Down In The Sewer

[Hobbayne]

My bass guitar heaven 😋

 

[Bilbo]

I remember enjoying this when it came out. Its a Prog tune, as far as I hear it. 

[fleabag]

Me too.  In fact, i enjoyed my first ever journey  to France by Mini Estate with my pal and our 2 gitrlfriends at that time, and we only had a couple of cassette tapes for musical company.

One was Lou Reed's  Rock n Roll Animal, and the other was Rattus Norvegicus.

Happy days indeed

[Bassassin]

One of the first songs I learned to play when I was 16, along with the rest of the album.

[spongebob]

Stranglers 77 - 82 were simply outstanding.  

Think their output suffered massively afterwards, but their still a good live experience. 

I never saw them with Hugh, but did see Jet. He was absolutely awesome!

[bazzbass]

1 hour ago, spongebob said:

Stranglers 77 - 82 were simply outstanding.  

yeah they were awesome in that timespan.

sadly I never saw them live.

[BreadBin]

40 minutes ago, Meddle said:

I always think of the Stranglers as a prog band in hiding!

Lumping them in with the punks did them a massive disservice IMO

[Mickeyboro]

They lumped themselves, surely!? 😁

[Shaggy]

Thanks for the OP Hobbayne, I don't think I've heard that for 40 years!  

The Stranglers were always rooted in 60's psychedelia.   I saw them live on the "Black & White" tour (Cambridge Corn Exchange) - like many other BC-ers I'm sure, it was JJB who totally inspired me to take up bass.

Apart from the stand-out "Hanging around" this one was always my favourite from the "Rattus" album:

 

[bazzbass]

4 hours ago, BreadBin said:

Lumping them in with the punks did them a massive disservice IMO

to be fair, they themselves said they were punk, but they clearly had far too much musical ability to be punk, fart oo much

[Roger2611]

8 hours ago, bazzbass said:

to be fair, they themselves said they were punk, but they clearly had far too much musical ability to be punk, fart oo much

I respectfully disagree, many of the punk pioneers were very competent musicians and song writers, it almost like Sid Vicious was punk in many peoples eyes, yes there were many bands who lacked even the most basic skills but on the flip side punk also brought us some very talented musicians and song writers who still hold their own today, some 40 years later 

[4000]

11 hours ago, Shaggy said:

 I saw them live on the "Black & White" tour (Cambridge Corn Exchange) - like many other BC-ers I'm sure, it was JJB who totally inspired me to take up bass.

 

I seem to be in the minority, but Black & White is my favourite of all their albums.

Never got to see them, sadly. 

[BreadBin]

6 hours ago, 4000 said:

I seem to be in the minority, but Black & White is my favourite of all their albums.

Never got to see them, sadly. 

It's my favourite too, by some margin. I have the same vinyl copy I used to listen to when I was about 10!

[kevin_lindsay]

Jean Jacques Burnel was the reason I wanted to play bass. I still love that grunty, clanky, P-Bass sound. The first two albums had some some fantastic tracks on them (as well as some real clangers!!). However, my favourite album of theirs is still Black And White 

 

[spongebob]

Black And White for me as well. Fab songs, and definitely their best sounding album IMHO. 

JJB's bass tone is unsurpassed throughout. 

[Lozz196]

JJ was a big influence on me, not so much in playing style (as he’s far too good) but in acknowledging that the bass can be in the forefront of the mix, and have a different sound to the regular bass sounds we’d heard up til then. We’re playing Rebellion in Blackpool in 3 weeks time and The Stranglers are one of the main bands, whether or not I get to meet JJ to say I’ve been on the same bill as The Stranglers is a big one for me (and for our drummer who is a big fan of them).

Edited July 14, 2019 by Lozz196

[stewblack]

Met Hugh Cornwell once, a quiet unassuming guy. The Stranglers punk? Well at the time I supposed so. But now they have more of the Doors about them to my ears, than say the Damned or the Pistols.

As with all these things bands get pigeon holed and swept along with whatever is exciting at the time.. Don't forget Elvis Costello (a country singer) was seen as punk! As were The Blockheads (a jazz funk band) and I even remember the Boomtown Rats being described as punk rock.

Think of Britpop. What do Pulp and Ocean Colour Scene have in common? Very very little I'd say.

Peaches b/w Go Buddy Go was the first 'punk' single I bought just to see what the fuss was about. Bought it in one of two record shops our tiny town then boasted. It sounded like nothing I'd heard before and at the same time very much like rock n roll. The bass line to Peaches made me wish I played bass instead of guitar, so I guess you could say JJB has had an indescribably big impact on my life.

[stewblack]

This thread has sent me on a wonderful musical trip down memory lane. My Sunday evening soundtrack:

[spongebob]

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

Met Hugh Cornwell once, a quiet unassuming guy. 

I played a gig a few years ago, and who was in the audience? Hugh Cornwell's ex-wife! She introduced herself, can't remember how it came about......but for myself and our drummer, big Stranglers fans, we were thrilled! 

Not that we mentioned any of this, though. Maybe we should have! 

[Ricky 4000]

Greatest band ever. Who saw them at Battersea Park in '78...?

They had strippers on stage for Nice n' Sleazy, but that vid's been deleted from youtube. Bastards.

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by Ricky 4000

[BassTractor]

Didn't see this one coming.
Nice though:

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by BassTractor

[Barking Spiders]

On 12/07/2019 at 22:57, Bilbo said:

I remember enjoying this when it came out. Its a Prog tune, as far as I hear it. 

nooooooo!!!!! please dont sully the name of one of the greatest UK rock n roll  bands with that association!

[Barking Spiders]

On 13/07/2019 at 09:54, BreadBin said:

Lumping them in with the punks did them a massive disservice IMO

Lumping them in with prog is a much more massive disservice though. They were older than most punk bands but you can hear the punk attitude in the early tunes. Nowt about wizards, mountain elves and albums with titles like Tales of Delirium from the Halls of the Topographic  Salads.I also don't see much of a Doors connection other than some of the keyboard sounds. Can't stand the Doors meself yet The Stranglers are one of my fave rock bands. IMO a lot of their more mellow tunes are great with cracking singles like Always The Sun, Skin Deep and No Mercy.

JJ inspired me to take up the bass.Jet had a very nice  feathertouch style of playing the drums A deceptively fine player. Dave was a killer keyboard player and  Hugh was a very underrated guitarist. So many tunes with some very tasty melodic leads.

Edited July 15, 2019 by Barking Spiders

[Reggaebass]

I can remember hearing,  peaches around 1977 when I was first having bass lessons, fantastic Bassline and a great band , and I think go buddy go was on the b side, I’ve still got the single in the loft  🙂

Edited July 15, 2019 by Reggaebass

[Bassassin]

2 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

nooooooo!!!!! please dont sully the name of one of the greatest UK rock n roll  bands with that association!

Bit late to get upset about that. JJ Burnel:

Quote

When something new comes along, everyone wants to be a part of that peer group, to the extent that they’ll deny their history. It’s only when they’ve gained some confidence that they can start to admit where that history actually came from. Up until that point it’s almost politically incorrect to admit your influences. But you can tell by just listening to the music. On our first album, the nearest thing we had to a prog rock song was this four-part piece called Down In The Sewer. That was about 11 minutes long and it was a suite. Prog rock, essentially, even if it was prog à la Beefheart and The Doors.

Worth reading the whole article too - I'd love to have heard the 6-part prog rock suite that Golden Brown (that one that alternates between 12/8 and 13/8) came from.

https://www.loudersound.com/features/rick-wakeman-meets-jean-jacques-burnel

Also always felt very strongly that JJ might have had the occasional sneaky listen to Chris Squire, to end up with such an upfront, technically dynamic & attacking style. Have the same suspicion about my other big bass influence from that era, Bruce Foxton.

I sort of think, @Barking Spiders, it would be good if we could raise our discourse above the playground rivalries of 1977. I play bass because of JJ Burnel - I probably would never have picked up the instrument if I hadn't heard Peaches. I play guitar, and was motivated to compose music because of Stuart Adamson, whose band The Skids (as you probably know) got their big break when JJ invited them to support The Stranglers at the Battersea show mentioned upthread. I'm (broadly speaking) a prog rocker but the punk era is a huge part of my DNA. It shouldn't upset anyone to understand where music comes from.