The Stranglers - a reappraisal

heard em live just t'other day, from the top of the hill in brocky park, (totally by mistake mind, on my afternoon stroll ) they didnae really even do justice to their standards - ie walking on the beaches - sounded lacklustre.



...or wuz it the kinks?
just waiting for a re-evaluation of golden brown tho, in light of the chancellors impending ascendence to premiership ... texture like sun ...

sufi said:

heard em live just t'other day, from the top of the hill in brocky park, (totally by mistake mind, on my afternoon stroll ) they didnae really even do justice to their standards - ie walking on the beaches - sounded lacklustre.



...or wuz it the kinks?
just waiting for a re-evaluation of golden brown tho, in light of the chancellors impending ascendence to premiership ... texture like sun ...

Click to expand...

i was in hospital with a life threatening illness when i was a wee kid and golden brown was top of the charts, it was 'my tune' in the old radio one sense. stranglers did some brilliant things always much better than alot of those bands

mms said:

i was in hospital with a life threatening illness when i was a wee kid ...

Click to expand...

for me that was the Sex PiST0Ls

Respect To Mms

HE done the TON UP!!



1st to 1000 posts

i love them, despite all the uglinesses and preposterousness. along with ian dury and the pistols, stranglers were among the first punk/new wave i was into, meaning among the first rock music i was into

and in fact i too dug out the first four records over the weekend, for some reason

the prominence in the sound of burnel's bass aligns them with postpunk in some ways, as do relative nondominance of the guitar in the mix

the keyboard guy did some neat stuff with moogs and synths as well as the more obvious Manzareky arpeggio-y stuff

i like the odd rhythmic feel on certain tunes -- nice 'n' sleazy, the reggae-funk feel of peaches (and the bit where the beat goes inside out) -- the waltz-time of 'outside tokyo' and other tunes -- the chugging motorik of 'the raven'

there's a stranglers track on Optimo's Psyche Out -- 'bear cage' but they've made it sound hardly like the original

i like their jaundiced world weary mode -- 'bitchin' and 'who wants the world'

when they try to go experimental (side two of Black and White, bits of raven and meninblack) it's embarassing but in a really enjoyable way

was also thinking that hugh cornwell in his understated way is an inventive guitarist -- lots of great angular riffs and thin knife-like runs

also has a nice way with a lyrical solo -- 'golden brown'

talking of which they did two of the greatest heroin songs ever -- the aforementioned and 'don't bring harry'

other thing that struck me -- "la folie" is them trying to do "atmosphere" by joy division, and it ends up somewhere between that and "radio four" by PiL.

the last good thing they did -- "skin deep"

i once saw Hugh Cornwell in the flesh -- he was mooching about inside a trance club opposite Bagleys in 98, of all places!

they were always quite expermental , quite baroque psychedelic like the doors in a way but tripped out on sleaze and soho filth rather than acid if you get me. the kind of danger and wrongreality of the world of vice.
nice and sleazy is on the other optimo mix too.