1981 was a seminal year for me in terms of nurturing my personal music taste. One of the reasons for that was ‘Ghost Town‘. It was the second single I ever bought and was a record like no other, sending chills down my spine. It was one of the greatest number ones of all time, as far as I was concerned and here we are 41 years later; I still believe that it is not only the greatest chart-topper but one of the best songs ever written, full-stop.
Terry Hall, of course, who died yesterday after a short illness, was absolutely fundamental to the success of The Specials. Granted, his vocal contribution to ‘Ghost Town‘ may not have been quite as obvious as on previous single releases, but what he did bring to the recording was huge.
‘Ghost Town‘ admittedly wasn’t the happiest time for the band, despite its enduring success, and the fractured relationships within led to Hall, Lynval Golding and Neville Staple following their own direction with the creation of the criminally underrated Fun Boy 3 while the remaining Specials regrouped a few years later (under their old moniker Special AKA with a virtually unknown Stan Campbell on vocals) with the hugely impactful ‘Nelson Mandela‘ smash in 1984.
That first Fun Boy 3 album was a bona fide classic – playful and sardonic on songs like ‘The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum)‘ and ‘The Telephone Always Rings‘ but its follow-up, Waiting, was arguably even better, with the astounding ‘The Farm Yard Connection‘ and the cover/not-cover of ‘Our Lips Are Sealed‘ first recorded by the Go-Go’s but written by Hall and that band’s Jane Wiedlin, with whom he briefly had a relationship.
It’s perhaps not so well known that, before the success of The Specials, initially as Coventry Automatics and then The Special AKA, Hall was abducted as a 12-year-old by a paedophile ring and for much of his adult life struggled with the demons that such an ordeal would undoubtedly have brought. Indeed, he was diagnosed as a manic depressive after attempting to take his own life in 2004.
Tragic though his life may have been at times, I prefer to remember him for happier times and the stunning wealth of incredible songs he wrote and/or released, from the socio-political angst of ‘Rat Race‘ and ‘Too Much Too Young‘ through the pretty charm of The Colour Field‘s ‘Thinking Of You‘, to the wildly, wonderfully unpredictable Fun Boy 3 and a later newfound vocation as almost a modern-day Burt Bacharach with an outstanding version of ‘Windmills Of Your Mind‘ and the beautifully observed kitchen sink drama ‘Missing‘ as Terry, Blair and Anouchka. I could go on but I don’t need to, do I? He was one of the greats, and I doubt many would deny it.
I was fortunate enough to meet Terry at Leicester’s De Montfort Hall a few years back, along with GIITTV photographer Paul Reno. I could barely get a word in as Reno engaged him in conversation about football rather than music. It was interesting to watch as he was seemingly more at ease during that moment than at any other point I’d seen him in his career. I settled for just shaking his hand afterwards and saying what a great show it had been. He seemed at peace with himself and thanked me very much. It was a fleeting moment, I know, but still one I will treasure.
Thanks for the memories, Terry. You were one of a kind.
Photo: Simon Godley
