★★★★
With another new album from The Specials’ revived lineup being readied, it’s timely for Music On Vinyl to do their reliably professional job on a vinyl reissue of the most unusual album boasting the band’s name on the sleeve. Released in 1993, when the question of “Just who in The Specials is talking to each other today?” was complex enough to test even the intellect of Professor Brian Cox, the members with custody of the name that week – Lynval Golding, Neville Staple, Roddy Radiation and Horace Panter – joined Desmond Dekker for a covers album.
Nobody could pretend that King Of Kings is the greatest work to bear either Dekker or The Specials’ name. But it works well as a relaxed, pressure off set to escape their respective troubles: it was Desmond’s first album since being declared bankrupt nine years earlier after two albums on Stiff.