*** The Specials

GUILTY 'TIL PROVEN INNOCENT

(Way Cool Music/MCA)

In the midst of the third wave of ska fever arrives the first recording of all new songs by the Specials since 1979. Their absence from the music scene has been salutary: this is a spectacular example of a reunion's heralding major improvements.

The 15 songs here possess real bite and are sequenced suavely. "Call Me Names" catalogues good reasons for paranoia, yet it does so with an oddly reassuring lilt, turning on a chorus of "I'm not afraid of being afraid/I'm only fearful." "Keep On Learning" -- which should have been the album title -- sounds like the bandmembers talking to themselves about their mission. The Achilles' heel of the original outfit was the vocals, too slight to project over the kick-ass rhythm section and bubbly brass. The voices are considerably more full-bodied now, and the band have managed the charming synthesis being simultaneously loose and precise. No mean feat for a group with a history of more spit than polish.

-- Norman Weinstein