''Pucker!'' (originally released as ''Hairspray'' in the United States) is the fourth album by English

2 Tone Two-tone, two tone, or 2 tone, etc., may refer to: Audio and sound * Second-order intercept point#Two-tone analysis, Two-tone analysis, in nonlinear system measurement * Two-tone attention signal * Two-tone Warning chime, chime, such as the "ding ...

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

revival

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

The Selecter The Selecter is an English 2 tone ska revival band, formed in Coventry, England, in 1979. The Selecter featured a diverse line-up, both in terms of race and gender, initially consisting of Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson and Pauline Black on lead ...

, released in 1995 on Dojo Music in the United Kingdom as, under the name ''Hairspray'', on

Triple X Records Triple X Records was a Los Angeles-based record company started by three former employees of the bankrupt Greenworld Distribution: Dean Naleway, Peter Heur and Charley Brown. The label was known for "a fearlessly eclectic catalogue that broke awa ...

in the United States. Following the band's reinvented sound on their previous album, '' The Happy Album'' (1994), the band recorded ''Pucker!'' in 1995 with help from guitarist Paul Seacroft. Establishing a new direction, the album mostly sees the band establishing a "mild-mannered" version of its

sound while incorporating elements from new wave and

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a subgenre of rock music and form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, ...

, leading to an uncharacteristic "bizarre blend of elements" which stretched the band's horizons. The album's lyrics are also unusually sunny and lightweight. The album was promoted with the single "Hairspray". Though neither the single nor the album charted, the album received mostly positive reviews, with the album's lively spirit, peppy couplet of cover versions and B.J. Cole's

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

appearance, described by one critic as one of the most unusual elements of the album, being highlighted. The band toured in promotion of the album in 1995, leading to the live album ''Live at Roskilde Festival''. Moon Ska Europe remastered and re-released the ''Hairspray'' version of the album in the UK in 2005.

Background and recording

After re-forming with a new line-up in 1991, consisting of founding members

Pauline Black Belinda Magnus (born 23 October 1953), better known as Pauline Black (), is an English singer, actress and author. In a music career spanning over 40 years, Black came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the 2 Tone ska reviva ...

and Neol Davies alongside drummer Perry Melius and former

Bad Manners Bad Manners are an English Two-tone (music genre), two-tone and ska Musical ensemble, band led by frontman Buster Bloodvessel. Early appearances included ''Top of the Pops'' and the live film documentary ''Dance Craze'' (1981). They were at ...

members Nick Welsh and Martin Stewart, The Selecter underwent a live reunion tour, leading to the acclaimed live album ''Out in the Streets'' (1992). After its release, Davies and Melius left the band, and original member Arthur "Gaps" Hendrickson rejoined the band, sharing vocals with Black. The new line-up recorded the band's third studio album, '' The Happy Album'', released in 1994. The album saw a change in direction for the band, taking influence from

hip hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...

orchestral music An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, a ...

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

and "contemporary rhythms," while keeping the band's

sound at its core. Although not a commercial success, ''The Happy Album'' won the band critical acclaim, and the band began work on its follow-up, ''Pucker!'', in 1995. Unlike on ''The Happy Album'', where he provided co-production, the band's bassist Nick Welsh produced ''Pucker!'' alone. In addition to the band's core line-up, the band also asked Paul Seacroft to play guitar on the album as an unofficial fifth member, and he agreed. Although the band were still signed to

in the United States, the band signed a new contract with Dojo Records in the UK, and ''Pucker!'' was the band's first album for the label.

Music and lyrics

''Pucker!'' marks another stylistic deviation for the band. According to Terry Rompers of ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'', the album is mostly a "mild-mannered version" of the band's

roots, "clinging to the familiar peppy keyboard, bass, guitar and snare syncopation of ska," but also adding giddy elements from

new wave music New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop music, pop-oriented styles from the 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of Punk subculture, punk culture". It was originally used as a catch-all fo ...

and

. The sound of the album has been compared to " the Yachts, perhaps, or

the Go-Go's The Go-Go's are an American all-female Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. Except for short periods when other musicians joined briefly, the band has had a relatively stable lineup consisting of Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar ...

" discovering "some old Skatalites records." Rompers described the album as containing a "harmlessly bizarre blend of elements" that helped distance the album from its predecessor, while

Martin C. Strong Martin Charles Strong (born 1960 in Musselburgh) is a Scottish music historian known for compiling discographies of popular music including ''The Great Rock Discography''. Strong has been described in broadsheet newspaper profiles as a "compile ...

saw the album as an attempt to broaden the band's horizons. In his overall review of the band's discography, Rompers said of the new direction taken by the band on ''Pucker!'': Also unlike the band's previous albums, which featured political and bitter lyrics, the lyrics on ''Pucker!'' are sunny and lightweight, with the exception of "Then She Did", which has been described as a "misery epic." The original songs on the album were written by Black and Welsh, although, similarly to ''The Happy Album'', the album also contains two cover versions, namely "

Sugar Town "Sugar Town" is a song written by songwriter-producer Lee Hazlewood and first recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra in 1966. As a single released under the Reprise label, it peaked at number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in Decemb ...

", originally written by

Lee Hazlewood Barton Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007) was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s ...

and performed by

Nancy Sinatra Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940) is an American singer, actress, film producer and author. She is the elder daughter of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra ( Barbato) and is known for her 1965 signature hit " These Boots Are Made for Walki ...

, and Bob Dylan's 1966 single "Rainy Day Women #12 & #35". B. J. Cole appears as a guest musician on the band's cover of "Sugar Town", playing the

. Rompers described his appearance on the song as one of the album's most unusual elements. Original song "Chocolate Whip" shows the album's "occasionally silly side," while the band's cover version of "Rainy Day Women #12 & #35" has been described as a "cornball

pot Pot may refer to: Containers * Flowerpot, a container in which plants are cultivated * Pottery, ceramic containers made from clay * Cooking pot, a type of cookware * Pot, a beer glass Places * Ken Jones Aerodrome, IATA airport code POT * ...

-centric version."

Release and reception

''Pucker!'' was released in the United Kingdom by Dojo Records on 22 August 1995. However, in the United States, the album was renamed ''Hairspray'' and given alternative album artwork. The ''Hairspray'' edition was released by

in the United States on 12 September 1995. Dojo Music released the song "Hairspray" as a single in 1995 to promote the album, using the same cover artwork as the ''Hairspray'' version of the album. The single featured the songs "Hairspray" and "Die Happy" from the album as well as live versions of "Missing Words" and " On My Radio" recorded in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

in 1991. The album received both positive and mixed reviews from music critics. Terry Rompers of ''

'' was favourable towards the album, saying that, although the album is a "surprising step backward," the album's "harmlessly bizarre blend of elements ..is surprisingly delightful." More mixed in his assessment was

in ''

The Great Rock Discography Martin Charles Strong (born 1960 in Musselburgh) is a Scottish music historian known for compiling discographies of popular music including ''The Great Rock Discography''. Strong has been described in broadsheet newspaper profiles as a "compiler ...

'', where he rated the album four out of ten and said that The Selecter "were trying too hard to convince the public they could expand their horizons" with the album. He also felt the album "was hardly going to prise the ska crown" from

third wave ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

bands like

Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (informally referred to as The Bosstones and often stylized as The Mighty Mighty BossToneS) were an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. From the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky ...

and

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band formed in Anaheim, California in 1986. For most of its career, the band has consisted of vocalist and founding member Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young. Keyboar ...

. Slightly more favourable, however, was

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited th ...

, who rated the album three stars out of five in his book ''

The Encyclopedia of Popular Music ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Kno ...

''. Being a low-key release, similar to the band's other albums of the 1990s and 2000s, neither the album, nor its single, entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. The band toured in promotion of the album, leading to the live album ''Live at Roskilde Festival'', which was recorded at

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Roskilde Festival The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In 1 ...

on 1 July 1995 and released in 1996 on Magnum Music. On 17 January 2005, record label Moon Ska Europe remastered and re-released the ''Hairspray'' version of the album in the United Kingdom for the first time, adding a music video of the song "On My Radio" as bonus

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

content.

Track listing

Except where otherwise noted, all tracks composed by

and Nick Welsh #"My Perfect World" – 3:36 #"Hearsay" – 3:13 #"Die Happy" – 3:38 #"

" (

) – 3:15 #"Hair Spray" – 2:34 #"Chocolate Whip" – 2:49 #"Not So Tall" – 3:48 #"Then She Did" – 3:59 #" Rainy Day Women" (

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

) – 4:13 #"Vicky's Magic Garden" – 4:43

Personnel

;The Selecter *Pauline Black -

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

*Arthur "Gaps" Hendrickson - vocals *Nick Welsh -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, producer, mixing *Martin Stewart - keyboards with: *Paul Seacroft -

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

* B.J. Cole - pedal steel

References

{{Authority control 1995 albums The Selecter albums Triple X Records albums