Tried listening to The Stranglers today....

[Beedster]

14 minutes ago, JellyKnees said:

 

Yeah, it all went to merde after La Folie sadly, which is apparently when Jet started using drum machines in the studio according to Hugh's book. I was very lucky to see them twice in Liverpool in the early 80s with Hugh. The Raven is their magnum opus IMO.

 

That is the next album on my list today 👍

[Nail Soup]

38 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

And of course while front cover was good....

 

 

The back cover is one of the most iconic in rock history

 

 

The front is one of my all time favourites.

The back is great too of course!

[Beedster]

3 hours ago, JellyKnees said:

 

Yeah, it all went to merde after La Folie sadly, which is apparently when Jet started using drum machines in the studio according to Hugh's book. I was very lucky to see them twice in Liverpool in the early 80s with Hugh. The Raven is their magnum opus IMO.

 

With the exception of Duchess, The Raven isn't working for me at present, feels a little too like Stranglers-Light for me, everything a little too precise and, well nice. Couple of tracks a bit too early 80's generic pop, and a couple of moments of real Trevor Horne/Buggles/Propaganda that really pushed back at me. Will give it another listen but feels a long way emotionally from Rattus?

[JellyKnees]

12 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

With the exception of Duchess, The Raven isn't working for me at present, feels a little too like Stranglers-Light for me, everything a little too precise and, well nice. Couple of tracks a bit too early 80's generic pop, and a couple of moments of real Trevor Horne/Buggles/Propaganda that really pushed back at me. Will give it another listen but feels a long way emotionally from Rattus?

 

Fair enough, I realise it's probably a minority opinion, although I don't hear anything on it that I would remotely call early 80s generic pop. It's certainly more polished and less aggressive than the first 3 albums, but I think you can definitely hear the progression from Black and White to this. To me it's always been the album that sits on the cusp their early and later work, some of which was definitely poppier. Perhaps you had to be there...

[Beedster]

6 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

With the exception of Duchess, The Raven isn't working for me at present, feels a little too like Stranglers-Light for me, everything a little too precise and, well nice. Couple of tracks a bit too early 80's generic pop, and a couple of moments of real Trevor Horne/Buggles/Propaganda that really pushed back at me. Will give it another listen but feels a long way emotionally from Rattus?

 

Just went back to RN and it just feels better 👍

 

And playing it to my kids during supper, we got to Hanging Around and my 10 year old daughter said "I love this song Dad" "Wow, have you heard me playing it before? "No Dad, it's on TikTok" 

 

Not sure of that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's a thing 

[Beedster]

4 minutes ago, JellyKnees said:

 

Fair enough, I realise it's probably a minority opinion, although I don't hear anything on it that I would remotely call early 80s generic pop. It's certainly more polished and less aggressive than the first 3 albums, but I think you can definitely hear the progression from Black and White to this. To me it's always been the album that sits on the cusp their early and later work, some of which was definitely poppier. Perhaps you had to be there...

Trust me mate, I was there (part of the problem)! It'll grow I'm sure, just a bit removed from what I've been listening to, thanks for the head's up 👍

[JellyKnees]

4 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

Just went back to RN and it just feels better 👍

 

And playing it to my kids during supper, we got to Hanging Around and my 10 year old daughter said "I love this song Dad" "Wow, have you heard me playing it before? "No Dad, it's on TikTok" 

 

Not sure of that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's a thing 

 

It's got to be good thing I reckon. Better they hear good music that way than not at all. When my daughter had her 18th birthday party a few years ago I was amazed at the amount of older music that they were playing on Spotify. For all their faults, social media and streaming services do potentially open up a whole world of music to their listeners, which hopefully leads at least some of them to delve further.

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, JellyKnees said:

 

It's got to be good thing I reckon. Better they hear good music that way than not at all. When my daughter had her 18th birthday party a few years ago I was amazed at the amount of older music that they were playing on Spotify. For all their faults, social media and streaming services do potentially open up a whole world of music to their listeners, which hopefully leads at least some of them to delve further.

Absolutely agree, sobering that I was the same age as she is now when RN was released, feels like yesterday, but great that we can enjoy the same music 🙏

[Velarian]

3 hours ago, Beedster said:

 

With the exception of Duchess, The Raven isn't working for me at present, feels a little too like Stranglers-Light for me, everything a little too precise and, well nice. Couple of tracks a bit too early 80's generic pop, and a couple of moments of real Trevor Horne/Buggles/Propaganda that really pushed back at me. Will give it another listen but feels a long way emotionally from Rattus?

For me The Raven is one of the key Stranglers albums. I find it to be a worthwhile progression from the first three albums. I think it’s atmospheric and moody, particularly the title track. This probably has a lot to do with me first seeing them live on the Raven tour in ‘79. That gig was dark and moody and really cemented the album in my musical experience. 

Edited September 21, 2022 by Velarian
Typo

[Beedster]

5 minutes ago, Velarian said:

For me The Raven is one of the key Stranglers albums. I find it to be a worthwhile progression from the first three albums. I think it’s atmospheric and moody, particularly the title track. This probably has a lot to with me first seeing them live on the Raven tour in ‘79. That gig was dark and moody and really cemented the album in my musical experience. 

 

That it appears to be held in high regard guarantees I will give it another listen I assure you 👍

[JellyKnees]

29 minutes ago, Velarian said:

For me The Raven is one of the key Stranglers albums. I find it to be a worthwhile progression from the first three albums. I think it’s atmospheric and moody, particularly the title track. This probably has a lot to with me first seeing them live on the Raven tour in ‘79. That gig was dark and moody and really cemented the album in my musical experience. 

Similarly, it was the first album of theirs I bought when it came out, I was 13 and already had the other 3 second hand, so perhaps that's partly why it has particular resonance for me. Nostalgia is not to be underestimated...

[Nail Soup]

On 20/09/2022 at 09:32, warwickhunt said:

Which of their singles/tracks was quite a commercial success and yet had 2 or 3 minutes of Hammond/keys soloing?  Yep that sounds prog to me. 

A lot of their early songs, including hit singles, had both a guitar solo and a keys solo (take it Hugh, go Dave 😉)... but I put that down to their pub-rock roots more than prog.

[jezzaboy]

I only starting to really listen to them at the start of lockdown and I`m glad I did. Toiler on the sea is a fantastic song. Luckily enough I think that Baz is a great front man well up to the job. It seems that some fans of the band can`t get over the fact that Hugh left...in 1990!

 

Re the bass tone. In the gig below, there is no amps on stage just Ashdown cabs but they don`t seem to have any cables coming from them when you see them round the back so I don`t know whats going on.

 

 

[Nail Soup]

The Raven was the first LP I bought 'new' too. I'd bought the back catalogue of 3 LPs plus the live LP and loved them as a punk band. The fact that teen-punk me really liked the new album when it was a bit (spit) prog speaks volumes for their talent.

[super al]

I was just getting into buying my own records (with the small amount of pocket money I got!) when Golden Brown came out. It's one of those where I played so much, quite often several times in a row, the groove is nearly worn out! Happy days.

I'm not a big Stranglers fan but their music has weaved in and out of my life over the years... I'm having a Roxy/Ferry overload at the moment, might supplement that with a bit of European Female era Stranglers (I know that'll have me diving into the rest of the back catalogue 🙄😆)

[Lozz196]

I went to see The Stranglers when Golden Brown was in the charts, great gig and there was a real buzz & energy in the audience that I - at 16 - hadn’t experienced at other gigs, even though I’d seen some other high profile bands by then. Was it the popularity of Golden Brown, who knows, but it was great gig.

[Barking Spiders]

The first two albums are 5 stars in my books but thereafter the albums are mostly patchy though I'd put Aural Sculpture just behind those ones. As for Black & White, I have it on CD but cant recall which side is which but from Tank to Toiler it's great. Just don't enjoy the more experimental tracks. Ditto much of The Raven though Duchess is a fantastic tune. For newbs I'd say try and get hold of The Hitmen 1977-1991 2 x CD compilation. It's out of print but there are used copies on 'zon and Discogs. For the casual 'fan' it's probably all you'd need, though across its 43 tracks there are some that'd could've been left out.

[merello]

On 20/09/2022 at 08:36, T-Bay said:

The main reason I took up playing the bass was JJB. The perfect bass tone, bass lines to die for, a healthy dose of anarchy, coupled with the rest of the band to make perfection on many many songs.

This….

[thebrig]

On 20/09/2022 at 08:47, Hobbayne said:

A P bass and a ripped speaker cone. Stranglers bass heaven 😁

Was the "ripped" speaker cone intentional, surely he could have got that tone some other way?

 

Btw, I also love that tone! 

[mike 110]

5 Minutes...outstanding single ..

Old Codger ..with George Melly  ..superb ..

[Bass Fumbler]

This was posted on the Burning Up Time Stranglers Facebook page. 
I presume that this was an ad in one of the music papers & someone obviously thought of a psychedelic connection. 

[MrSpace]

What's the background to the IV on the cover? I see they used a big deal of it in the advert above, was wondering what it means? 

[Nail Soup]

8 minutes ago, MrSpace said:

What's the background to the IV on the cover? I see they used a big deal of it in the advert above, was wondering what it means? 

Often wondered that myself, never seen a decent explanation.

[Beedster]

RN was also known as IV

[Beedster]

2 minutes ago, Beedster said:

RN was also known as IV

 

I think....