Tried listening to The Stranglers today....

[Beedster]

12 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

I liken it with going back to cities, towns, places where you've holidayed etc  with which you associate some very fond memories. Fr'instance I've not been back to Liverpool since I left in the late 80s.  From what I've learnt from chats with people I know who do still go there, a lot of my fave haunts have since gone. I don't want to tarnish the memories of very happy times by going back there and seeing how much it's changed.

 

Yeh, I get that, really do 👍

 

LA 1990-91 compared to LA 2018

 

[MoonBassAlpha]

5 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

I liken it with going back to cities, towns, places where you've holidayed etc  with which you associate some very fond memories. Fr'instance I've not been back to Liverpool since I left in the late 80s.  From what I've learnt from chats with people I know who do still go there, a lot of my fave haunts have since gone. I don't want to tarnish the memories of very happy times by going back there and seeing how much it's changed.

George Orwell's Coming Up For Air is pretty much about this exact thing 

[pst62]

I was lucky enough them twice.  Newcastle 1978 and Reading festival 1983. Reading was a let down tbh, JJ's tone was gone, and they had a horn section parping away which ruined Down in the Sewer for me.....Anyway

 

[Velarian]

10 minutes ago, pst62 said:

I was lucky enough them twice.  Newcastle 1978 and Reading festival 1983. Reading was a let down tbh, JJ's tone was gone, and they had a horn section parping away which ruined Down in the Sewer for me.....Anyway

 

I was at the Reading festival gig in 1983 and I agree that the Stranglers were a bit of a let down. Big Country on the other hand were amazing. 

[Woodinblack]

28 minutes ago, Velarian said:

I was at the Reading festival gig in 1983 and I agree that the Stranglers were a bit of a let down. Big Country on the other hand were amazing. 

 

I was at reading festival in 1983 and I don't remember them. Can't have been that good

 

[pst62]

7 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

I was at reading festival in 1983 and I don't remember them. Can't have been that good

 

They headlined on the Friday.

[Barking Spiders]

1 hour ago, pst62 said:

I was lucky enough them twice.  Newcastle 1978 and Reading festival 1983. Reading was a let down tbh, JJ's tone was gone, and they had a horn section parping away which ruined Down in the Sewer for me.....Anyway

 

A horn section?!!! WTF . I'm imagining it and it seems bluddy terrible, just doesn't fit in at all

[pst62]

1 hour ago, Barking Spiders said:

A horn section?!!! WTF . I'm imagining it and it seems bluddy terrible, just doesn't fit in at all

Here's the full set

 

[Beedster]

5 hours ago, pst62 said:

I was lucky enough them twice.  Newcastle 1978 and Reading festival 1983. Reading was a let down tbh, JJ's tone was gone, and they had a horn section parping away which ruined Down in the Sewer for me.....Anyway

 

 

Even the BBC would struggle to make that bass tone go away  

[Marky L]

3 hours ago, pst62 said:

Here's the full set

 

Ouch!!
Great to hear the audience still singing "Bruce! Sheila!" in Nuclear Device at the start though 

[Woodinblack]

7 hours ago, pst62 said:

They headlined on the Friday.

 

I know. I was there. I don't remember anything about it. Think I might have just enjoyed the day a bit too much

[Velarian]

8 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

I know. I was there. I don't remember anything about it. Think I might have just enjoyed the day a bit too much

Do you remember Big Country or were you well on your way by that time too? 😉

[Pseudonym]

I had forgotten just how much Hugh Cornwell reminded me of Bill Murray at the time. This is not an insult.

[Woodinblack]

12 minutes ago, Velarian said:

Do you remember Big Country or were you well on your way by that time too? 😉

 

No I remember what happened - we got down there and watched most of the friday set, it was really warm and I was in the process of getting off with this girl that I went up with (there were about 5 of us travelled up in a princess). It was ok until steel pulse came on then the atmosphere turned all nasty because there were a bunch of bikers that didn't like black people, so lots of bottling etc, so we wandered back to the tent, got of our faces and then resumed on the saturday, so almost certainly i missed big country and the stranglers. And frankly at the time I don't think I would have been interested by either.

[Velarian]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

 

No I remember what happened - we got down there and watched most of the friday set, it was really warm and I was in the process of getting off with this girl that I went up with (there were about 5 of us travelled up in a princess). It was ok until steel pulse came on then the atmosphere turned all nasty because there were a bunch of bikers that didn't like black people, so lots of bottling etc, so we wandered back to the tent, got of our faces and then resumed on the saturday, so almost certainly i missed big country and the stranglers. And frankly at the time I don't think I would have been interested by either.

Ah yes, the Steel Pulse incident. Most unpleasant. 😕 I think I was somewhere near the back so managed to avoid it. 

 

However, as you say it was a glorious day, clear blue skies, hot and sunny. 

[Beedster]

21 minutes ago, Velarian said:

Ah yes, the Steel Pulse incident. Most unpleasant. 😕 

People who think things are bad today, take note 😕

[Lozz196]

Def don’t want to return to those days.

[Beedster]

On 20/09/2022 at 09:28, Barking Spiders said:

The Stranglers..... prog?!!??? 

 

I've given it some thought, and had some beer. Listen to Grip. Is this possibly where prog was naturally heading in the late 70's? I can hear Yes, Roxy Music, Bill Nelson and a few others in there at the very least. But in 1977 the media drew a line and while The Stranglers were one side of it, Yes et al were the other. I can hear an edgier incarnation of prog in Stranglers far more than I can hear punk, and this probably became more rather than less evident as they evolved? 

[Beedster]

On 30/09/2022 at 19:49, Lozz196 said:

Def don’t want to return to those days.

 

Skinheads waiting for you as you came out of gigs was always something of a challenge...

 

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

54 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

I've given it some thought, and had some beer. Listen to Grip. Is this possibly where prog was naturally heading in the late 70's? I can hear Yes, Roxy Music, Bill Nelson and a few others in there at the very least. But in 1977 the media drew a line and while The Stranglers were one side of it, Yes et al were the other. I can hear an edgier incarnation of prog in Stranglers far more than I can hear punk, and this probably became more rather than less evident as they evolved? 

The Stranglers are a bit of a funny one for me. They're one of those bands that I should be into a lot more but there's always something in the way... sadly I think it's the keyboards, which often sound completely out of place to my ears. Not helped by the Woolworth's organ sound they used to favour.

 

Needless to say, JJ's approach to playing and tone is TOTALLY up my street so I do often listen to them anyway 😁

 

But is it Prog? Nope. Some vague proggy elements, certainly, but that's it. I don't think they're particularly Punk either, just their own thang.

 

Eerily, just as I was listening to Grip at Beedster's suggestion, what do I see on the shelf in front of me?

 

 

[Beedster]

On 01/10/2022 at 21:18, Cosmo Valdemar said:

The Stranglers are a bit of a funny one for me. They're one of those bands that I should be into a lot more but there's always something in the way... sadly I think it's the keyboards, which often sound completely out of place to my ears. Not helped by the Woolworth's organ sound they used to favour.

 

Needless to say, JJ's approach to playing and tone is TOTALLY up my street so I do often listen to them anyway 😁

 

But is it Prog? Nope. Some vague proggy elements, certainly, but that's it. I don't think they're particularly Punk either, just their own thang.

 

Eerily, just as I was listening to Grip at Beedster's suggestion, what do I see on the shelf in front of me?

 

 

 

Listening again tonight. Defo hearing more prog than anything else....

[Beedster]

 

[Beedster]

That's Roxy Music sax, ELP keyboards, Bill Nelson guitar, and dare I say it, Yes bass (almost....)

[Stub Mandrel]

Back in the mid-80s Ii wasn't sure which band I had seen live the most. The Stranglers or Hawkwind.

 

I do find it sad that these days most bands have a 'style' so strong all their music sounds the same.

 

You could play Peaches, No More Heroes, Strange Little Girl and Golden Brown and many people would assume they were four different bands.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 30/09/2022 at 15:57, Woodinblack said:

 

I know. I was there. I don't remember anything about it. Think I might have just enjoyed the day a bit too much

 

I still have the programme. For me the highlights were Ten Years After, Twelfth Night, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Sabbath*.

 

 

*controversial!