THE SPECIALS – RAQUEL, STEREOTYPE and SEA CRUISEOn this date in 1980, THE SPECIALS were in session on the John Peel Radio One show, (December 1st, 1980).For their third Peel session, The Specials recorded three tracks: SEA CRUISE, STEREOTYPES and RAQUEL.SEA CRUISE was an old rock'n'roll vocal track by Huey ‘Piano’ Smith, more famously covered by Frankie Ford. The track had recently been recorded by Rico Rodriguez with his own backing but but it was a number frequently played live by The Specials.STEREOTYPE, recently issued as a single, was a kitchen-sink character study of endless human stupidity, sounding just as sharp today as it did under Margaret Thatcher’s reign. It was another classic bleak world-view lensed through humour to be found on the album MORE SPECIALS, a collection of tracks that saw the band back-flip away from frenetic ska into a fusion of movie soundtracks and other sounds the Specials managed to re-validate.STEREOTYPE ("he drinks his age in pints"), the first single off More Specials, gently opened muzak-style with a steamy, exotic sound of bullring trumpets, flamenco guitars and drum machine. The tracks sees Terry Hall joined by Neville and Lynval in a doomy choir as it tells a tale of a beer-swilling lad who likes nothing better than sleeping around.With its choir, ghostly synths and chintzy rhythms setting for a tale of teenage tragedy, the song illustrated just how well Dammers' ambitious new angle could work.The video here is RAQUEL, a song that dates from the band’s days as The Coventry Automatics, followed by STEREOTYPE | Decade 77-87 - a grown up disco: new wave, punk, postpunk, goth & indie