The Stranglers

BTW, here's what I wrote in the Meninblack thread:

I'm not a fan of the Epic era, however.

 

As a teen college student back in 1980 I had the honor of partying with Hugh Cornwell late into the night. I was exposed to the drudgery of road life (Hugh washing his all-black stage clothes in a hotel room sink) and discovered new music to my ears (the German group Can playing on a little boombox).

I left my Stranglers vinyl -- then numbering about a dozen singles and five albums -- with him to get autographed. The next day I retrieved the stash, finding them all nicely autographed by the band, often with humorous modifications.

This example from the Japanese gatefold of Live (X Cert).

 

Racists followed bands in England back then. Those were grim times, the late 70s. Believe it or not, multiracial groups like The Specials, The Selecter and UB40 had a racist following. Who said racists aren't stupid?

 

That's who it is, the lookalike who was being squired around London by George Melly, while a bloke in a white jacket stalks them.

 

I never got the box set, just the individual CDs. I saw it around and it was fairly cheap when first released (£25), but it was released a month after the Epic remasters came out.

You're dead right about the EMI remasters. The artwork was spectacularly shoddy and the sound quality left a lot to be desired.

Live X Cert didn't come with a EP, as far as I know, just a full colour inner sleeve. Rattus and Black and White had bonus 7" singles in them. I'd recommend the original Live X Cert EMI CD from the late 80s. They were flat masters, I think.

 

I saw The Stranglers supporting The Who at Wembley Stadium in 1979. They premiered the bulk of The Raven (which had yet to be released). And they blew The Who off stage. Almost literally. At the end of their set they let off a barrage of fireworks. It stands as a testament as to how good the band were, and how strong The Raven was, that they could play forty odd minutes of new material to an unfamiliar, disinterested audience of 50,000 and go over really well.

 

I have it on disc, and it's a decent enough comp. I guess it was just a bit frustrating that it was the only disc that I could find back in those days(pre-internet). I had abandoned vinyl by that time so I was kind of stuck. Couldn't even find their stuff on cassette!

 

The Black And White colored vinyl was a promotional only item.

IV was the first stranglers album I ever got, after seeing the music video for "Duchess" on the radio. It was a perplexing album, with all the old stuff on side B and the little 7" that came with it. I also loved the song "Vietnamerica". It was not released in England for a few more years.

 

No, not promo-only. The initial commercial copies were definitely pressed on the black & white colored vinyl. Did it even sell enough to go into a regular black vinyl pressing?

 

Yes. My copy bought in a record store back in the day is black vinyl. I also have the black/white swirl colored vinyl pressing. I've seen a few of the colored vinyl pressing and every single one I've seen has the hole cut in the corner like yours, which is there because it was a promo. It does not have the usual "Promotional Copy Not For Sale" stamp, but nonetheless that is what it is.

 

FWIW, I've always thought the B&W marbled color vinyl of Black & White was the only US LP version, because I've never seen a black copy! But I've seen many copies of the marbled vinyl, some with the "Promotion Not For Sale" designation on the labels, some without. I never paid attention enough to notice if they all had cutouts in the cover, but I suspect there were stock copies as well as promos.

Either way, I bet this is an unusual case of the black vinyl being rarer than the colored vinyl.

 

I really like Vietnamerica as well - good track. I'd forgotten that the IV album came with a 4 track 7" ep inside. 2 Stranglers tracks and a Hugh Cornwell and JJ Burnell solo track each, if I recall correctly.
Yep - good value for $ and fun marketing back in those days....

 

That has been my experience, too. I bought it when it first came out (new from a record store, not a promo or cut-out) and I never saw one that wasn't on marbled vinyl. I agree that the black vinyl must be rarer.

 

I just pulled my copies of Black and White out for comparison and the black version is completely different than the black/white marble disc. It does not have the lyric inner sleeve, nor does it have the custom black/white label; it has the standard A&M record label. It still says black side / white side.

Most interesting of all, the deadwax matrices are different.

Regarding VI - there are no Meninblack tracks on that album. Side 1 is five songs from "The Raven", side 2 is various sundry goodies. It's nice that they gave us the terrific "Who Wants The World" and "Bear Cage' (Renamed gmbh). Meninblack was indeed released in the USA on the short lived "Stiff America" label. Great album.

Does the "Epic Years" box have any or many of the great B-sides that they released when they were with Epic?

 

Oops. Should not be VI - should be IV in the above post.

 

I have loved The Stranglers ever since I first heard "Walk On By" ,once, on the radio n '78.One of my dozen or so favorite bands of all time,it's very hard for me to pick favorites from the Hugh years,I love them all.Unlike even The Beatles,who have records like Abbey Road I could do without.

I have a LOT of the many rare pressings that are out there,but I have never been able to get a copy of that book! I see every copy on eBay/Amazon is a least $110.00.

I have a lot of the obvious stuff like "Sverige","Spain",a few of the Japanese and German UA 45s,with unique sleeves,"All Day and All of The Night" with the pulled sleeve,and all the A&M/IRS stuff you showed (Had a hard time selling my duplicates of the Black and White promo Lp,but here's a few other things I have

-"No More Heroes" US A&M 45 Did this have a picture sleeve?
-La Folie New Zealand pressing,with US labels,and a UK cover
-The "6 Songs" Mini-Lp from Greece
-Three 45s with tour sleeves,including the French "Golden Brown" tour sleeve.
(This has the kitty from Feline with "En Tournee" written across it.)
-The insanely rare US vinyl pressing of Greatest Hits 1977-1990,and the odd Polish Lp press.

Something I would always like to find have been UA era singles from South America,has anybody seen any?

 

Yes

 

That's a shame as it's a good book, but $110 is a lot. I got it about 2001 very cheaply in an overstocks store (it went out of print very quickly). I've seen it a couple of times since, for not much money.

 

Yep, it's a good book, but even better is "No Mercy - The Authorized and Uncensored Biography" by David Buckley. A quote by J.J. from the back cover: "I didn't realize I was such a psychopath. It's all true!"

And, anyone else here have Hugh's "Inside Information"? I didn't find it to be as interesting as I had expected, but I'm glad I was able to get my hands on one nonetheless.

 

Thought these would bring back some memories (circa 1985 and 1987):

 

Those are still the best CD versions of the UA albums. The remasters have plenty of bonus tracks, but the sound leaves a lot to be desired, and the artwork is spectacularly shoddy, like it was put together by a 16 year old jobsworth just learning his way around a graphic design package.

 

Funny, this thread is so much like the Associates thread going on now...

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=231101&page=3

Love them both, but we seem to be a small, dedicated group here. Oh well - I love them both!

 

Frank, I guess you have the Old Testament box and the first CD issues of the UA albums - which do you think is the best option for sound quality? (and if anyone else has compared, please tell us what you think).

 

I'd go for The Old Testament, if you can get hold of it for a reasonable price. (In fact, thanks to JSayers's great post, I dug it out again and started playing it, start to finish - an incredible body of work). I wouldn't pay more than £40 for it in very good condition.

Failing that the original 80s UA CDs are better than the remasters, sound-wise, but they don't sound anywhere as good as the vinyl did. I only have the West German CDs, mind, not the Japanese or US ones, which have different mastering. Cases in point - La Folie has the lushness stripped right out of it, The Raven doesn't sound like a looming viking rampage but Asterix farting, Meninblack doesn't sound like Can on crack, etc etc. Still not as bad as the remasters, which hurt like Trotsky's icepick.

Of course, you don't get all the bonus tracks on the Old Testament, you do on 2001 remasters - (and you don't get the artwork either, which is a pity, because The Stranglers knew how to package their records: their covers were as good as film posters, giving you a good hint of what was inside). In which case I'd recommend the UA Singles 3 CD collection (available on Amazon for under £10), which will give you almost everything else you need from that golden (brown) era. It sounds pretty good too - better than the singles box sets did.

 

I've been meaning to ask here - I have the remasters done by EMI Premier in 1996 of Rattus and No More Heroes, that were issued in fold-out digipaks with the bonus tracks on seperate cds. I think these were the only 2 Stranglers albums reissued in this fashion. Does anyone else have these and how do they stack up mastering-wise? I only ask because I'm only listening to computer speakers these days, so can't really tell. Are these unique masterings? I know they're pretty rare, I don't think they pressed very many of them...