ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #089

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#089: The Selecter – ‘Too Much Pressure’ (Chrysalis Records ’79)

Dear friends,

yes, it’s Ska-time again, whether you like it or not. Then again: what’s not to like about Ska, right? I mean, how can anyone resist, I think it’s fair to ask.

Probably not only to me, three bands were really important when it comes to British Ska in 1979, The Beat, The Specials and …. not Madness. It may be a bit unfair, but poor Madness never really counted somehow, did they? They were quickly being put into the more funny corner of the genre, whether this was the right thing to do or not remains questionable. No, the third important band were of course The Selecter! Led by the wonderful Belinda Magnus, or, as you and I know her better, Pauline Black. It’s often the case that a frontman/frontwoman overshadows the band, and most of the time it’s unjustified, still it happens to be the case – and perhaps The Selecter were a prime example for this.

But I think it must have been very hard at a Selecter live show back then not to concentrate on Pauline, but on other members of the band. Quite obviously this lady delivered a presence that is hard to beat, even these days. I am too young to have witnessed The Selecter when they were still going, but I once attended a Ska-allnighter with Pauline Black on the bill in the late 80s: an awesome experience, I can tell you!

The Selecter fought hard to gain success, they played their hearts out in small clubs – at a time ABBA were the big thing, mind you. By and large there wasn’t any success before the release of the first single on the famous Two-Tone label, ‘On My Radio’, in 1979. The debut album followed a year later – and if you’re new to Ska or contemplate getting into it, this one is a must-have for you, for sure.

After said debut and its success the band signed with Chrysalis – but only one year later it was all over already, The Selecter disbanded. I think a major reason for this was that the music scene changed so damned quickly 45 years ago: what was big big big in 1979 (Punkrock, Ska, Disco, Funk) was already totally obsolete in 1981, fully being replaced by electronic stuff, Synthpop and New Wave … a tough surrounding for a band like The Selecter, too tough in fact, apparently.

So, what remains is, as I said, a fantastic debut album, which sounds as fresh as it did upon its release and a handful of wonderful singles. Today’s tune is the flipside of the very first one (although my copy is a French Chrysalis-pressing):

 

 

mp3: The Selecter – Too Much Pressure

Now, you might be wondering why I praised Pauline Black’s greatness all the time above … and then chose a song sung by Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson.

Well, first it’s bloody brilliant, that’s why – and secondly, as ace as ‘On My Radio’ is, I think you hear it everywhere, constantly. Nothing wrong with this, but I always thought ‘Too Much Pressure’ deserved more attention.

So enjoy,

Dirk

 

JC adds……..

A very important heads-up…..this is the first of two successive days on which the blog will be handed over to Dirk.

You may recall that a few weeks ago, there was a suggestion that he might want to offer up a Düsseldorf ICA for our collective enjoyment.

Well, I’m delighted to say that the fruits of his labour will be posted tomorrow, and I really hope everyone will have a read and offer up their thoughts as our great friend really has surpassed himself by combining a ten-song ICA with an informative and entertaining piece of writing offering up a short history of Düsseldorf music from 1973 to 1989.

I really do think it’s one of the best things ever written for this blog, going all the way back to 2006.