It’s my birthday, and I’m celebrating by posting one of my all-time favorite records, Tweet Tweet My Lovely by Snuff. It’s not even my favorite record by Snuff. I’m playing it as I write, I’m only on song number 6, and it’s given me goosebumps at least as many times. Snuff is the most soulful punk band that ever existed. These cats are the real deal, they know how to have fun, but they also know how to make some of the most poignant heavy music you’ll ever hear. And the details! Everything is perfect: the gang vocals, the crescendos, the speed, etc. Layer on some Hammond organ and trombone, and then seeing them live and it’s more exciting than I can describe. I’ll save the live show for the next Snuff record I post.

Don’t believe me? Don’t be ridiculous. Check out the snippets at AllMusic.

Then go to Snuff at MySpace. Then get all the Snuff history at Wikipedia.

Goosebumps. Goosebumps.

This is a great great album everyone should have. I have always loved it but I just now learned that many of my favorites are covers of original ska tunes. Nothing wrong with that! I was also surprised that singer Terry Hall has no individual writing credits on Specials at all.

Read more about The Specials debut, produced by Elvis Costello.

• Artist: Mano Negra
• Title: Put@’s Fever
• Year: 1989
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 7
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1989
• Keeper: Yes

It’s two-fer Tuesday! I don’t know why, but I love this album cover. There’s just something about it. When I first got Put@’s Fever I thought Mano Negra sounded like a more punk, more Latin (even though they’re French) version of the awesome French band Les Negresses Vertes. It still sounds like that to me. It’s French and energetic, with a lot brass. What else do you need to know?

(Note: I later edited the titles using the @ symbol because the correct spelling of “Put@s” was attracting a lot of the wrong kind of traffic.)

• Artist: Madness
• Title: Shut Up
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 7 in.
• Rating (1-10): 8
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: “No idea”

You know, I try to do these in a somewhat alphabetical order, but I have records laying all over the place along with Christmas stuff and I can’t keep it straight! I need to backtrack some tomorrow and try to pick an I and a K.

Madness. The great ones. A Sigler household favorite. And this is a great a single. “Shut Up” is of course familiar to me, but “A Town With No Name” on the flipside is one I don’t recognize. What is on an album? Anyhow, it’s an excellent instrumental with a mild spaghetti western vibe. Thumbs up, for both.

Etched in the run off margins:

Side A – PASS THAT BUCK – ARUN
Side B – GOOD LUCK TO THE FAITHFUL SHERPAS

• Artist: Madness
• Title: Complete Madness
• Year: 1982
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 10
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: Dunno

This Madness collection of “16 hit tracks”, titled “Complete Madness”, is, of course, excellent. It’s hard to believe they had so many popular singles so early on, but they sure enough did. I noticed that some of the songs are slightly different from the original album versions. I like every song here, but my faves are “Bed And Breakfast Man” and “Grey Day.”