Too Much Pressure

Background

In 1977, Coventry-based musicians Neol Davies (guitar), Barry Jones (trombone) and John Bradbury (drums) recorded a rocksteady instrumental together named "The Kingston Affair". In 1979, when 2 Tone initiators The Specials, for which Bradbury had become drummer, had spent their entire recording budget (allegedly £700) for their debut single "Gangsters", the band were still requiring a B-side for the song, Bradbury suggested "The Kingston Affair", which at that point had remained unreleased; it became the song's B-side with the new name "The Selecter", and was credited to the band name The Selecter too.

"Gangsters" had become a national hit by July 1979, and had prompted interest in The Selecter, so Davies chose to create an actual band with the name, with a sound similar to the Specials. One biography stated that, "at the time Coventry had various reggae, punk and soul bands on the go, which proved to be rich pickings for anyone wishing to create the 2 Tone sound." Davies recruited his friends keyboardist Desmond Brown and bassist Charley Anderson, and "filled out the lineup with guitarist Compton Amanor, Charley 'H' Bembridge on drums, and vocalist Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson; when Davies met Pauline Black, he promptly gave her an audition, and she was added to the lineup as lead singer." According to one biography,

"Pauline had made her way to Coventry via Lanchester Polytechnic where she was 'asked to leave' although she did gain employment as a radiographer in a local hospital. Pauline had performed with various local bands and adopted the stage name Pauline Black to avoid any awkward questions from her employers. She would also earn the title of the first 2 Tone pin up which she took in her stride but she was always keen to point out that the music should come first."

After only a few weeks, the band had played live, both in Coventry and supporting the Specials in London, and signed to 2 Tone Records. Recording their first single, "On My Radio", on a £1,000 budget in Coventry's Horizon Studios with production from Roger Lamos, was the Selecter's first move. Backed with the B-side "Too Much Pressure", the single was an unprecedented success, reaching number 8 on the UK Singles Chart in October 1979, and ultimately selling almost 250,000 copies; ironically, although the song criticises radio's neglect of new music, it was a major radio success too. That same month, the band toured with Madness and the Specials as part of the first, sell-out "2 Tone Tour;" and all three bands debuted on Top of the Pops on 8 November 1979 playing their latest hits, "leaving no one in any doubt that 2 Tone had well and truly arrived." The band and 2 Tone were now regulars in the music press, and keen to lean in on the 2 Tone phenomenon, Chrysalis Records, the owner of 2 Tone Records, "rushed the band" into recording their debut album.

Recording and music

Too Much Pressure was recorded over two months from December 1979 to January 1980 in Horizon Studios, Coventry, the same place the band's debut single was recorded, with producer Errol Ross. Rico Rodriguez and Dick Cuthell of the Specials were "brought in to add the necessary brass sections." Kim Templeman-Holmes engineered the sessions.

Too Much Pressure is largely a studio recording of The Selecter's live set list at the time, just as the Specials' debut album Specials was for them, and also similarly to that abum, Too Much Pressure, though mostly consisting of original material, mostly written by Davies, also contains cover versions of numerous old ska and reggae tracks; Jeremiah Ferrari of Rock City, comparing the album's cover versions to those on Specials, said that "The Selecter were somewhat less obvious in their choice of covers and opted for the likes of Justin Hinds' 'Carry Go Bring Come' and The Pioneers' 'Time Hard'." Two cover versions from the band's live sets which were not recorded for the record, "Train to Skaville" by The Ethiopians and "Soulful I" by The Upsetters, were later recorded by the band following their departure from 2 Tone Records. The band also played a cover version of Prince Buster's "Madness", but this also did not make the album.

Overall, the album is said to contain a "heady brew of punk, ska and reggae music, politically conscious lyrics and raw, passionate vocals." According to Trouser Press, although Davies composed the majority of the album, the record's "contributions from other sources — within and without the lineup — add further variety." The magazine stated that "the playing hops along, with a horn section added in spots," and that it is Black, "shining with enormous vocal talent," who "continually provides the spark." Black later recalled that she was happy with the two songs she contributed, "Black and Blue" and "They Make Me Mad." The album's title song is "a direct reference to what was going on socially at that time."

Release and promotion

Although Too Much Pressure was slated for release on 14 February 1980, St. Valentine's Day, it was in fact released on 23 February 1980 by 2 Tone Records and Chrysalis Records. With the help of the 2 One 2 Tour, and the album's singles, Too Much Pressure ultimately reached number 5 in the UK Albums Chart, the band's highest peak on the chart to date, and stayed on the chart for thirteen weeks. The album was later certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of over 100,000. In the United States, where the album was released by Chrysalis alone, "On My Radio" was added as the first track. The album cover design is credited to "Teflon" Sims and David Storey, with photography by Rick Mann, and depicts Steve Eaton.

"Three Minute Hero" was released as the first single from the album prior to the album's release so it could act "as a teaser of what to come." However, at the time, it was treated indifferently by music critics, and peaking at number 16 on the UK Singles Chart, it matched Madness' "The Prince" as the lowest chart position at that point reached by a 2 Tone single. The record was then surpassed by the album's second single, "Missing Words", remixed for the single release by Roger Lomas with a live rendition of "Carry Go Bring Home" on the B-side, only reached number 23 on the charts; however, both singles were still seen as successes. According to one author, "the chart position was no reflection on the work of Roger Lomas, who prior to 2 Tone had no experience with ska but had since went on to work with Bad Manners and The Bodysnatchers, but was perhaps a sign of things to come for the band and 2 Tone."

Touring

To promote the record, 2 Tone Records organized the "2 One 2 Tour" tour for the Selecter, the Beat and the Bodysnatchers, the latter band of which was the latest singing by the label. However, the Beat opted out, as they could not focus on the tour having just started Go-Feet Records. American band Holly and the Italians replaced the Beat, but they were poorly received by audiences and were replaced by future 2-Tone signees The Swinging Cats after some time.

During the tour, the band witnessed the racism and violence that had started to become more prominent in audiences for 2 Tone performances; writer Jeremiah Ferrari said that "there was matter of racists attending the gigs. Like all bands on 2 Tone, The Selecter had their share of 'fans' who had rightwing sympathies and would make their presence known at gigs. Why racists would listen to ska or reggae is a mystery in itself and is all the more bizarre that they should attend a Selecter gig where, of the 7 members of the band, only Neol Davis was white." Although the crowd was often indifferent to Holly and the Italians, whose pop punk sound differed greatly from 2 Tone, several audience members took great exception to them during their performances and would incite violence.

As was also the case for the Specials, Chrysalis, 2-Tone's parent company, were hoping to give the band some success in the United States, organising a coast-to-coast tour, preceding with a re-release of "On My Radio". However, audiences were mostly unaware of the band; and Black later stated "There were small groups of people on the west and east coast who knew who we were but there was this huge big bit in the middle [of the US] who were completely gob-smacked by us". The tour "did little to expand the bands popularity in the US and they were to suffer the same fait as The Specials, with their material confined to the college radio circuit."

Critical reception and legacy

Critical reception to Too Much Pressure was positive. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice awarded the album a score of "A-", advising listeners to "play loud." He commented how, "except for songwriter-guitarist Neol Davies, these two-toners are black, reassuring in a movement that calls up fears of folkie patronization. Lead singer's a woman, too, a refreshing piece of progress no matter how self-consciously progressive its motives." Smash Hits rated the album seven out of ten. In a retrospective review, Allmusic highlighted the album as an "Album Pick" and rated it four stars out of five. Trouser Press singled out Black as "continually [providing] the spark" and stated the album is "bursting with great songs." Louder Than War later called the album "iconic" and a "seminal debut album."

Writer Colin Larkin, rating the album four stars out of five, praised the album in the Encyclopedia of Popular Music. In the Spin Alternative Record Guide, commented that, although the album contained "requisite cover tunes," the album was "much more celebrated for unorthodox originals like 'Three Minute Hero' and 'My Collie (Not a Dog)'." Martin C. Strong in The Great Rock Bible rated the album eight out ten, calling it an "effervescent companion piece to The Specials' more radical debut" and singling out the cover versions as the best tracks.

Following the release of the album, Black became dubbed the "Queen of British Ska." Helen G of The F-Word saw the album as the first notable example of a woman "working in the reggae idiom" during the punk scene, and praised the album as "having everything": "a heady brew of punk, ska and reggae music, politically conscious lyrics and the raw, passionate vocals." As the Selecter were the only band aside from the Specials to record a full album for 2 Tone Records, as many of its artists only released one single on the label, Black, speaking to Spin magazine in 2009, recalled of the era:

"We didn't just do one single, we did an album, we did tours. Is that a point of pride? Yeah, absolutely. We believed in it. And I think we fully embodied the whole ethos of 2 Tone much more maybe than some of the other bands. For a start, there were six black people, one white person, and a female in the band."

The band, nonetheless, were unsatisfied with the album's production; in her autobiography Black by Design, Black said Ross "somehow wrecked" the album, and said the album would have "sounded better" had it been produced by Lomas instead: "I thought that it was very unfortunate that the man who had produced 'On My Radio' as our first single didn’t get the chance to produce the first album. But that was due to political fighting in the band, and a question who had control of it and who didn’t. But that’s all water under the bridge." However, Black remains happy with the album's intent, and reflecting on the album in 2016, Black said that the Selecter's intent never changed in the ensuing years "because no tectonic plates have really moved as far as we’re concerned. Maybe they’ve moved in other areas. But as far as that whole black-white thing going on in society, those tectonic plates have moved but there hasn’t been any real seismic kind of alleviation of the pressure. It’s too much pressure then, and it’s still too much pressure now.”

Aftermath, re-releases and 35th anniversary tour

Despite the critical and commercial success of Too Much Pressure, the aftermath of its release was fraught with problems for the band. Their relationship with 2 Tone Records was disintegrating, who were publishing merchandise without the band's consent (Davies once commented: "There is a hell of a lot of money being made, supposedly in our names, but where's it all going?"), and also felt "there were not enough avenues for them to broaden their musical horizons again this was due to the huge success of 2 Tone." During these events, the group "admitted that they were less than happy" with Too Much Pressure, which they felt was the product of what Black recalled was "a life-span, which was telescoped down into a very short space of time". The band left the label and signed a direct deal with its parent label Chrysalis to record their more eclectic second album Celebrate the Bullet (1981), but not before Brown and Anderson left the band, with replacements in the band personnel therefor being made.

The album has featured in several critics' lists; Robert Christgau, in his "Dean's List" of the year's best albums, a list curated for the annual Pazz & Jop poll, named the album the 60th best of 1980. In a 2013 online poll by Slicing Up Eyeballs, Too Much Pressure was voted the 69th best album of 1980 based on the opinions of 3,360 respondents. Music journalist Simon Reynolds lists it as one of the five most important albums of "2-Tone and the Ska Resurrection" in his 2005 book Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984. A poster for the album was known to hang in Chrysalis' head offices for a long time following its release. The title track "Too Much Pressure" was featured in the film The Abyss.

Too Much Pressure has been re-released several times; in 1988, Chrysalis re-released the LP in Germany, and Captain Mod has remastered and re-released the album on CD twice, on 18 June 2001 and 19 May 2014, both times with three bonus tracks: "The Selecter", "On My Radio" and the single version of "Too Much Pressure." Re-issue label Obscure Alternatives have also re-released the album on LP in the United States in both 2012 and 2016; the 2012 edition was pressed variantly on lack and grey vinyl, whilst the 2016 edition, which was limited to 589 copies, features a white vinyl with black effects and markings.

From February–April 2014, the band celebrated the album's 35th anniversary with the national "Too Much Pressure 35th Anniversary Tour," where, for the first time, they played the album in its entirety. In addition to performing the full record, the group also played "an extended encore of hits and live favourites from across The Selecter’s extensive 35-year spanning back catalogue," including "On My Radio" and material from their latest, critically successful album String Theory (2013). The tour was well-received by such publications as Gentlemen's Quarterly and Rock City.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Neol Davies except where noted.

Side One

1. "Three Minute Hero" [3:00]
2. "Time Hard" (aka "Everyday") (Crooks, Robinson, Agard) [3:10]
3. "They Make Me Mad" (Pauline Black, Desmond Brown) [2:47]
4. "Missing Words" [3:22]
5. "Danger" (Selecter) [2:38]
6. "Street Feeling" [3:11]
7. "My Collie (Not A Dog)" (Robert Spencer, Johnny Roberts) [2:45]

Side Two

1. "Too Much Pressure" [3:48]
2. "Murder" (Leon & Owen) [2:39]
3. "Out On The Streets" [4:28] – mistakenly listed as 3:28 on the vast majority of releases
4. "Carry Go Bring Home" (Justin Hinds) [3:02]
5. "Black and Blue" (Pauline Black) [3:17]
6. "James Bond" (Monty Norman) [2:16]

Notes

Personnel

Additional musicians