One Step Beyond

One Step Beyond was the B-side to Prince Buster’s 1964 single Al Capone and has the staccato ska-ska-ska guitar sound from which the entire genre got its name. Well, that’s one theory anyway. Prince Buster’s original is ace, the horn line snaking about, impossibly jiggy.

In 1979 Madness, newly signed to Stiff having left 2 Tone, released it with an extended spoken intro by Chas Smash. Suggs does not appear on the record at all but when I hear it, it’s him I think of first. I found this mp3 on the net where someone has put the two versions together, compare and contrast style, Prince Buster first and Madness second.

One Step Beyond/One Step Beyond