The Jukebox Rebel

The third album statement arrived in September, 1982, the line-up expanded to an octet: Dave Wakeling (vocals, guitar), ‘Ranking Roger’ Charlery (vocals, percussion), Andy Cox (guitar, mandolin), David Steele (bass, banjo), Everett Morton (drums), Lionel ‘Saxa’ Martin (saxophone), Dave ‘Blockhead’ Wright (keyboards, piano) and Wesley Magoogan (clarinet, lyricon, saxophone). That's a lot of mouths to feed / argue with. On this side of the fence, it's justified with the high quality fare on offer, “another one in the back of the net” as they say on “Jeanette”, the super-catchy hot-off-the-press single, one of five to be housed here on the full-length.

Back in April, the outstanding “Save It For Later” had been the first of these, itself seven years in incubation. The sophisticated branch of The Beat was in full-flow in this strings-enhanced classic, the mature production at odds with the teenage-angst at the heart of the song. Singer-guitarist Dave Wakeling: “I wrote it when I was a teenager, before The Beat started. We did try it out the first few times in The Beat’s rehearsals, but David Steele [bassist] put the end to that; it was too “old-wave” for him. I don’t know how or why, but he always considered he had a veto in the group. I mean, he was quite a bit of a genius as well [laughs], but he’d have had trouble sharing the stage with Mozart. It was about turning from a teenager to someone in their 20s, about not knowing what to do, because you knew people looked at you as though you were a man, but you knew you didn’t know how to operate in a man’s world. You still were responding to things the same way as you always had as a boy. It was about being lost, about not really knowing your role in the world, trying to find your place in the world, and you'd have all sorts of people telling you this, that, and the other, and advising you, and it didn't actually seem like they knew any better. So it was like keep your advice to yourself. Save it – for later.”

The Beat had recently sponsored a toasting competition to encourage up-and-coming talent to the fore. With the prize of a single release on the group's own Go-Feet label, Ranking Roger sat as judge. The winning vocalist was 20-year-old fellow Brummie, Pato Banton. So it was that Go-Feet FEET-14 came into being, the 7" “Pato And Roger (Ago Talk)” (billed to Pato and Roger) being released in July, 1982. “Come fi make you smile” indeed. Roots reggae was never their main play, and certainly wasn't in '82, as borne out on the fourth single. “I Confess” was out just in time for Christmas, and very much represented the group's general shift towards the cerebral pop. Confessions of a cad by the sounds of it: “Just out of spite, I confess I've ruined three lives. Now don't sleep so tight because I didn't care till I found out that one of them was mine”. None of these singles placed in the UK Top 40, although “I Confess” hit #34 in the notoriously hard-to-penetrate Billboard 200. Dave Wakeling: “Our star was waning in the UK as it was rising in America. It wasn't conscious or shrewd, we were just following where things were going. Funny, we started off in Brum as a laugh – by the time we got to America, we were like a touring sociology class. Interviews would be about anything but music.”

It wasn't long until the touring took it's toll and the group split in June, 1983. DW: “We always thought our favourite groups only had three albums in them. I always worried if we'd have the nerve to split up.” Almost unbelievably, the barren run of 45s was broken with a trite cover of “Can't Get Used To Losing You”, which gave them a massive #3 UK hit in the springtime of '83. That alone would've made me want to quit. Thankfully, the final 45 honour fell to the caribbean party vibe of “Ackee 1-2-3” in June, 1983, which also closes the third album chapter. Of course, the mighty “Sole Salvation” would've been a classier finale, but nobody would've bought it. You can never trust the record buying public but you can trust your reviewer - The Beat went out on an artistic high, never having put a foot wrong in their album story. THREE is the magic number. Dave knew.

The Jukebox Rebel
05–Dec–2005 (edited 01–Dec–2020)

A1	[04:34] The Beat - I Confess (Dave Wakeling, Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, David Steele, Everett Morton, Lionel Martin) Cerebral Pop
A2	[02:46] The Beat - Jeanette (Dave Wakeling, Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, David Steele, Everett Morton, Lionel Martin) Ska / Rocksteady
A3	[02:33] The Beat - Sorry (Dave Wakeling, Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, David Steele, Everett Morton, Lionel Martin) New Wave
A4	[03:05] The Beat - Sole Salvation (Dave Wakeling, Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, David Steele, Everett Morton, Lionel Martin) New Wave
A5	[04:32] The Beat - Spar Wid Me (Dave Wakeling, Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, David Steele, Everett Morton, Lionel Martin) Reggae
A6	[03:24] The Beat - Rotating Head (Dave Wakeling, Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, David Steele, Everett Morton, Lionel Martin) New Wave
B1	[03:34] The Beat - Save It For Later (Dave Wakeling, Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, David Steele, Everett Morton, Lionel Martin) New Wave
B2	[02:10] The Beat - She’s Going (Dave Wakeling, Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, David Steele, Everett Morton, Lionel Martin) Caribbean
B3	[03:19] Pato and Roger - Pato And Roger A Go Talk (Dave Wakeling, Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, David Steele, Everett Morton, Lionel Martin) Reggae
B4	[02:57] The Beat - Sugar And Stress (Dave Wakeling, Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, David Steele, Everett Morton, Lionel Martin) New Wave
B5	[03:32] The Beat - End Of The Party (Dave Wakeling, Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, David Steele, Everett Morton, Lionel Martin) Cerebral Pop
B6	[03:12] The Beat - Ackee 1-2-3 (Dave Wakeling, Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, David Steele, Everett Morton, Lionel Martin) Caribbean

ratings by TJR