baby .  It's   an  amiable  slice  of  Fairlight  pop  nothing  more  and,  like  the  film  itself , wasn't  successful  Dave  is  also  credited  with  producing  the  soundtrack  album  although  as  this  consisted  of  pre-recorded  work  by  other  artists  like  Kate  Bush  and  Kirsty  MacColl  I'm  not  sure  what  that  entailed.

The  song  cropped  up  again  on  Dave's  only  solo  album  to  date , "No  Warning"  in  1991. I  don't  think  it  got  a  UK  release  and  from  the  five  tracks  I've  heard  it  seems  to  have  been  a  low  key  set  of  mellow  reggae-influenced  pop. The  track  "Remember  in  the  Dark"  is  a  decent  song  though  needing  to  be  touched  up  if  it  was  going  to  break  through. Dave  then  left  the  music  business  for  a  while  and  took  on  an  administrative  role  with  Greenpeace

In  1994  he  and  Roger  reunited  in  a  new  line  up  of  General  Public  to  do  a  cover  of  The  Staple  Singers' "I'll  Take  You  There"  for  the  film  Threesome . It's   a  so-so  pop-reggae  treatment  of  the  old  soul  number  very  much  as  UB40  would  have  done  it. It  was  a  very  minor  hit  in  the  UK   but  reached  22  in  the  States  and  14  in  Canada  so  the  band  got  the  chance  to  do  another  LP  for  Epic.

"Rub  It  Better"  was  released  in  April  1995  produced  by  Talking  Head  Jerry  Harrison  and  featuring  some  work  from  Saxa. It  was  trailed  by  the  single  "Rainy  Days"  a  repetitive  but  reasonably  effective  pop  reggae  number  about  Nelson  Mandela.  I've  heard  the  bulk  of  the  album  and  it  seems  much  heavier  on  the  reggae  than  their  previous  work  apart  from  "Friends  Again"  a  Wet  Wet  Wet  style  piano  ballad  and  "Never  Not  Alone"  which  sounds  a  bit  like  Pet  Shop  Boys. It  sold  diddly  squat  and  the  band  dissolved  again. The  following  year  a  re-mix  of  "Mirror  in  the  Bathroom"  reached  number  44  in  the  UK.

Dave  got  himself  a  new  backing  group  called  Bang  and  recorded  a  new  version  of  The  Beat's  "Two  Swords"  for  a   ska   compilation  album  in  1998.  He  toured, drank  and  talked  about  new  material  but  never  found  a  deal  for  it. In  2003  he  reunited  with  Roger, Everett  and  Saxa   for  a  gig  at  the  Royal  Festival  Hall  as  The  Beat,  a  fact  conveniently  ignored  by  VH1  when  they  did  Bands  Reunited  the  following  year  and   which  explains  why  none  of  the  other  trio  look  fazed  by  Dave's  re-appearance  in  the  reunion  footage.

Since  then  Dave has  been  touring  the  US  as  The  English  Beat  starring  Dave  Wakeling. They  contributed  a  couple  of  songs   to  the  TV  show  Scooby- Doo ! Mystery  Incorporated   in  2014. They  were  supposed  to  be  releasing  a  new  album  "Here  We  Go  Love"  this  year  but  they  haven't  got  much  time  left  in  which  to  do  it.

So  let's  fill  in  the  gaps  with  Roger. After  General  Public  packed  up  the  first  time , he  toured  for  a  bit  with  Horace  then  they  returned  to  the  UK  to  make  the  LP  "Radical  Departure"  in  Roger's  home  studio  in  1988  which  came  out  under  Roger's  name. Saxa  played  on  a  couple  of  tracks. Roger  tries  his  hand  at  various  styles, often  ending  up  sounding  like  Big  Audio  Dynamite . Some  of  it  works  OK  although  he's   an  unsubtle   lyricist.  The  lead  single  "So  Excited"  features  lyrics  from  Dave  about  condoms  and  is  a  reasonable  pop  song  although  its  most  interesting  aspect  is  how  much  Roger  sounds  like  Seal  when  he's  singing  rather  than  toasting. "In  Love  With  You "  was   the  other  single   and  the  other  track  which  has a co-writing  credit  for  Dave  ( surely  no  coincidence )  and  again  it's competent  but  unexciting. The  album  attracted  minimal  interest.

The  following  year  he  started  his  career  as  a  featured  artist  on  other  people's  records , toasting  on  Children  of  the  Night's  "We  Play  Ska"  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  create  a  new  crossover  genre, acid  ska. In  1990  he  formed  Specialbeat  with  Horace, Brad  and  Neville   from  The  Specials  and  made  a  good  living  for  a  few  years  in  America  playing  the  old  hits  to  a  country  now  catching  up  with  the  music. He  showed  questionable  taste  in  1991  by  appearing  on  a  version  of  "Mirror  in  the  Bathroom"  by  Music  Factory  aka  Jive  Bunny's  Andy  Pickles. Thankfully  it  wasn't  a  hit. Also  in  1991  he  produced  and  did  backing  vocals  on "hitting  The  Line " the only  studio  album  by  The  International  Beat  ( see  below ).

Specialbeat  put  out  a  couple  of  live  albums  but  never  wrote  any  new  material. They  folded  up  in  1993  leaving  Roger  free  to  re-form  General  Public  as  covered  above. One  of  the  guest  performers  on  "Rub  It  Better"  was  Pato  Banton . He  and  Roger  hit  it  off  and  released  their  own  co-written  single  the  infectious  electro-reggae   "Bubbling  Hot"  which  ,unlike  any  of  the  General  Public  material, was  a  big  hit  reaching  number  15  in  April  1995. It  was  good  to  see  him  on  Top  of  the  Pops  again  although  he'd  swapped  the  pork  pie  hat  for  dreadlocks  by  then.

In  1996  Roger  joined  Sting  on  a  version  of  "Bed's  Too  Big  Without  You"  which  was  an  extra  track  on  his  Let  Your  Soul  Be  Your  Pilot  single.  He  then  joined  Big  Audio  Dynamite  for  a  couple  of  years  featuring  on  their  "Entering  A  New  Ride"  LP  which  became  one  of  the  first  download-only  albums  after  the  record  company  refused  to  release  a  double  album  of  uncommercial  electronica. During  this  period  he  also  guested  on  Jimmy  Nail's  cover  of  Greyhound's  "Black  and  White"  which  is,  as  you'd  expect, completely  dreadful.

Roger  left  in  1998  and  started  a  new  career  as  a  skating  instructor  in  Birmingham.  He  put  out  another  solo album  "Inside  My  Head"  in  2001  which  is  pretty  obscure  and  I've  never  heard  it.. In  2003  he  featured  on  a  Smash  Mouth  single  ( not  one  of  their  best ) "You  Are  My  Number  One"  and  appeared  in  the  video  alongside  bikini-clad  lovelies  on  a  beach  ( nice  work  if  you  can  get  it ).

Following  the  2003  partial  reunion  Roger  formed  a   new  version   of   The  Beat  with  Everett  and  Saxa . the  line  up  also  included  his  son  Matthew  aka  Ranking  Junior. Since  Everett  and  Saxa  left   they've  been  known  as  The  Beat  with  Ranking  Roger  and  there  seems  to  be  a  gentleman's  (  and  Roger  is  an  absolutely  top  bloke  ) agreement  with  Dave  to  stay  off  each  other's  patches.

To  say  he  was  semi-retired  during  the  group's  lifetime  Saxa   showed  no  sign  of  wanting  to  be  put  out  to  pasture. Besides  featuring  on  his  ex-bandmates'  albums ( including  Fine  Young  Cannibals ),  he  played  with  Everett  in  The International  Beat  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineties.
Unlike  the  other  successor  groups  The  International  Beat  set  out  to  sound  as  much  like  The  Beat  as  possible  and  some  of  their  songs  sound  like  very  thinly  disguised  re-writes. They  had  two  main  problems. One  was  that  new  singer  Tony  Beet  wasn't  as  distinctive  as  either  of  his  predecessors  but  more  fundamentally  they  were  reviving  the  sound  of  a  group  that  had  stopped  selling  many  records  nearly  a  decade  earlier. They  were  well  received  live  but  no  one  was  interested  in  the  records.  The  group  shut  up  shop  in  1995.  

As  stated  above,  Saxa  was  part  of  Roger's  new  Beat  for  a  couple  of  years  before  retiring  for  good. He's  still  alive  aged  90  at  the  time  of  writing.

We've  told  most  of   Everett's  story  above. He  doesn't  seem  to  have  done  anything  musically    away  from  Roger  or  Saxa  until  last  year  when  he  departed  from  Roger's  Beat. Everett  had  been  obliged  to  take  time  off  from  the  group  after  he  broke  his  knee  in  a  caravan  accident  and  Roger  preferred  to  stick  with  his  replacement. Everett  says  he  was  sacked. Roger's  take  is  "I  didn't  sack  him. I  retired  him  while  he  was  still  good" which  is  an  interesting  way  of  putting  it. Everett  now  goes  out  in  a  band  called  Beat  Goes  Bang  but  I  think  they're  a  Birmingham-only  concern. I  presume  he  has  a  day  job  but  I  don't  know  what  it  might  be.

So  what  happened  to  the  two  later  members.  The  sinister-looking   Dave  Blockhead   turned  up  again  in  1986   in  Two  Nations . a  pop -funk  outfit  where  he  and  singer  Alan  Watson  were  the  songwriting  partnership.  They  were  around  for  a  couple  of  years  releasing  five  singles  , all  of  which  ended  up  on  the  only  LP  "Both  Sides". I've  only  heard  the  first  "Any  Luck"  which  sounds  like  a  duller  Hue  and  Cry  ( and  they're  hardly  my  favourite  band  )  and  the  last  "That's  The  Way  It  Feels"  which  could  be  The  Lighthouse  Family.  Dave  W  mentioned  in  an  interview  that  Dave  B  had  been  a  geography  teacher  before  joining  the  band  and  I  suspect  he  might  have  gone  back  to  that. He  too  joined  Roger's  version  of  The  Beat  in  2003  but  left  at  some  point  after  2006.

As  you  might  have  expected  Wes  went  off  to  be  a  session  player  and  uniquely  doesn't  seem  to  have  crossed  paths  with  any  of  his  old  band  mates  since  The  Beat  split.  He  worked  with  Billy  Ocean, Joan  Armatrading , Brenda  Russell  and  Chaka  Khan  before  a  tragic  accident   with  a  circular  saw  abruptly  ended  his  playing  days. He  is  said  to  be  still  involved  in  the   TV  soundtrack  business.