My Hands Are Held Up High.....

And as expected fun was had.................

Having never seen The Selecter live I wasn't sure what to expect but I wasn't disappointed. While not as popular as The Specials, Madness or The Beat you still sometimes forget what great songs The Selecter had and they pulled out all the big guns tonight. Too Much Pressure, Three Minute Hero, On My Radio and many more still sounded incredibly fresh and exciting. Glad to see there were a lot of pork pie hats on show, although mostly from people the wrong side of 50. Still everyone seemed to enjoy the show. The band were tight, Pauline Black sounded great and overall a great gig.

The following night saw The Alarm hit the stage at the same venue and Mike Peters and co were up for it right from the off. Two hours later and the energy was still bouncing off the stage. Yes, they are a bit pompous and po faced but they know how to write a tune and produced all the biggies at Oran Mor. 68 Guns, Blaze Of Glory (cue : hands in the air !!!), Absolute Reality and many more assisted in me losing my voice for most of the following day.

More and more I am really loving Oran Mor as a venue and it now seems to be the venue of choice for a lot of acts which can only be a good thing.

Nostalgia Rules Ok...............

This weekend sees a bit of a nostalgia trip for me. Two gigs in two nights from bands that I sort of grew up with.

Some friends I have known for years see The Alarm as a bit pompous and they probably are but I've always had a soft spot for them and have somehow managed never to see them live. All that will change on Saturday at Oran Mor where I will have my hands raised aloft belting out the words to Blaze Of Glory. Cannae wait for a bit of pompous, overblown nostalgia on Saturday.

I was a tad too young to fully appreciate The Selecter back in the day being only about 11 when they burst onto the scene. Despite my tender years I still had the skinny tie and the pork pie hat that I proudly wore to my weekly under 18's disco (do they still call them that ?). I was more of a Madness and Specials fan but still vaguely recall having a dance to Three Minute Hero at said disco.

Not sure what to expect either night but fun will be had.........

 

Black By Design....

As much a book about what it was like to grow up whilst searching for an identity in Britain during the 1960's and 1970's as it is about the heady days in the late 70's as part of the 2 Tone movement, Pauline Black's powerful autobiography is a great read.

Black by Design is a moving story – of where we come from, what makes us strong and carries us through, of being a woman in the music industry, of life after musical success and reinventing yourself, of finding yourself.

Formed in 1979 and once described as “conspiring to make dancing the only way to walk", the Selecter led the ska revival movement, along with 2-tone labelmates, The Specials & Madness. Mixing punk, ska & reggae, their debut album Too Much Pressure successfully reflected the social and political issues of the early Thatcher years in Britain and gave a voice to disaffected youth across the racial divide.

One of the tracks from that debut was a cover of Time Hard by The Pioneeers retitled as Everyday. Without doubt The Pioneers were one of the best vocal groups of the early reggae era. Time Hard first appeared in the early 70's and is quite simply one of the most uplifting songs to listen to which is quite a feat considering they are singing "Every day things are getting worse"

The Sixties was the golden age for Jamaican vocal trios. During this incredibly creative decade, a multitude of singing groups burst upon the island’s music scene, but of these only a relative few possessed the talent and determination to endure, and in that select category along with The Wailers and The Maytals were The Pioneeers.

The Selecter - Every Day
The Pioneers - Time Hard