Nearly twenty years ago, the ska nation arose, dedicated to the principle that American teens did not look stupid twisting and crawling in porkpie hats and checkered sneakers. They were wrong, of course, but that hasn't stopped ska from rising anew in the Nineties – like goth or mod, ska is one pop style that keeps inspiring revivals no matter how much everybody else hates the shit. The Specials, along with Madness and the English Beat, were the finest of the U.K.'s Eighties second-wave ska bands, pillaging from Jamaican Sixties pioneers like Prince Buster; and in these Bosstone-besotted times, they'd have to be fools not to try a comeback album.

Guilty 'Til Proved Innocent! doesn't gather the whole band (keyboardist Jerry Dammers and vocalist Terry Hall are among the missing), and the remaining Specials don't rock out as frenetically as they did at Gwen Stefani's age. But they've earned the right to milk this groove if anyone has, and they spank their skank with a slightly musty dedication that's downright touching coming from middle-aged pros chasing the glory of their baggy-trousers youth. Now where's that Fun Boy Three comeback album? (RS 786)

ROB SHEFFIELD