"Release the Pressure" is the third single by the English electronic duo

Leftfield Leftfield are a British electronic music duo formed in 1989 as the duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley (the latter formerly of the Rivals and A Man Called Adam). The duo was very influential in the evolution of electronic music in the 1990s, w ...

and the first to involve

Paul Daley Paul Anthony Daley (born 21 February 1983) is a British former mixed martial artist and kickboxer. A professional competitor from 2003 to 2022, Daley competed for the UFC, Bellator MMA, Cage Rage, Final Fight Championship, Strikeforce, Elit ...

with writing duties after he joined the group. The song was released exclusively on 12" in 1992. Unlike previous releases that had been released on the Outer Rhythm record label, Leftfield had now officially split from Outer Rhythm. Major labels had offered them deals but neither member wanted to give up creative control to any major company. They formed the Hard Hands record label with "Release the Pressure" being the label's first official release. The song featured reggae singer Earl Sixteen on vocals, with a lyric taken from his 1981 single "Trial and Crosses". "Release the Pressure" made the top 20 in the UK charts and featured at number one in the ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' "Stone Free Chart of the Year". It was used in

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and

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commercials during its first year.

Track listing

* 12" # "Release the Pressure" (The Vocal Mix) 8:08 # "Release the Pressure" (The Rough Dub) 8:40 # "Release the Pressure" (The Desert Edit) 5:02

1996 version

In 1996, an updated version of "Release the Pressure" was released as the eighth single under the

name. It was released on 12", CD and Cassette on 8 January 1996. It featured Earl Sixteen and

Cheshire Cat The Cheshire Cat ( or ) is a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll in ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and known for its distinctive mischievous grin. While now most often used in ''Alice''-related contexts, the association of a "C ...

on vocals with

ad lib In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; from Latin for 'at one's pleasure' or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The r ...

s by Papa Dee. The song reached #13 in the UK charts. There were also four different remixes of the song with different ones as B-sides to the different format releases.

Critical reception

A reviewer from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' gave the 1996 version of "Release the Pressure" three out of five, describing it as a "very commercial dub

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

tune." Brad Beatnik from the magazine's ''RM'' Dance Update, rated it five out of five, picking it as Tune of the Week. He added that it is a "cool, soulful

ragga Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music. Wayne Sm ...

-fuelled track" and concluded with that "once again, the production quality is superb and Leftfield provide plenty for the feet and the mind."

Track listing

* 12" # "Release the Pressure" - 3:57 # "Release the Pressure" (Release One) - 7:23 # "Release the Pressure" (Release Two) - 7:19 # "Release the Pressure" (Release Four) - 5:03 * CD # "Release the Pressure" - 3:57 # "Release the Pressure" (Release One) - 7:23 # "Release the Pressure" (Release Two) - 7:19 # "Release the Pressure" (Release Three) - 6:02 # "Release the Pressure" (Release Four) - 5:03 * Cassette # "Release the Pressure" - 3:57 # "Release the Pressure" (Release One) - 7:23 # "Release the Pressure" (Release Two) - 7:19

Charts

References

Release The Pressure
Leftfield Online, Retrieved on 5 November 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Release The Pressure 1992 singles 1996 singles Leftfield songs 1992 songs Chrysalis Records singles Reggae fusion songs Dub songs