The Stranglers

Not indispensable, I prefer listening to the albums. IIRC, the sound on most tracks is nothing to write home about.

 

Actually, after Black & White, their albums began to be "spotty" for me, including The Raven. Some great songs padded with filler on all the albums with Hugh from Raven on out, imho.

 

Well then why didn't it shoot up the charts? Sorry, couldn't resist. . .

 

My introduction to The Stranglers was around age 14 when I got this cassette.



I wore that out and subsequently bought it on CD too, along with all the Hugh Cornwell era albums. There isn't a bad track on 'The Collection '77-'82' and if greatest hits could be desert island discs then that long out of print collection would most certainly be one of mine.

1. "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)"
2. "Peaches"
3. "Hanging Around"
4. "No More Heroes"
5. "Duchess"
6. "Walk On By"
7. "Waltzinblack"
8. "Something Better Change"
9. "Nice 'n' Sleazy"
10. "Bear Cage"
11. "Who Wants the World?"
12. "Golden Brown"
13. "Strange Little Girl"
14. "La Folie"[1]

 

A much better single cd comp with excellent mastering here, imho :

The Stranglers - Singles (The U.A. Years)

 

Yes, I have the original vinyl of that from when it was released. Superb album. Love it. Great collection. They released a 7" single remix of Grip ('Grip '89' I think,) to promote that album. Pretty damn sure they took some textures from the live version of Grip off 'Live X Cert' album for that single. Thankfully the remix is not included on the album.

 

My favorite mastering of many tracks is this compilation, especially "Peaches".
However, "Walk On By" sounds odd on this one.

 

The second album is good and has some classic tunes. But also suffers a bit from "2nd album syndrome".

 

NMH always divides people pretty strongly, I've found in the past. It's obvious they picked the best songs from those sessions for Rattus, but I still like NMH a lot. I've known big fans who loved Rattus but hated NMH, I never could understand it.

 

I don't think the imminent remasters are adding much to the party. For the record though - Rattus and No More Heroes are essential. Black and White less so, but damn - Nice and Sleazy means you've got to have it.

After that I completely lost interest. I've heard some greatest hits packages, and they did have some nice tunes, "Golden Brown", "Strange Little Girl"... but they couldn't sustain an album for me.

 

Strange Little Girl original video very evocative of London's time period.

 

Reminds me of Barney Bubbles' work for Elvis Costello.

 

I grew up with The Collection '72-82 and find it the best of the lot. I love every track. I've got a couple of other best ofs (not the one you mention) and they have some later tracks that let the side down somewhat. I never had a problem with the mastering of that cassette/disc.

 

The Stranglers are one of rock music's most underrated band. These guys wrote great tunes and their music should be quite palatable to mainstream listeners. They should have been much bigger!

 

What imminent remasters?

 

I agree. La Folie is one of my favourite albums. In my mind tracks like Tramp and The Man they Love to Hate are absolute classics.
The Raven through Feline is such a strong run.

 

Ugly band name.
Ugly band members.
Beautiful music.

 

Vinyl : original
UK pressings I gather ?

 

A large part of the catalog is getting a reissue with some (slightly) different bonus tracks. Here's one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07323B...liid=I2LIMXJ6IUSZWZ&colid=2BOC7RLER8Q8V&psc=0

 

I heard NMH many years before the first album, and am surprised that 'School Mam' didn't make it to the first album if it was indeed recorded or written in the same sessions. It's one of my favourite Stranglers songs.

Honestly though, I don't think they have a single strong album. I've got the debut to The Raven (with 3D cover), and none of them are excellent start to finish. Black & White is probably closest, but there's some rubbish on there like 'Sweden'.

 

Do you have any more info about these? Are they really remastered or did they just took the existing 2001 remasters and recompiled them?

 

I don’t know much about their bad behavior and sexism because they never got off the ground here in the US. As a result they were ignored by the press.

That’s fine with me because all I know is their music and it’s great. Ratus and La Folie are personal favorites. I heard Peaches on some alternative radio station and started looking for the album. Definitely get the UA Singles. You need a copy of their version of Walk On By.

 

Hugh Cornwell' McArthur Park "John Cooper Clarke(vocal)..,.Tull's Ian Anderson on Flute - Punk meets prog. Not bad i must say.

 

Nothing wrong with the Collection comp - it has early <great> mastering as well, it's just that the UA Singles has more songs if I had to choose one of them now.

 

Listened to "The Gospel According To The Meninblack" the other night,very underrated.