Where Vegas sits in Terry Hall’s story
Three years on from losing Terry, a look at the quiet middle of his career and why Vegas matters.
Terry Hall died on 18th December 2022. He was 63. Three years on, it still feels strange to write that sentence.
When people remember Terry, they usually start with The Specials. That is fair. “Ghost Town” is one of the most important records ever made in this country. But his story is longer and stranger than one band, and Vegas sits right in the middle of it. So this seemed like a good moment to look at where it fits.
The early years
Terry was the singer in The Specials from the late seventies until 1981. By the time “Ghost Town” reached number one, he was already on his way out. He left with Neville Staple and Lynval Golding to form Fun Boy Three, who had a string of hits and who introduced the world to Bananarama along the way.
Then came The Colourfield, which gave him one of his loveliest songs, “Thinking Of You”. After that came Terry, Blair & Anouchka and the 1990 album Ultra Modern Nursery Rhymes.
If you listen to all of those in a row, you can hear him moving further and further from the angry, political sound of The Specials. Each record gets softer, stranger and more personal.
Where Vegas comes in
Vegas, in 1992, is the logical next step on that journey. It is the most polished thing he had ever made. The production is glossy, the songs are introspective and the anger has turned into something closer to weary amusement.
Listen to “Take Me For What I Am” or “Possessed” and you hear a man who has spent fifteen years in the music business and has a few thoughts about it. He is funny, sad and sharp, often in the same line. That mix became his trademark for the rest of his career.
Working with Dave gave him a different sort of frame. Terry’s voice had always sounded best when the music around it was busy, so that his stillness stood out. Dave’s arrangements gave him exactly that.
What came next
The most interesting thing about Vegas is what it led to. Terry’s first proper solo album, Home, came out in September 1994 on Anxious Records, Dave’s label. So even after Vegas ended, Dave was still backing him.
Home was produced by Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds and featured contributions from Andy Partridge, Nick Heyward and, on a later edition, Damon Albarn. It is a gorgeous record. It didn’t sell, but then neither did Vegas, and both have aged beautifully.
After that came Laugh in 1997, the collaboration with Mushtaq on The Hour Of Two Lights, and eventually the return of The Specials in 2009. That reunion brought him back to huge audiences, and the 2019 album Encore gave The Specials their first number one album.
The quiet middle
It is easy to see Terry’s career as two peaks with a long valley in between. The Specials at the start, The Specials at the end, and a lot of interesting but obscure records in the middle.
We see it differently. The middle is where he found out who he was as a writer. Vegas, The Colourfield and Home are the records where he is most himself. Less shouting, more feeling. Fewer slogans, more jokes.
So if you have only ever known Terry through “Ghost Town”, please start here. Put on the Vegas album and listen to the way he sings “I even like myself again”. Then go and find Home.
And raise a glass to him today. He would probably have hated the fuss.