The Stranglers

I listened to Black and White, The Raven and TGATTM a few weeks ago.
First time in years.
Pretty much reconfirmed in my mind, I’ve always liked The Raven best.
The Gospel kind of blew me away though. Love that album too.
Duchess is my favorite Stranglers tune.

 

Always thought that Manic Street Preachers like it too; so much so that 'If you tolerate this' seems to 'borrow' the melody for the 'and the Rodneys are queuing up' section of the Duchess to my ear.

 

I've got a couple of othet hits collections with more songs on them, the trouble is that the extra songs detract from the quality for me. Whoever compiled The Collection '72-82 had impeccable taste. Plus, to the best of my knowledge, all of the songs are full length (including Walk On By). There are no single edits.

 

The Stranglers MFSL/DCC ?

 

Not a lot. Probably whatever was the cheapest option.

Rhino UK To Reissue Seven Classic Stranglers Titles With Bonus Tracks | …essential

 

Would love that. The Stranglers weren't tackled by any audiophile label so far.

 

Thanks. Rhino UK, hmmm. With a little chance they'll be mastered better than the 2001 versions. We'll see.

 

We'll see. I won't be able to resist buying at least the first two.

 

No More Heroes

 

Live Xcert is an odd inclusion, but at least the albums are in consecutive order. However, for anyone who's planning to get this, it's really better to get the Old Testament set.
Also cheap, but it has all the first-run UA albums with tons of bonus tracks and rarities. I even think it supercedes the UA albums box within it's timeframe. It's a no-brainer.

 

Yup, my introduction too, for years actually.
Amazing compilation!

I also like how it's, like, more-or-less chronological, following it's own logic, the traditional punk-sound slowly giving way to their experimental tendencies.
Bear Cage is my favourite of the bunch, along with Golden Brown.

 

Yes, Bear Cage is a beaut. I genuinely love them all but Hanging Around and Strange Little Girl are high points for me.

 

The Classic Collection CDs are available to see on Discogs:
The Classic Collection

The 32 page booklets look great, though they all seem to share the same liner notes about all of the EMI albums.

The only mastering credit in all of them is:
Master assembly: Pete Mew

 

Oh no, his work is terrible.

 

Good grief. Why did they even bother?

 

Branding - it's because of the move to Parlephone.

 

Peter Mew being retired since 2012, we know they just reused the 2001 remasters. Good, I won't have to buy them.

 

Those booklets look nice, though.

Reissues like this are just fine for folks that aren't audiophiles or picky about loud, modern mastering. Probably sound OK in the car, computer or portable devices.

There's still plenty of original cd's from the 80's out there that sound REALLY good, especially if you have a stereo system and for sure if you listen on headphones. Brickwalled cd's <I'm not saying these are> can be torture on the eardrums at loud levels on good headphones. Think Trotsky and his "he got an icepick that made his ears burn".

Edit - actually, just looked at the DR Database and none of the 2001 reissues look brickwalled at all! The 2013 reissue of the Old Testament box took a hit downwards, though.

Album list - Dynamic Range Database

 

Mr Mew masters them bright. Too bright for my tastes. Some say he packs a smiley face.

 

The Mew remasters aren't particularly compressed, but they have his trademark weird-emphasis-over-EQ'd sound that can make the albums really unpleasant to listen to.

 

You beat me to it. None of the releases of these albums, when released alone, have been terrible. It's just not very inspiring. The booklets for these UA discs appear to be the same in every album, which is a disappointment. The only difference here is a couple extra bonus tracks tacked on.

EDIT: That said, I just bought the 1988 CD releases of Rattus, No More Heroes, and Black and White for £10 for all, shipped.

 

Excellent! My 3 favorite Stranglers albums and the best, original cd pressings to boot. Great price, too!

 

What is up with the front cover of Rattus Novergicus? The band's name is missing at the top:



And there's a corrupted font problem on an inside page:



It's nice they simulated the 3-D cover of The Raven for its front cover:

 

IV

 

Yes?