Soul Salvation - A Gen X Love Letter To The English Beat: Record Store Day Reflections

Welcome to the Ska Boom podcast. 

This episode marks the conclusion of the Soul Salvation series, which has served as the audio companion to my book Soul Salvation – A Gen X Love Letter To The English Beat. 

Across 18 episodes, I’ve explored the legacy of the English Beat and their final album, Special Beat Service, highlighting its significance to a generation of music lovers. This final episode encapsulates the journey of celebrating a band that has profoundly influenced so many – musicians like Pete Townshend, Elvis Costello and Eddie Vedder are fans -- and, it can be argued the album was the template for what would become Brit pop, 10 years later.

While my podcast about the band is coming to an end, if you are a fan of the band and the Special Beat Service album I have some very exciting news for you. Record Store Day Black Friday 2024 has announced that among the 159 titles that will be released on Friday November 29, 2024 is an RSD exclusive double LP version of Special Beat Service album. 

With the reissue on the horizon, I’m going to use this last episode to reflect on the album in terms of the band’s musical evolution, its unique sound and it's commercial appeal, particularly to Americans.

My book Soul Salvation: A Gen X Love Letter To The English Beat is now available from DiWulf.com and from Amazon globally.

The music clips included in this podcast fall under the “Fair Use Doctrine” as defined by Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. The law allows for use of music clips for purposes of criticism, com