The Stranglers - Black and White POLL

Tough, everything on this is great except "In the Shadows", which is total dogshit (what were they thinking?)

I think only "Fear of Music" has more funny (haha) lyrics than this album.

'In The Shadows' was originally the B-side to 'No More Heroes', it was basically a bass 'n' drums jam and the guitars, keyboards and vocals were overdubbed later. I don't know why it got promoted to being an album track, maybe they felt it fit thematically with the material they were writing for Black and White... I agree it's not much of a song but that bass sound is undeniable, IMO.

Voted Do You Wanna, but it's also a vote for Yukio because the awkward edit/segue between the two is fantastic.

I saw the B&W tour in Guildford a week or so ago, they were excellent, a real treat to hear the whole record live.

I love this album, yes even In The Shadows.

Anybody else ever noticed that Nice 'n' Sleazy and Outside Tokyo end in exactly the same way (and in almost the same key)?

I think (think) I'm gonna vote (vote) for Tank though (though). Either that or I'm gonna maim (maim).

This isn't even my favourite Stranglers album, but still I'm finding it difficult to choose what to vote for. I keep thinking either 'Toiler On The Sea' or 'Curfew', but then there's 'Tank', 'Nice 'n' Sleazy', 'Enough Time'...

JJ Burnel's ludicrous Dalek vocals are edging me in the direction of "Curfew", that and the stupid lyrics.

This was originally released with a 7" that had "Walk On By" / "Mean To Me", "Tits". The cover is brilliant, and not in a pisstake way. "Tits" is dumb punk material, funny.

The 2001 CD reissue added those tracks along with "Shut Up" (one minute of ridiculousness, but a useful song to end a mix tape with or play for the kids when they're out of control), "Sveridge" (Swedish version of "Sweden") and "Old Codger" (with George Melly on vocals and Lew Lewis on harmonica, very fun and quite un-Stranglers).

Never in a million years would I describe "Tits" as punk!

'Tits' is funny, though... those deliberately inept solos when Hugh announces each band member: "Jet Black! He's very good at a quick roll of the skins... no drug references of course meant in that" etc.

BRING ME A PIECE OF MY MUMMY
SHE WAS QUITE CLOSE TO ME!

^ A key moment at the recent gig.

Silly Gay Nazi vibe and sillier vocals of "Death and Night and Blood" are tempting me to vote for it tbh but "Curfew" remains favourite.

50 million watches with a strap to sell, but any more than just the one vote (mine)? - Outside Tokyo

Voted for 'Curfew' only just over 'Toiler On The Sea' ... I love the way that Jet comes in at the wrong time in the intro to 'Death and Night and Blood' and then corrects himself in the first verse. It's so awkward, but I'm so used to hearing it that way that whenever I hear live versions it always sounds like they're playing the intro wrong!

...CUMULUS NIMBUS FLOATS BY...

So nice to pull out the grey marbled vinyl for this one. Went with Toilers but could have gone in a few different directions. Very interesting record.

Yeah, it occupies an interesting position in their discography, I think. On one hand, it still has traits of the first two albums (Martin Rushent producing, Dave is still using his Hammond & Cembalet setup) but on another hand it was the beginning of them branching out from that earlier style that would lead to the albums from The Raven up to Feline. They'd change direction again for Aural Sculpture, which in a way was them branching out into then-contemporary production styles, but in another way was, weirdly, a return to the easier, more melodic approach they had circa 1974 when they were making their first demos!

Curfew, Tank, Sweden, Death + Night, Toiler and Enough Time are difficult to separate.

Lyrics to Rise of the Robots are funny but...

"You won't have to grease their palms
Shorter hours longer arms"

... doesn't make much sense, why would you want robots working for shorter hours? Come come, Stranglers!

yr rotten thoughts eeyuck!

I love the way the lyric 'I was attracted to a night torchlight parade.........and there I came' scans too.

The lyric I like in 'Rise Of The Robots' is "don't get mad at bosses yet", which implies even robots would develop this in the future... hehehe...

Coincidentally, I re-watched Sexy Beast tonight after many years tonight. I had forgotten that Peaches shows up as the soundtrack to the opening scene. It works quite nicely. That's a fucked up movie.

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT SWEDEN
ONLY COUNTRY WHERE THE CLOUDS ARE INTERESTING!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXCRCL0EMV8

How do we feel about JJ's Euroman Cometh? Parts of it are a great adjunct to Black & White, at least in the post-punk, dalek rock mode they were pursuing out at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns-fw7a16Gw

My sister used to sing the jellyfish song's refrain non-stop way back when. Liked the song when i finally heard it for real. The rest was a bit rubbish IIRC. I see it's all on Spotify though, so I'll give it another go.

I once tried to make a best of JJ's solo work but there just wasn't enough top shelf material amidst all the failed experiments. The title track to Euroman is by far his best.

I like 'Freddie Laker' and 'Do The European' from Euroman Cometh, those two would be my main picks from the record. From what I heard, that album was mostly recorded using leftover studio time from Black and White. 'Do The European' in particular is an interesting one because it uses elements of a then-unreleased track called 'Wasting Time', which was written about the Rock Goes To College incident and ended up getting binned. In a strange twist, 'Yellowcake UF6' is part of the backing track to 'Wasting Time' slowed down and reversed. The original recording of 'Wasting Time' (also known as 'Social Secs') didn't emerge until fairly recently... it's not a very good song, though.

I think I prefer Hugh's collaboration with Robert Williams, Nosferatu, of the two post-Black and White solo albums... it kinda points the way to The Raven.

x-post:

That performance on Revolver rules!

I have a real soft spot for Euroman Cometh. It's ridiculous in some points but I think that is part of it's charm. I read somewhere that JJ was "between homes" at the time and actually living in the studio. It allowed some some cheap off-time recording opportunities.

I might give Fire & Water and Un Jour Parfait another listen tonight, actually... I don't listen to those records often like I do with (original) Stranglers or Hugh's solo LP's.

Fire & Water:
Rain & Dole & Tea - maybe??
Detective Prive
Vladamir & Sergeui - I consider this spoken word series a separate (wonderful) thing
- This album is mostly pleasant instrumentals but not what I'm looking for. Apparently it was intended as a soundtrack.

Un Jour Parfait:
Si J'etais
Weekend
Un Jour Parfait
Via Dolorsa
Le Whiskey
- This album sounds like Hugh's "Wolf" and The Stranglers "Dreamtime", which is to say it's got that same synth sound and dated production. This is a proper pop album as opposed to the noodly experimental feel of the other two.

Meant to preface that as those are my picks.

I think there's some great songs on Wolf, and think that Hugh is on fine form as a singer throughout the whole record, but I can understand why some Stranglers fans didn't take to it and why some may not like the production. It's basically Hugh's attempt at making a mid '80s smooth adult pop record.

"Wolf" was a favorite of mine at the time but not as much these days. I still own it but his late 90s solo albums are much better.

I've sampled his 21st century albums but none of them grabbed me.

I'd rank 'em this way:

Guilty > Wired > Wolf > Totem and Taboo > Beyond Elysian Fields > Hi Fi > Hooverdam

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

x-post:
I love pretty much everything about that Revolver clip. Great performance for sure and I'm also taken by Greenfield's keyboard rig/set-up. All those knobs, etc. probably weighed 500 lbs. Also JJB's vocals on curfew are top notch. I just wish I had seen them around this time.