Special Beat Service
| Special Beat Service | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Studio album by The Beat | ||||
| Released | 1982 | |||
| Recorded | Roundhouse Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Ska, 2 Tone | |||
| Length | 39:52 | |||
| Label |
Go Feet I.R.S. Records |
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| Producer | Bob Sargeant except "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" produced by Ranking Roger & Mike Hedges |
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| The Beat chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | A− |
| Rolling Stone |  |
| Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Special Beat Service was the third album by British ska band The Beat. Like the rest of their material, it was released in the US under the name "The English Beat". It reached #39 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 1983 on the strength of two singles, "I Confess" and "Save It for Later," the videos for which received modest airplay on the fledgling MTV video network.
An instrumental version of the song "Rotating Head" had previously been released as the b-side of the single, "Jeanette", under the title, "March of the Swivelheads". It was used in the conclusion of the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off in 1986 and in 2015 it was used in Regular Show: The Movie.
The aircraft that the band appears to be disembarking on the cover is a Vickers VC10, a British designed four-engined jet.
In 2005, Freaky Trigger placed "Save it for Later" at number 97 in their list of "The Top 100 Songs of All Time".
"Save It For Later" was covered by Pete Townshend, who played it live from 1985 and recorded it for White City: A Novel (1985), though the recording was not released until 2006. Townshend and David Gilmour had trouble figuring out the song's guitar tuning of DADAAD. This version was used on the soundtrack of the Netflix show 'Love', series 1 episode 10.
Pearl Jam, in their live concerts, often uses the song as an improvisational tag to their songs "Daughter" and "Better Man".
American rock band Harvey Danger covered the song for the soundtrack to the film 200 Cigarettes.
The lyrics for the first half of the second verse, "Forward where the knocks are hardest, some to failure, some to fame; Never mind the cheers or hooting, keep your head and play the game", are from the King Edward's School, Birmingham 'School Song' which was written by Alfred Hayes.
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