Today's Specials.

• Author: McKissack, Frederick, Jr.

More than fifteen years have passed since The Specials soared to number one on the English charts with "Ghost Town." Now the band that sparked the 2-Tone movement has re-formed and released a new album, Today's Specials.

Sure, the 2-Tone movement was known for its fashions--Doc Martens, skinny ties, black suits, pork-pie hats--and helped give rise to the Vespa scooter. But the music was also politically charged, taking shots at Margaret Thatcher, conservatives, warmongers, the National Front, and the music industry.

The Specials broke up in the early 1980s when three members--Terry Hall, Lynval Golding, and Neville Staples--left to form Fun Boy Three. The others, led by keyboardist-writer Jerry Dammers, became Special AKA, which scored big with the anthem "Free Nelson Mandela."

Golding, Staples, guitarist Roddy Byers, and...