The Stranglers

Album by Album

Career Retrospective

Part Two

By Andrew Barclay

In 1978, The Stranglers were big news. The band’s first two albums had sold very well, and although they weren’t strictly punk, that movements supporters adopted the band with open arms. A big out door gig at Battersea power station was held in 1978, and the bands third album, ‘Black and White’ was released. This album showed some different sides to the band’s music not previously heard on the first two albums.

‘Black And White’ begins with a strong, pacey track called ‘Tank’. It was aggressive in tone, much like the bands earlier output, but was more accomplished musically, and was a fine introduction, to what would be a very fine album indeed.

‘Nice and Sleazy’ is next, and a bona fide Stranglers classic. The wonderful reggae tinged song harped back to the overall arrangement and sound of ‘Peaches’, and is certainly in league with that song quality wise, whilst not in any way being a copy of it. The irresistible chorus “nice and sleazy does it, does it, does it every time” is infectious, and the danceable music is note perfect. The band played this on Top Of the Pops, and they looked and sounded like a band at their peak.

The slow, waltzing ‘Outside Tokyo’ is a perfect example of the bands progression. A slow, subtle melody pulls the listener in, and it’s a wonderful and welcome distraction from the thudding swagger of the previous tracks.

‘Hey (Rise Of the Robots)’, although not being my personal favorite on this album, is still a strong album track.

‘Sweden’ is another keeper, with great off kilter vocals and that swirling organ that we love early Stranglers for. Next up is another entry to the list of all-time great Stranglers songs, ‘Toiler on the Sea’. Brunel’s scratchy bass notes start us on a voyage of varied musical arrangements and the track veers off into directions that you don’t expect. Then, as Cornwell is ready for to bring the vocals in, the songs arrangement takes a more orthodox shape. The whole song is a revelation and quite easily the best piece on the album. A fact often backed up by its inclusion in the set for most of the bands continuing career.

‘Curfew’ is perhaps one of the weaker inclusions on ‘Black And White’, which is no direct put down, as the album is more often than not, impeccable. ‘Curfew’ still has all the vital parts required for early period Stranglers, and as such, it’s a welcome, if not earth shattering addition. ‘Threatened’ is an oddball song, Jet Blacks bass drum counts the track in, as Cornwall’s unique guitar stabs establish the rhythm, and then again, a weird vocal pattern is layered on top. The band would later on expound upon these strange time signatures, but as an early example of how different The Stranglers truly were, ‘Threatened’ does a great job.

‘In The Shadows’ continues the theme of odd timing, with Hugh being a big fan of Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, you can see where The Stranglers were going with these songs.

‘Do You Wanna’ is less successful than the previous three numbers, but still crackles on harmlessly, even if the strange drumming sounds as if it’s going to come to a crashing halt at any time. ‘Death and Night and Blood’ is sung by Burnel, with the chants in the background from the rest of the band, it’s a simple but effective number, again showcasing all the main elements that made The Stranglers music of this era so distinctive.

The last song on the album is perhaps the second best one on the record. ‘Enough Time’ is a song played with passion, and sang with venom from Cornwell. The first time I heard him snarl the provocative line “what when your face falls apart” I sat up and took notice. ‘Black And White’ showcased a band that was evolving, and it’s a great album to boot. A must hear.

The repacked CD album with bonus tracks also includes, ‘Mean to Me’, Walk On By’, ‘Shut Up, ‘Sverige’, ‘Old Codger’ and ‘Tits’. The most notable of these additions is the cover version ‘Walk On By’, (originally composed by Burt Bacharach). It was released as a 45, with ‘Old Codger’ and ‘Tank’. ‘Old Codger’ is also worth a mention in that it features the vocals of the very person it was written about, Mr. George Melly.

The Stranglers were about to continue moving on, playing with new sounds and melting genres into one another in their quest to remain interesting and vital.

…..enter The Raven.

‘Longships’ is the opener, and it’s an instrumental track mainly featuring a lilting guitar by Cornwell. It’s just over a minute in run time, but the first thing you’ll notice is the Dave Greenfield has left his organ at home, this time favoring the newer synths that were becoming available to musicians at an alarming pace at that time.

‘The Raven’, follows, and its intro is as elaborate as say, ‘Toiler on the Sea’, but the music is much less hard edged, and instead of the familiar organ, synths are the order of the day. “Fly straight with perfection” sings JJ Burnel is his best hushed vocals. The track is a winner there’s no doubt about.

‘Dead Los Angeles’ is a bass driven number, with clear and fairly chilled out vocals from Hugh Cornwell. In the songs music interludes we are treated to some more new exotic sounds from Greenfields growing Keyboard selection. Also noticeable is that Burnel’s fuzz is turned down on his bass pedals, and the result is a clear but still full sound. Another sturdy and dare I say flawless song.

‘Ice’ begins with a bass ridden build up, as Jet Black bangs away on his snare, until an odd sounding synth settles in with Cornwell’s well timed rhythm guitar providing the frame work. JJ provides the lead vocals on this one, and again, it’s a clever, well written number.

‘Baroque Bordello’ became of firm fan favorite, and quite rightly so. It features some of Cornwell’s most picturesque vocals, and continues the odd time signatures and new cleaner sound of ‘The Raven’. The almost eerie feel of the song is its main selling point, and it’s a joy to hear. ‘Nuclear Device’ is next and also happened to be one of the tracks selected as a single. Whilst it does have a fairly commercial melody in comparison to some of the other works on the album, it did still incorporate the more progressive side of the band’s sound, and as such, might explain why it only peaked at No.36.

‘Shah Shah A Go Go’ starts with the Muslim call to prayer, as Greenfields synth goes from the under current, to being the dominant sound. Cornwell was always well versed in politics, and his suspicious observation of religious and political leaders is hard to ignore, especially in such volatile times as we live in today. It’s another top notch song.

‘Don’t Bring Harry’ is a slow, meandering cautionary tale about drug abuse, and although it’s certainly a commendable effort and subject matter, it just doesn’t float my boat, but my own prejudice aside, I know a lot of Stranglers fans get a lot out of this piece.

‘Duchess’ doesn’t so much start, as explode across your speakers. It’s a brilliant pop song, and the yearning melody is gut wrenching. It’s one of those songs that if you hear just after some kind of heart break, will have you crying in an instant. It’s perfect chart music, which is why it quite rightly broke into the UK top 20.

‘Meninblack’ lunges us into a spacey, psychedelic world. It’s actually a little disconcerting on first listen, but overall, has a mesmerizing and hypnotic power that is just so hard to resist. It became one of my favorite Stranglers songs over time, and it certainly points to the future album ‘The Gospel According To the Men in Black’. The musical landscape of the song aside, it’s a message from Alien beings, who ‘don’t approve, of artificial food, we grow you for our own good’. Anyone familiar with the ‘Ancient Aliens’ concept will no doubt be nodding in approval as you read this.

‘Genetix’ is the last track on the original running order of The Raven. It became a live staple and features some nifty drumming by Jet Black. And again, since this is The Stranglers we are dealing with, the lyrics are clever and worth investing the effort to listen to.

The CD reissue features the bonus track ‘Bear Cage’, ‘Fools Rush Out’, ‘N'Emmenes Pas Harry’ and ‘Yellowcake UF6’. ‘Bear Cage’ which had been a non album release initially has been tagged onto this pressing of the album, and of all the additional tracks, is the best. It’s not as musically interesting as most of the work on The Raven, but was clearly written as a single, and in that capacity, it works well.

Next we take a look at perhaps the album that still divides fans of the band today, is it a radical and visionary masterpiece, or is it a pretentious stockpile of nonsense. I think the sensible answer is that it’s really a bit of both, but also lots of fun into the bargain.

The now infamous organ and synth gymnastics of Dave Greenfield open this album up in grand style with the strange but fantastic Stranglers signature song ‘Waltzinblack’. The frankly astounding ‘Just Like Nothing On Earth’ is the next track up, with its juddering drums and smart but compact melody, coupled with Cornwell’s savvy and mannered vocals. It became a concert staple for the proceeding few years, and it’s easy to see why. Another well-presented and realized offering comes in the form of ‘Second Coming’. By now we hear that this album is big on alternative arrangements and odd Synthetic sounds, but so far, so good.

‘Waiting For the Men In Back’ is another winner, and although it’s most certainly and odd track, it’s still listenable enough to be easily digested by even the more casual Stranglers fans. ‘Turn the Centuries Turn’ is a tad tiresome, and a little bit overly dramatic and without any lyrics it out stays it’s welcome a little.

‘Two Sunspots’ is almost a commercial song, but as with most of this album, it’s melody becomes a little, well, quite a lot, bizarre. I think the song is about the much fabled Planet X, but the lyric doesn’t really flesh the matter out, which is unusual for Cornwell, as he normally nails the point across in his writing.

‘Four Horsemen’ is fairly unremarkable, and although it’s not a song I would particularly skip, it’s not one that grabs my attention really, and had it not been for the very interesting subject matter, I may not have ever concentrated on the vocal. I won’t spoil it in case you haven’t heard it yet, but do keep an eye on the lyrics.

‘Thrown Away’ is also a little on the lackluster side, and really it isn’t on par with the albums finer moments, as is evident from its ‘ditty’ like keyboard intro, which incidentally pervades throughout the majority of the track.

The experimentation continues, in the form of ‘Manna Machine’. It’s basically a low level ‘white noise’ courtesy of Dave Greenfield, the odd guitar interjection and nothing much else. If anything, it comes off a little lazy. I do understand that this is a concept album, and such liberties are always taken in albums like this, but there were much better tracks omitted from the album than this.

‘Hallow To Our Men’ closes the original running order of the album, and it’s an easier drink of water than the last third of the album. Cornwell’s guitar melody is actually somewhat normal (if normal ever applies to this album at all). Things do start to get stranger as the song unfolds. The arrangement becomes quite busy, and although it gets top marks for experimentation, it’s perhaps not all it could be.

‘Top Secret’ ‘Meninwhite’ and ‘Tomorrow Was Hereafter’ are the bonus tracks. ‘Meninwhite’ is actually really shrewd, a tightly played and well written song lyrically. If you’re not joining in with Hugh as he sings ‘We’ll help to get you there’ then you’re not a Stranglers fan.

The other bonus track of note is ‘Tomorrow Was Hereafter’. To my ears the intro sounds like Bob Marley’s ‘I Shot the Sheriff’ but random reference aside, it’s another up-tempo number that should have been included at the exclusion of one of the three weaker album tracks.

Look out for Part Three as we continue to journey through The Stranglers back catalogue …..