| "Missing Words" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by the Selecter | ||||
| from the album Too Much Pressure | ||||
| B-side | "Carry Go Bring Come" | |||
| Released | 1980 | |||
| Genre | Ska | |||
| Length | 3:22 | |||
| Label | 2 Tone CHS TT 10 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Neol Davies | |||
| Producer(s) | Roger Lomas | |||
| The Selecter singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Missing Words" is a song and single written by Neol Davies and performed by English 2 tone ska revival band the Selecter. [1] Released in 1980 it reached #23, on the UK charts, staying there for eight weeks. [2] [1]
In contrast to the Selecter's two previous singles, "On My Radio" and "Three Minute Hero", "Missing Words" is a downbeat song about heartbreak issued as the 2 Tone Records ska revival began to fade. [3]
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 walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. It was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Stranger Cole, Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods and with many skinheads.
Madness are an English ska and pop band from Camden Town, north west London, who formed in 1976. One of the most prominent bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s two-tone ska revival, they continue to perform with six of the seven members of their original line-up. Madness's most successful period was from 1980 to 1986, when the band's songs spent a total of 214 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, holding the record along with English reggae group UB40 for most weeks spent by a group in the UK singles chart during the 1980s.
The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, were an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Jerry Dammers on keyboards, Lynval Golding and Roddy Radiation on guitars, Horace Panter on bass, John Bradbury on drums, and Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez on horns. The band wore mod-style "1960s period rude boy outfits ". Their music combines the danceable rhythms of ska and rocksteady with the energy and attitude of punk. Lyrically, their work presented overt political and social commentary.
Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers GCOT is a British musician who was a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry-based ska band the Specials and later the Spatial AKA Orchestra. Through his foundation of the record label Two Tone, his work blending political lyrics and punk with Jamaican music, and his incorporation of 1960s retro clothing, Dammers is a pivotal figure of the ska revival. He has also been acknowledged in his work for racial unity.
Terence Edward Hall was a British musician who came to prominence as the lead singer of the 2-tone band the Specials, and later recorded with groups such as Fun Boy Three, the Colourfield, Terry, Blair & Anouchka, and Vegas.
The Selecter is an English 2 tone ska revival band, formed in Coventry, England, in 1979.
Cecil Bustamente Campbell, known professionally as Prince Buster, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer. The records he released in the 1960s influenced and shaped the course of Jamaican contemporary music and created a legacy of work that would be drawn upon later by reggae and ska artists.
The Beat are an English band formed in Birmingham, England, in 1978. Their music fuses Latin, ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock.
Specials is the debut album by British ska revival band The Specials. Released on 19 October 1979 on Jerry Dammers' 2 Tone label, the album is seen by some as the defining moment in the UK ska scene. Produced by Elvis Costello, the album captures the disaffection and anger felt by the youth of the UK's "concrete jungle"—a phrase borrowed from Bob Marley's 1973 album Catch a Fire—used to describe the grim, violent inner cities of 1970s Britain. The album features a mixture of original material and several covers of classic Jamaican ska tracks.
2 Tone Records was an English independent record label that mostly released ska and reggae-influenced music with a punk rock and pop music overtone. It was founded by Jerry Dammers of the Specials and backed by Chrysalis Records.
Too Much Pressure is the debut studio album by the English 2 tone ska revival band the Selecter. After the band's official formation in 1979 in Coventry, following the release of a song entitled "The Selecter" by an unofficial incarnation of the band, the band's hit single "On My Radio" prompted their labels 2 Tone and Chrysalis to ask the band to record their debut album. Working with producer Errol Ross, the Selecter recorded the album at Horizon Studios over two months. The album contains original material, mostly composed by band founder and guitarist Neol Davies, as well as numerous ska and reggae cover versions, in a similar fashion to the Specials' debut album.
Celebrate the Bullet is the second studio album by English 2 tone ska revival band the Selecter, released on 27 February 1981 by Chrysalis Records after the band had left the 2 Tone label. The album was recorded with producer Roger Lomas, who plays bass on some songs, and frequently seeks a more slow, eclectic sound, with new wave influences. Band members Charley Anderson and Desmond Brown, uncomfortable with the new approach, left the band during production and after the release of 1980 single "The Whisper" to form the band the People. They were replaced by keyboardist, James Mackie, and bass player, Adam Williams. Ian Dury and the Blockheads bassist Norman Watt-Roy played bass on the title-track and "Washed Up and Left for Dead".
Pucker! is the fourth album by English 2 Tone ska revival band The Selecter, released in 1995 on Dojo Music in the United Kingdom as, under the name Hairspray, on Triple X Records 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 ska sound while incorporating elements from new wave and power pop, leading to an uncharacteristic "bizarre blend of elements" which stretched the band's horizons. The album's lyrics are also unusually sunny and lightweight.
"On My Radio" is a song by English 2 tone ska revival band the Selecter, released as a single on 5 October 1979 by 2 Tone Records. It peaked at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart, remaining on the chart for nine weeks, and became their most successful single.
Belinda Magnus, better known as Pauline Black, is an English singer, actress and author.
One Step Beyond... is the debut studio album by the British ska-pop group Madness, released by Stiff Records. Recorded and mixed in about three weeks, the album peaked at number two and remained on the UK Albums Chart for more than a year. The album has received much critical praise. It was ranked 90th in a 2005 survey held by British television station Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time.
"Mirror in the Bathroom" is a single by the British ska band the Beat, released as a single in 1980 from their debut studio album I Just Can't Stop It. It reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and consequently was their highest charting release in the UK until 1983. It was released again in 1995 as a 12" single and early in 1996 as a CD single to promote B.P.M.: The Very Best of the Beat. The reissued single reached number 44 in 1996.
Neol Edward Davies is an English musician, composer and original member and founder of 2 tone ska revival band the Selecter.
"Three Minute Hero" is a song and single written by Neol Davies and performed by the English 2 tone ska revival band the Selecter. It is the opening track on side one of their debut studio album Too Much Pressure. Released in 1980, the song reached number 16 on the UK charts, staying there for six weeks.
"Gangsters" is the first single by the English ska group the Specials.
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