Pucker!

Pucker!
Studio album by
Released22 August 1995
Recorded1995
Genre
Length35:48
Label
ProducerNick Welsh
The Selecter chronology
The Happy Album
(1994)
Pucker!
(1995)
Cruel Britannia
(1998)
Singles from Pucker!
  1. "Hairspray"
    Released: 1995

Pucker! (originally released as Hairspray in the United States) 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.

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 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.