FEBRUARY 1985 ...2-Tone reunites for Ethiopia
The mid-’80s were a busy time for charity records raising funds for famine relief in Africa. Band Aid fired the starting gun at Christmas 1984. In February, with talents including Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Dylan and Springsteen, USA For Africa’s We Are The World was awaiting release. Also ready to go was Northern Lights’ Tears Are Not Enough, an all-Canadian affair with Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot and others. In a few months Stars, the all-star metal track billed as by Hear ’n Aid, would be recorded with Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford and Derek Smalls among the many hard rock luminaries.
On February 26’s Whistle Test, on BBC2, the promo clip for a new fundraising 45 was seen. Starvation was a cover of The Pioneers’ reggae song from 1970, played by a 2-Tone supergroup featuring members of The Specials, Madness and The Beat, plus spiritual brethren UB40, percussionist Gaspar Lawal, trumpet player Dick Cuthell, trombonist Annie Whitehead, vocalists Afrodiziak and The Pioneers themselves.
The story began, recalled Madness drummer Dan Woodgate, when a fan named Mick Tuohy came into their Liquidator studio and headquarters on Caledonian Road soon after the horrific extent of the East African famine had become widely known. “[He] suggested we cover The Pioneers’ Starvation in aid of the famine appeal,” said Woody. “We were already planning on doing something with some of the old 2-Tone people again, so it gave us the ideal opportunity. We thought it was a brilliant idea, so we contacted Jerry [Dammers, Specials keyboardist and strategist] and it snowballed from there.”
“It has taken a while to sort out,” producer/ arranger Dammers told Sounds in January. “We want to make sure some of the money goes to Eritrea and the Sudan… Eritrea is fighting for its independence, though both sides are Marxist so I’m not taking sides.”
The former 2-Tone alumni were also in need of succour. Since the original Specials had split in 1981, Dammers had overseen the tortuous In The Studio by The Special AKA, which included South African liberation anthem Nelson Mandela, a Top 10 hit in April ’84. Madness, having left Stiff Records to set up their own Zarjazz imprint that year, were experiencing a personality crisis as they attempted to reconcile maturity and social consciences with their traditional role as the Max Walls of pop. Incomprehensibly for the ’80s’ biggest singles band, they had not appeared on the Band Aid record. Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, who’d split The Beat in 1983 to form General Public (initially with The Clash’s Mick Jones), were also in a sensitive situation, having failed to realise their former band’s commercial potential in the US. Only UB40 were still riding high.
The song and its promo clip were both produced in Liquidator’s basement studio. With scenes of starving people and desperation intercut with fields of wheat and plenty, it was a functional performance video bereft of embellishment, bar a glimpse of Chas Smash and Suggs from Madness capering in the background. Smash Hits was on hand to interview those taking part: UB40 singer Ali Campbell commented, “I was very nervous when Jerry asked me to do the vocal because the original version is sung in a really high key… I think I sound like Simon Le Bon.” Ex-Specials guitarist Lynval Golding, who said he and Dammers had demo’d the track’s arrangement in Coventry in November, said, “While working on Starvation there was a very special, warm feeling even though a lot of us had only met for the first time.” Jackie
“The new version, it’s much better than the original.” JACKIE ROBINSON, THE PIONEERS
Robinson from The Pioneers – whose canon also included Specials live favourite Longshot Kick De Bucket – concluded, “I’m very pleased with the new version, it’s much better than the original.”
The absence of African recording stars on other Ethiopian charity discs was one oversight that Starvation sought to rectify. Its double-A side was Tam-Tam Pour L’Ethiopie, which was released as a stand-alone single in France. Recorded in December ’84 in studios in Paris, it was driven by Cameroonian sax maestro Manu Dibango and featured Mory Kanté, Salif Keita, King Sunny Adé, Hugh Masekela and many more, with lyrics in Swahili, Wolof and Lingala.
The single would reach Number 33 on March 23, also proving that the consciousness-raising charity record could be of musical worth too. Later in the year, Dammers was back in the charts when he produced The Wind Of Change by Robert Wyatt With The SWAPO Singers. While promoting the single, a benefit for the campaign for Namibian independence, Dammers was asked about Starvation and its less-than-Band Aid-sized sales. “I was a little disappointed,” he told Sounds. “But Starvation did raise £52,000 and that’s not to be sneered at. At the time there was a lot of feeling along the lines of, ‘Oh no, not another charity record’… but it was definitely worthwhile.”
Ian Harrison