the Stranglers: Classicinblack or Dudinblack

Christ almighty. Men have been hung for less.

Dave, if it had been anyone other that youself who said this.....they'd be dead now.

Styx released a series of great albums in the late '70's / early '80's?!?

The Raven and the Meninblack do co-incide with the band's "health problems" as you put it, plus Hugh's stint in Jail.

Kevin, yeah I think you're right about the monologue in Dagenham Dave, but the rest is definitely JJ.

http://www.stranglers.co.uk/images/tablebig.jpg

Their last album, despite still not having Hugh on it, Norfolk Coast, had some surprisingly damn fine moments on it as well.

Classic.

I absolutely LOVE this band. Over the years they've snuck up from being something I had a mild regard for to probably my favourite band ever. I think they are the unacknowledged musical giants of their era.

The stylisitic variation is incredible, from furious R'n'B (Old Codger) to weirdo space-rock (Meninblack) to harpsicord-driven waltzes (Golden Brown.

Even the goof-offs are compelling. And, let's not forget, THE BEST BASS SOUND EVER.

Oh yeah, and the street/sewer/skewer line is BRILLIANT.

I came to the Stranglers very early in my discovery of music beyond the top 40. I love both Hugh periods but wasn't interested after he left. Their catalog is littered with classic albums, some nifty live albums and great b-sides.

To this day, if some crap song gets stuck in my head, I start singing "Ice Queen" to eradicate it.

The weather cools down, the days grow shorter and I return to my Stranglers LP's.

I have been rocking the first three Stranglers records of late and damn, they are beautiful things indeed. IV and No More Heroes especially.

THE BEST BASS SOUND EVER This is so so true.

Love La Folie as well.

I have been trying to rationalize Jet Black's lackluster drumming however, but can' really get there. Anyone else wish he played with more chutzpah?

Did X-Cert ever come out on CD?

God bless The Stranglers.

hey, alex, you can download hugh's new album for free if you want. if that's, you know, something you might enjoy. perhaps.

http://www.hughcornwell.com/

Interesting this - someone having reversed Yellowcake UF6, one of the B-sides from what I think is definitely their best period.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ZI7t-kd4Q

Most bizarre.

their version of Walk on By is still on my playlist after all these years

... as well it should be.

Just listened to "Black And White" for the first time in eons. So good I had to listen twice, in fact! Damn, those crazy keyboards, JJ's bass, Hugh's odd lyrics... even the lesser tracks are fascinating and the classics are monumental. I will continue on to the rest of Hugh's albums.

"Down in the Sewer" reminds me of both The Fall and Nomeansno. This is a pretty high compliment.

Genius song. First time I listened to it, while not understanding a single word, still I could feel the sick breath of a sewer on my face (maybe it was just that horrible rat on the back cover, who knows).

A couple of months ago I went (again) through this obsessive Stranglers phase and devoured again their early album - lots and lots of great songs, also Hugh's Nosferatu remains one of the most peculiar album of the era.

It is also very fitting and Strangler-esque that a lot of those EMI budget compilations variously titled Good Times, Soft Rock or Early Sunday Morning Music invariably include a song like Golden Brown.

Classic, as far as I'm concerned. I can divide their career up into several phases...

Phase #1: The initial years (Rattus Norvegicus, No More Heroes)
Phase #2: The art-prog-pop years (The Raven, The Gospel According To The Meninblack, La Folie, Feline)

Note: third album 'Black And White' marks a transitional point between these two phases

Phase #3: The straightforward pop band years (Aural Sculpture, Dreamtime, 10)
Phase #4: The wilderness years (Stranglers In The Night, About Time, Written In Red, Coup De Grace)
and finally, Phase #5: The resurgence (Norfolk Coast, Suite XVI)

Of all these phases, I think Phase #2 is my favourite. I think when this band branched out from the sound of their first two albums, they started making some really interesting music. The Raven, The Gospel and La Folie are my three favourite albums of theirs - Feline, much much less so.

Of the rest - I don't think I could argue with Rattus Norvegicus, No More Heroes or Black & White, although none of these albums would be my first choices to listen to (I fear I've heard them all too many times), whenever I'm in the mood for them I enjoy pretty much every second. The last three Hugh albums also have some keepers on them also, but I couldn't call any of them my favourites.

Post-Hugh, I'd say the best album with Paul Roberts on vocals has to be "Norfolk Coast", undoubtedly, but I also have a soft spot for "About Time", which has some good stuff on it... I'm especially fond of 'Face'. The first (and to date, sole) album with Baz Warne on vocals, "Suite XVI" is also a thoroughly solid and listenable album.

However, "Stranglers In The Night", and ESPECIALLY "Written In Red" and "Coup De Grace" should be erased from history never to be spoken of again, IMHO!

I must've missed your post at the time, Turrican. The last time I listened to the phase 2 albums (as you listed them) they really knocked my socks off in a way they hadn't when I first encountered them. I think as we hear more music, it gives us context than can sometimes transform the way we here material that previously lacked it, and therefore enhances the experience. So listening to "The Raven" now that I've heard much more 60s and early 70s underground material means noting The Stranglers fascinating confluence of influences. Roxy, Eno, Cale, garage rock, etc.

I'm not sure I hear the difference in approach between "Feline" and "Aural Sculpture", I think they're both far from straightforward pop. Do you really think they shaved off the odd basslines and guitar bits moving between the two?

I'm not sure I hear the difference in approach between "Feline" and "Aural Sculpture", I think they're both far from straightforward pop. Do you really think they shaved off the odd basslines and guitar bits moving between the two?

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, December 17, 2012 5:05 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't think that JJ/Hugh/Dave toned down any of their individuality or quirk on their instruments in between Feline and Aural Sculpture, although I do see those albums as very different beasts - in terms of production, songwriting, general feel. Feline strikes me as being a very cold, moody, experimental work with a stark production job, whereas Aural Sculpture strikes me as being more upbeat, more produced, and far more accessible. Sculpture seems to be rooted far more in 'classic songwriting' (for want of a better term) to me than Feline, and I think they continued in that vein on Dreamtime and 10 (probably because by that stage, JJ and Hugh were mostly writing the songs by themselves instead of collaborating like they mostly did on the United Artists-era LPs). In fact, when I think about it, I'd say that Aural Sculpture marked the last BIG change in the Stranglers sound with the addition of the horn section (which they continued to use until Hugh left the band).

to think i wasted all that time listening to The Jam when i was a kid when i could have been listening to The Stranglers. Doh!

It was common knowledge that they were older than the other punks on the scene, nevertheless 84 is still boggling my mind.

I had Laid Black in heavy rotation a number of years back. A departure from their usual, but one that somehow made sense.

restinpeaceinblack.

RIP JB

Damn, I can't believe he was 40 in 1978!!

Love his work. His music will live forever.

Fucking icon.

My two cents on the loss of Jet Black

the newish keyboardist was on The Repair Shop this Wednesday getting the classic Hohner Cembalet fixed. odd electro mechanical thing.

and the TOTP 78 tonight had the same synth on it. (Five Minutes)

Did he cry when it was fixed? Real Stranglers don't cry of course.

embarrassing confession: i thought "golden brown" was a song from the mid-'60s until, like, yesterday

I don’t get this band at all, they seem like undercover cops or something.