E937 - The Specials are no more! Horace Panter remembers days when it was ‘like walking on air’
Published: July 14, 2026
Duration: 23:06
The Specials have officially disbanded, bowing out with a swansong album recorded in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral in 2019. Horace Panter looks back at the first shows they played - when Jim Callaghan was still PM! - and the rigours of mastering ska when some of the group thought it was “old man’s music”. Along with …
… the dignified way for any band to retire
… the 2-Tone tour of 1979 – “like a school trip with no teachers”
… bonding with Terry Hall over comedian Ken Platt: ‘I won't take me coat off, I'm not stop...