¦¦² The eternal tragedy of rock history is just how little mention The Stranglers get in any ²¦¦
¦¦² tome that talks about the punk and rock music which crashed out of the United Kingdom in the ²¦¦
¦¦² late 1970s. Bands like the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Buzzcocks always get ample ²¦¦
¦¦² examination and there's no arguing the validity of those bands' contributions but (with the ²¦¦
¦¦² exception of The Clash maybe), in listening to them, it's easy to conclude that a lot of ²¦¦
¦¦² music would not sound the way it does now were it not for the gritty, grimy and sardonic ²¦¦
¦¦² artistry that The Stranglers left (and continue to leave - they're the only band of those ²¦¦
¦¦² aforementioned still working in any capacity other than performing greatest hits sets in Las ²¦¦
¦¦² Vegas) in their wake. The list of bands that owe a debt to The Stranglers is enormous and ²¦¦
¦¦² the breath of styles that the band influenced is equally so; it's possible to trace the ²¦¦
¦¦² fingerprints of drummer Brian Duffy, singer-guitarist Hugh Cornwell, bassist Jean-Jacques ²¦¦
¦¦² Burnel and keyboardist Dave Greenfield as well as the strains of albums like Rattus ²¦¦
¦¦² Norvegicus, No More Heroes, Black And White and The Raven into the music of current new rock ²¦¦
¦¦² toasts including Modest Mouse, The Arcade Fire and Franz Ferdinand as well as the far more ²¦¦
¦¦² poppy spectra that Flight Of The Concords inhabit. In comparison to The Clash (who get ²¦¦
¦¦² name-dropped by every punk band in creation) and the Sex Pistols (who everyone knows of ²¦¦
¦¦² course, but no one models their music after), there is simply no comparison to make; The ²¦¦
¦¦² Stranglers are one of the brilliant but crazy uncles locked under the floor boards of punk, ²¦¦
¦¦² modern rock, and mainstream indie, and have remained in the cellar for the last thirty-five ²¦¦
¦¦² years. ²¦¦
¦¦² ²¦¦
¦¦² How does a band that has remained such a well-kept secret exert such a reach? The answer to ²¦¦
¦¦² that question resides in the forty-nine cuts that populate The UA Singles 1977 – 1982. ²¦¦
¦¦² ²¦¦
¦¦² In the beginning, The Stranglers were at least a marginally genre-adhering punk band as, ²¦¦
¦¦² with ham-fisted guitars and a four-on-the-floor rhythm section, they beefed up and ²¦¦
¦¦² snottified rock as The Buzzcocks and the Pistols had but, even in the early going (check ²¦¦
¦¦² "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)") more adventurous dynamics, stronger musicianship and a wider ²¦¦
¦¦² array of sounds (keyboards, notably) were factoring in, giving Rattus Norvegicus a more ²¦¦
¦¦² unhinged and experimental bent. At the time, that larger sonic palette got The Stranglers ²¦¦
¦¦² lumped in with the short-lived 'pub rock' scene, but that never sat right; the other members ²¦¦
¦¦² of that club (bands included UK Subs, Kilburn and The High Roads, Eddie and The Hot Rods, ²¦¦
¦¦² The 101'ers - which featured a pre-Clash Joe Strummer - and, later, The Pogues) were simply ²¦¦
¦¦² mining the same old motifs and offering them up with a new, working-class whitewash. The ²¦¦
¦¦² Stranglers didn't wear it well and the tag didn't stick long though and, even by No More ²¦¦
¦¦² Heroes (released the same year as Rattus Norvegicus), a cursory listen to songs like ²¦¦
¦¦² "Something Better Change", "No More Heroes" and "Peasant In The Big Shitty" all reveal that ²¦¦
¦¦² the game was changing - and quickly. ²¦¦
¦¦² ²¦¦
¦¦² The further they went, the bolder and more experimental they became too. While there would ²¦¦
¦¦² always be a nagging pop bent to The Stranglers' early recordings, it was also always the ²¦¦
¦¦² gateway to a more surreal centre. Singer Hugh Cornwell would forever be just a little too ²¦¦
¦¦² rough around the edges for straight-laced pop because his throaty growl was just a little ²¦¦
¦¦² too dramatic and dismissive sounding for audiences that were content to smile in perpetuity ²¦¦
¦¦² and the propulsion in songs like "Nuclear Dawn", "Thrown Away" and "Just Like Nothing On ²¦¦
¦¦² Earth" was supplied by the bass; an event totally uncommon pre-Minutemen unless you were on ²¦¦
¦¦² a dance floor. Such a twist was difficult for mainstream audiences to grasp then, but it's ²¦¦
¦¦² totally commonplace now. ²¦¦
¦¦² ²¦¦
¦¦² The UA Singles 1977 - 1982 issues all of those moments that, in a perfect world, should have ²¦¦
¦¦² received more attention than they did but, really, now very well might be an even better ²¦¦
¦¦² time for them. Given the climate in modern rock right now, uninitiated listeners will ²¦¦
¦¦² appreciate The Stranglers as the great band they both were and remain, but reissuing these ²¦¦
¦¦² songs now will also point to the impact they had. Better late than never, here's hoping that ²¦¦
¦¦² The Stranglers finally get their due. ²¦¦
¦¦²
Track Title Track Time ²¦¦
¦¦² ²¦¦
¦¦² cd1 ²¦¦
¦¦² ²¦¦
¦¦² 01 (Get A) Grip (On Yourself) (04:04) ²¦¦
¦¦² 02 London Lady (02:33) ²¦¦
¦¦² 03 Peasant In The Big Shitty (Live At The Nashville '76) (03:46) ²¦¦
¦¦² 04 Choosey Susie (03:14) ²¦¦
¦¦² 05 Peaches (04:07) ²¦¦
¦¦² 06 Go Buddy Go (03:59) ²¦¦
¦¦² 07 Something Better Change (03:37) ²¦¦
¦¦² 08 Straighten Out (02:49) ²¦¦
¦¦² 09 No More Heroes (03:30) ²¦¦
¦¦² 10 In The Shadows (04:38) ²¦¦
¦¦² 11 5 Minutes (03:19) ²¦¦
¦¦² 12 Rok It To The Moon (02:47) ²¦¦
¦¦² 13 Nice N' Sleazy (03:14) ²¦¦
¦¦² 14 Shut Up (01:07) ²¦¦
¦¦² 15 Walk On By (06:22) ²¦¦
¦¦² 16 Mean To Me (01:55) ²¦¦
¦¦² 17 Tits (Live At The Hope And Anchor) (05:28) ²¦¦
¦¦² ²¦¦
¦¦² cd2 ²¦¦
¦¦² ²¦¦
¦¦² 01 Walk On By (Radio Edit) (04:27) ²¦¦
¦¦² 02 Old Codger (02:52) ²¦¦
¦¦² 03 Tank (02:57) ²¦¦
¦¦² 04 Duchess (02:30) ²¦¦
¦¦² 05 Fools Rush Out (02:13) ²¦¦
¦¦² 06 Nuclear Device (The Wizard Of Aus) (03:33) ²¦¦
¦¦² 07 Yellowcake UF6 (03:02) ²¦¦
¦¦² 08 Don't Bring Harry (04:10) ²¦¦
¦¦² 09 Wired (03:08) ²¦¦
¦¦² 10 Crabs (Live) (03:37) ²¦¦
¦¦² 11 In The Shadows (Live At The Hope And Anchor) (04:48) ²¦¦
¦¦² 12 Bear Cage (02:56) ²¦¦
¦¦² 13 Bear Cage (Extended 12'' Mix) (06:34) ²¦¦
¦¦² 14 Shah Shah A Go Go (04:52) ²¦¦
¦¦² 15 Shah Shah A Go Go (12'' Version) (05:24) ²¦¦
¦¦² 16 Sverige (02:51) ²¦¦
¦¦² 17 N'emmenes Pas Harry (04:18) ²¦¦
¦¦² ²¦¦
¦¦² cd3 ²¦¦
¦¦² ²¦¦
¦¦² 01 Who Wants The World (03:17) ²¦¦
¦¦² 02 The Meninblack (Waiting For 'em) (03:36) ²¦¦
¦¦² 03 Thrown Away (03:32) ²¦¦
¦¦² 04 Top Secret (03:28) ²¦¦
¦¦² 05 Just Like Nothing On Earth (03:56) ²¦¦
¦¦² 06 Maninwhite (04:29) ²¦¦
¦¦² 07 Let Me Introduce You To The Family (03:10) ²¦¦
¦¦² 08 Vietnamerica (04:12) ²¦¦
¦¦² 09 Golden Brown (03:34) ²¦¦
¦¦² 10 Love 30 (04:00) ²¦¦
¦¦² 11 La Folie (06:11) ²¦¦
¦¦² 12 La Folie (Radio Edit) (03:48) ²¦¦
¦¦² 13 Waltzinblack (03:40) ²¦¦
¦¦² 14 Strange Little Girl (02:45) ²¦¦
¦¦² 15 Cruel Garden
ormat : MPEG Audio
File size : 9.30 MiB
Duration : 4mn 3s
Overall bit rate : 320 Kbps
Album : The UA Singles 1977-1982
Track name : (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
Track name/Position : 1
Performer : The Stranglers
Recorded date : 2009
Writing library : Lame 3.97 / LAME3.92
Comment : <>
Audio
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Mode : Joint stereo
Format_Settings_ModeExtension : MS Stereo
Duration : 4mn 3s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 320 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Stream size : 9.30 MiB (100%)
Writing library : LAME3.92