Stranglers

[Borneojimy]

Just picked up the "Live In SF 78" DVD, which is kind of disappointing, especially for a Target video release. Target usually does a great job, but this has a real bootleg feel to it: one camera, muddy sound & only 21 minutes long. Great song selection, but I wish there was a better representation of the band live in this era.

[nowhere girl]

I've liked the Stranglers for a long time, but only recently found my "No More Heroes" album on vinyl after it had been missing for a long time. I really liked the title song and most of the album. I used to have a book about the British punk scene, and the author said that the Stranglers were considered to be uncool within the scene because they were a little older than the other bands and didn't dress "punk" at the time. I think maybe this is part of the reason that they are sometimes forgotten, even though a lot of people like at least one of their songs. They were kind of eclectic and actually more about the music than the image.

Nowhere Girl

[Rubbeet921]

My Top 5 Stranglers Tracks:

No More Heroes
Always the Sun
Nice in Nice
Strange Little Girl
Something Better Change

[jjburnel]

I'm a big fan, as one can tell by my user-name.

At the same time, I can understand why many don't get them. They have an extreamly unique mix of punk attitude and outsider-rebel status in their own way. Their politics were an odd assortment of left leanings combined with some very un-pc attitudes about men and women and were very john waynish when it came to violence and dealing with their detractors. I for one loved it.

Musically, they always injected some brilliant melodic work here and there (even in their most uncommercial 79-82 phase) and a detachedness that is attractive when you've overplayed that Chameleons album. The same type of thing you get when listening to an old Ice Cube album . . cold calculated me against the world music. At the same time, the unique direction they took the songs and the lyrics always makes their albums extreamly interesting, if not to one's liking instantly on the musical front. Best songs? Too many to name, but

Let Me Down Easy
Skin Deep
European Female (the sexiest song of the 80s . . .one of the few Stranglers singles that doesn't sound dated, perfectly produced)
Bitching
Toiler on the Sea
Curfew
Everything on Rattus esp. the last 3 minutes of Down in the Sewer . . incredible
The Raven
Baroque Bordello
Genetix (the last 3 minutes of this one are also AMAZING)
Never to Look Back
Normal Normal
You Always Reap What You Sow (probably my personal favorite)

[Gyroscope2]

Were the Stranglers the first to record "strange little girl"? I know I've heard other versions of this song by other groups before.

[Borneojimy]

Yes, I'm almost positive that this one was a Stranglers original.

[quote][i]Originally posted by Gyroscope2[/i]
<br>Were the Stranglers the first to record "strange little girl"? I know I've heard other versions of this song by other groups before.
[/quote]

[guyinsf]

I like the Stranglers a lot and I own about 8 CDs of theirs. I like how they were so punky and raw at first but turned melodic synthesizer rock later on and they did both very well. Some of my favorites are:

Walk on by (one of the great covers)
golden brown
paradise
always the sun
la folie
no more heroes
five minutes
last tango in paris
european female

[wozgo]

Well, I'm a fan, no doubt about it. Since I'm on the younger side of punk and new wave, I came across "Always The Sun" first. Loved that song so much that I then had to go back and find what I had missed prior to that. Thank god I did, because I now own 8 of their albums and "Rattus Norvegicus", especially, is an album I just can't do without. "Down In The Sewer" is one of my favorites and my Stranglers t-shirt still gets more weartime than any other shirt I've ever owned.

[LovePlusOne]

"The Man They Love To Hate" and "All Roads Lead to Rome" are two songs that still evoke for growing up in the '80s Friday nights playing Nintendo with my friends and KROQ in the background.

I've only recently rediscovered some of their other stuff, "Peaches," "Golden Brown," "Hanging Around", etc., pleasantly surprised at all this music I've somehow managed to let slip by all these years.

[Sean]

My favs:

All Roads Lead To Rome
Midnight Summer Dream
European Female
The Man They Love To Hate
Always The Sun

[MAGICs]

Wau!
Stranglers is great!!!!
My favorites:
Skin Deep
Ice Queen
North Winds Blowing
All Roads Lead To Rome
The European Female
Always The Sun
Golden Brown

Best, MAGICs

[guyinsf]

Strange little girls
Let me down easy
duchess
walk on by (one of the best covers ever)
no more heroes
last tango in paris
North winds blowing
all roads lead to rome


All these are great songs and because this band has been so prolific in their career that that have ended up with more great songs than most NW bands but not all their albums are great.

[randy]

Another one of my favorite bands. These guys never got the respect they deserved and not nearly as much airplay in their day as I would have expected.

[Freaky Trigger]

[quote][i]Originally posted by SomebodySomewhere[/i]
<br>I was always a huge fan of "Golden Brown," and "European Female" was pretty mesmerizing as well, but these guys had a serious identity crisis, and most of their '80s and '90s output was unlistenable.
[/quote]

.... I love both these tracks, easily my favourite by the men in black. GB has that weird time signature (anybody know what off kilter sig is actually is?). I remember that Level 42's Mark King had European Female as one of his favourite tracks of all time. They were always lumped in with the punk rock / pub rock scenes in the UK but they were so much more than that - compare some of the early stuff (like Go Buddy Go) with La Folie, Golden Brown and the like. I got to see 'em live in '90 supporting Simple Minds, and by this time Hugh had left - great live, but the at-the-time new stuff was so-so.

Great covers too - 96 Tears is fantasic, and what a job they did on Walk On By.

BR
Freaky Trigger

[Ollie Stench]

Isn't Golden Brown a waltz? Aka 3/4 time? 1-2-3 1-2-3