The English Beat “I Just Can’t Stop It” 1980. The English Beat’s (or, just The Beat in England and, what I didn’t know, The British Beat in Australia) debut album, which peaked at #3 on the UK charts. This album is so consistently awesome throughout that for years I thought it was a ‘best-of’ release. I Just Can’t Stop It has remained among my most-listened-to records for 30+ years.

Beat ska revivalists mix new wave, punk, soul and socio-political commentary into a near-perfect danceable groove. It’s almost impossible for me to narrow down my favorite tracks but if I have to choose: “Mirror in the Bathroom,” “Two Swords,” “Twist & Crawl,” “Ranking Full Stop,”  and “Whine & Grine/Stand Down Margaret” which educated my Reagan-era youth into the plight of my Thatcher-era Britain contemporaries. Allmusic’s Jo-Ann Greene writes of the record, “[it] was a stunning achievement, its driving, frenetic numbers grounded in punk’s fury smashing into the loose-limbed grooves and melodies of rocksteady inspired songs, and banging head-on into sweeter pop fueled pieces.”