I had just compleated my second year of high school and was off on my summer vaction w/ my family in Cornwall.....oh the irony!,anywho back then as a 13 year old my weekly allowence/pocket money didn't stretch that far so buying albums was reserved for b'days and xmas but w/ vacation money at the start of the trip I plundered a record store in St Austell and bought the cassette of "Ratus Norvegicus",I'd have prefered vinyl but that would mean having to wait till I got home to hear it and armed w/ a tape recorder I figured the tape would get played during the week we spent sampling the delights of South West England....and beyond!
I listened to "Rattus Norvegicus" so much back then not only did I know the lyrics off by heart but if I had played either lead or bass guitar,drums or keyboards I would have had all those parts down pat too.
I also remember later than year thumbing through album racks in WH Smiths one Saturday afternoon and finding their follow up album "No More Heroes",rushing home I dropped a not so subtle hint to my father that there was an album I wanted.....this was met was stone silence....parent speak for"we don't want any more of that racket you call music in this house thank you very much"!!!
I never bought another Stranglers album till the advent of cds but did buy 7'' vinyl singles, "5 Minutes" and "Duchess"were two that frequently made their way onto my fathers old record player and eventually my stereo,I can recall taking "5 Minutes" into our music class in 1978 and pogoing around Mr Berridge's music classroom w/ Glee Rolle one afternoon when we were allowed to bring in our own music,these are just a few of my cherrished Stranglers memories.
For a band who once released the single "Big In America" stateside success for The Stranglers was limited so it was somewhat of a jaw dropper to discover 17 years since their last tour The Stranglers were coming to the States this summer,this was a show I didn't have to think twice about.
Granted Hugh Cornwall is no longer in the band and at 74 Jet Black and suffering from atrial fibrillation often skips tours to be replaced by his drum tech Ian Barnard but still Baz Warne has filled Hugh Cornwall's considerable big shoes and the reviews of recent albums and live shows have indicated The Stranglers are still a force to be reckoned w/ live,on the evidence of last nites Union Transfer show this is true.
The intro to "Waltzinblack" preceeded the band as they hit the stage b4 launching into a rocking version of "Toiler On The Sea".....I knew it was going to be"one of those nights!!!"
''Goodbye Toulouse" followed b4 the classic {Get A } Grip {On Yourself} from the moment Dave Greenfield's keyboard into begun I was pogoing up and down like it was 1977 all over again,sadly at almost 50 and not 13 I don't reach the heights I once did!!!
One of the more recent songs "Norfolk Coast" was next followed by "Nuclear Device" b4 a pair of songs off of "Giants" the most recent and seventeenth studio Stranglers album "Freedom Is Insane" and ''Mercury Rising" as Baz Warne said in a recent interview this wasn't a tour to promote "Giants" but it was understandable they would perform some tracks off of it,and why not it's a good album...don't take my word for it check it for yourself.
A Stranglers classic followed "Peaches" I can remember them taking all kinds of flack for that song on "Rattus" and truth be told they perform it w/ as much tongue in cheek now as they did back in 77.
"Relentless" off of "Suite XVI" followed b4 "Golden Brown" a classic Stranglers track,when I first heard "Rattus Norvegicus" in 1977 I could not have imagined such a tender mellow track as "Golden Brown" 5 years later,leopard,spots.........
"Skin Deep" and "Always The Sun" finished off the softer side of The Stranglers b4 another ah hell yeah number.
"Walk On By" aside from being a classic cover tune is also one of the great brake up songs ever and from Jean Jacques Burnel's bass intro to Dave Greenfield's keyboard solo this has RIGHTIOUS stamped all over it!
"Burning Up Time" "Nice N Sleazy" "Bring On The Nubiles" and "Who Wants The World" allowed us another journey back into classic Stranglers b4 a final "Giants" track "Time Was Once On My Side",ironic given Jet Black is 74,Dave Greenfield is 64 and Jean Jacques Burnel is 61....the once sneering punks have mellowed and judging from the smiles displayed by all four members of the band throughout the evening life is good for the Men In Black and they enjoy what they are doing.
"Duchess" and "No More Heroes" brought their set to an end,but they weren't finished yet......not by a long shot!
BOOYAH! "5 Minutes" began the first encore,cue yours truly going ape ship,granted it wasn't like 78 when Glen Rolle and I pogoed around the music room slamming each other into the desks but after a shitfest of a work day this was the release I craved.
"Straighten Out" followed b4 a second encore of "Hanging Around" and "Tank" Jesus talk about going back in time to 77/78.
I hope I'm wrong but I suspect this may be the last time we see The Stranglers on our shores if that is the case they left me and the crowd at Union Transfer wanting more,I hope my neighbours like The Stranglers cos I have a feeling the cds of "Rattus Norvegicus" "No More Heroes" and "Black And White" will be in heavy rotation this weekend on my cd player.......
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