Our Christmas song by The Specialized Allstars
The Specialized Allstars present two great tracks for your Christmas listening
The Specialized Allstars are a supergroup of many musicians who’ve worked with us over the years. We’ve come together to record these three songs for your Christmas playlist
“(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding” is a 1974 song written by English singer/songwriter Nick Lowe and was most famously covered by Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
“Unchain My Heart” is a song written by Bobby Sharp and recorded first in 1961 by Ray Charles
Plus a free version of Silent Night for you.
You can download or stream them on our Bandcamp page
The recording of (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding was masterminded by Paul Ayriss who arranged and mixed the track. He told us that he’d wanted to do a version of Nick Lowe[s 70s hit because he always posts a version of the song on his Facebook page each Christmas. He said “I think I’ve exhausted all of the versions on YouTube so I thought that perhaps I should make my own this year” But that wouldn’t have been possible without the stella line up of musicians that appear on the recording. Paul said “I had a phone call with Nick Godwin of the Silencerz and told him about the idea, amazingly he agreed to create the initial template for everyone to follow”. In this visual age the group decided that there’s little point in releasing a song without a video, so we’ve arranged for that to happen as well.
The three tracks feature 22 musicians from the UK, Switzerland, Australia, America, Austria, France, Argentina, Panama and Jamaica
Nick Godwin – The Silencerz, Guitars
Dani Spahni – Spahnis Dub Dancers, Drums
Pat Powell – Melbourne Ska Orchestra, Vocals
Samuel Abaijón – The Valkyrians, Vocals
Gabriela Giacoman – French Boutik, Vocals
Ali Culotta – Stop the Presses, Vocals, Keyboards
Chuzz – Cartoon Violence, Keyboards, Vocals
Sash LJ – Cartoon Violence, Sax, Vocals
Willo – The Skapones, Vocals
Dunia Best – Dunia & Aram, Vocals
Aram Sinnreich – Dunia & Aram, Bass
Carlos Russell – Malambo Ska Band, Percussion
Jenny Whiskey – Hub City Stompers, Sax, Vocals
Rob George – Hub City Stompers, Guitar, Vocals, Sax
Lozz Willis – The Skavengers, Sax, Vocals
Pamela Anderson – Rude Boy George, Keyboards
Dan Vitale – Bim Skala Bim, Vocals
Alvis Reid – Kixxsymphonics, Bass
Jeremy Ashbourne – Eye of the Brainstorm, Drums
Eric Abbey – Detroit Riddim Crew, Trumpet
John Day – Ego & the Appropriators, Trombone
Paul Ayriss, Sequencing, Mixing
