The new line-up (still known as the Special AKA) finally issued a new full-length album "In the Studio" in 1984. Officially, the band was now a sextet: Dakar, Campbell, Bradbury, Dammers, Shipley and new bassist Gary McManus. Cuthell, Newton, Panter and Radiation all appeared on the album as guests; as did saxophonist Nigel Reeve, and Claudia Fontaine and Caron Wheeler of the vocal trio Afrodiziak. Both critically and commercially, "In The Studio" was less successful than previous efforts, although the 1984 single "Free Nelson Mandela" was a No. 9 UK hit. The latter contributed to making Mandela's imprisonment a in the UK, and became popular with anti-apartheid activists in South Africa. Dammers then dissolved the band and pursued political activism.