The Albums

2 Tone Records was created in 1979 by Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The label spawned a youth movement and a number of well known artists and singles through the its tenure, including the aforementioned Specials with key singles ‘Gangsters’, the UK # 1 singles ‘Too Much Too Young’ and ‘Ghost Town’. They also helped launch the careers of Madness with ‘The Prince’, The Beat with ‘Tears Of A Clown’, The Selecter with ‘On My Radio’ and The Bodysnatchers with ‘Let’s Do Rocksteady’. The label ended its chart run of singles with ‘Nelson Mandela’ by The Special AKA.

This 40th Anniversary 8 CD Collection collects the first 8 albums released on the label, with offerings by The Specials, The Selecter and Rico, along with the sort after live concert album "Dance Craze" and the "This Are Two Tone" which collects a host of non album releases.

"Dance Craze" is available here in full for the 1st time on CD, Rico’s ‘Jama Rico’ is also making it’s debut on CD. The long out of print "This Are Two Tone" compilation collects key tracks from the catalogue, including a host of non album singles and b sides.

The artwork has been overseen by label founder Jerry Dammers. New sleeve notes by Jason Weir and Peter Walsh who curate an online archive of everything 2 Tone.

September 4th, 2020.