Hugh's gone and nicked JJ's eyeliner pencil again!

 

I've not seen this photo before. It features in the 19th February 1977 issue of Record Mirror marking the entry of '(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)' into the British Top 50 Singles chart at number 49. The start of great things to come!

The Roundhouse London 26th June 1977 - A Review (Record Mirror 2nd July 1977)

Here's a review of sorts from one of several near legendary visits that The Stranglers paid to London's Roundhouse in Camden Town throughout 1977. Poor old Barry Cain eh!? Whilst part of me sympathises with Barry, an early advocate of the band and one of the few undoubted allies that the band had in the music press, for having to review the band once again when all available superlatives in the writer's arsenal have been exhausted. What more can be said? On the other hand for me who never saw the punk Stranglers, it is irksome indeed. I'd be happy with a dry Sunday matinee!! A word of explanation in the unlikely event that anyone under the age of 50 is reading this post. If you think Sunday's are dull now, back then the law was such that Sunday licencing hours were very restricted (a hangover (or not) from efforts to boost productivity during The Great war). Pubs shut at 2pm only to reopen at 7pm.

Record Mirror 2nd July 1977.

What more can Barry Cain say about The Stranglers. He's just...

LOST IN SPACE

The Stranglers
London

I'm fed up with reviewing strangler's concerts.

Screwing words to fit white spaces. Saturation level reached. Nothing more to say. Nice to go along and simply see them without making any hollow analysis.

Right I've got 15 minutes to write this…

Two shows at the Roundhouse. Queues along Chalk Farm Road. Staple guns in Camden. Around 6,000 tickets sold in one week. Reporters from the Guinness Book of hot shots abounded.

First show sober. This fair land strange licencing hours prevented a lot of people having a better time. The band (I thought Hugh Cornwell was dead anyway) played. Played very well in fact. Probably never played better. Lots of healthy new songs too.

Second show – Bar-room blitz. Audience reaction one over the eight. Dedicated followers of fashion loving every minute. The band played again. Played very well again. Then they finished. Peachy.

End of a tour. And what a bummer summer. This is getting ridiculous.

Few minutes to kill. Oh yeah, The Cortinas were pretty good. Terrable view from side stage but there was a nice pair of Bristols up front (na, that's where they come from). Numb crowd first set, second, more support.

The Cortinas drove along at a… Enough of that. Just watch this space.

Thank you and goodnight. BARRY CAIN.

One of the day's shows (afternoon? evening?) can be found here.

Joey Ramone And The Resistance 'Rock The Reservation' Festival Tuba City AZ 18th October 1996 (TFTLTYTD #7)

 

OK, hands up, I missed it. The anniversary of Joey's death... the reason why Mo is named Ramona! Sadly, this 'Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die' applies equally to all of the founder members of Ramones, but this is for Joey.

Here playing the 'Rock The Reservation' benefit in Arizona, Joey and his band The Resistance play a good quality set of covers and Ramones classics!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-2Q13gHr2Ba

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-gAgo2aVOL6

2 Tone The Story BBC Radio April 2024

 

Here is another radio documentary that tells the story of the world's greatest record label. Narrated by Pete Waterman who was at the time a Coventry record shop manager soon to be tied up with The Specials. Like many other independent labels, Stiff being a perfect example, the 2 Tone Records story is a short lived roller coaster journey that encompasses innovative genius and awful business decisions.

As ever, I make no apologies for continuing to spread the word about the cultural and political significance of The Specials, Jerry Dammers and all things that 2 Tone and their roster of great bands represented.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-c76LImCrDX

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-1AywsL7PzR

Fannying About With Some Old Linoprints

 

Raradise Rock Club Boston 7th April 1983

 

So with many thanks to yesican, here is an anniversary gig from a mere 41 years ago. A partial set unfortunately but a good sounding audience recording nevertheless!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-tMO8rBSQIz

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-2W3cuwPZFJ

01. Intro
02. Nuclear Device (The Wizard Of Aus)
03. Toiler On The Sea
04. Ships That Pass In The Night
05. It’s A Small World
06. Just Like Nothing On Earth
07. Who Wants The World?
08. Never Say Goodbye
09. Baroque Bordello
10. Golden Brown

Rattus Norvegicus Review (Zigzag May 1977)

 

IV Rattus Norvegicus
The Stranglers
United Artists UAG 30045

Here come The Stranglers with 40 minutes of brain-rapingly original spewings like you ain't gonna hear anywhere else.

They've come a long way since I first saw them supporting Patti Smith a year ago. All that untamed potential has been refined and channelled into yet another of the year's great debut albums… and what a great year for debut albums!

Melody Maker’s Mike Oldfart says the Strangs have got nothing to offer… he must have the hearing capacity of a cat’s willy. The Stranglers also sometimes come in for a bit of stick from the other new groups who say they're not new, etc. I don't know about that and I don't care… neither should you.

The Stranglers make vibrant inventive music which I like a lot (and so do a lot of other people judging by the numbers turned away from their recent Roundhouse gig). What I'm trying to say is, don't listen to anything or anyone except your own ears (and The Stranglers album).

It's hard to describe this erent ,and some of the melodies tear the top of my head and light the blue touch paper on my brain cells. I've heard that about The Stranglers sounding like The Doors, The Velvets etc., and there's no disputing the influences, and Dave Greenfield's magic organ is primed to soar off into regions only previously charted by Manzarek.

Take ‘Princess Of The Streets’, for example, which perfectly evokes The Doors’ desolate, sleazy romanticism. The Doors are cited because I suppose that they’re the nearest thing but it's still The Stranglers all round. THE STRANGLERS!

There are some sinister influences at work here. Psychedelic embroidery, like on ‘Ugly’ which takes a menacing spiral riff and some NAAASTY vocals all about being UGLY. Look… The Stranglers may have consumed these influences but When they’re spewed out it's the contents of The Stranglers own unique stomach that comes out.

This album is a sinister, scary ride through unknown dark sewers, culminating in the climatic ‘Down In The Sewer’ itself, my favourite track. It epitomises the sound of The Strangs…Jean Jacques Burnel's piercing, grating bass clanking about over Jet Black’s GBH drumming, while Dave Greenfield soars and sears. Meanwhile Hugh Cornwell hacks rusty chords or squeezes out his highly melodic solos from his guitar, which I'm sure has the power to pop spots at fifty paces.

While the group cruise on their creepo riffs as effortlessly as a turd on course for the sewage plant, Hugh or Jean Jacques belt out the words, which are incisive, rasping comments on the sorry state of the human being or psychedelic horror-slanted stories.

At the moment I like the opener ‘Sometimes’, with its propulsive catchiness; ‘Hanging Around’ and its stunning guitar solo; ‘Goodbye Toulouse’, whose vocals remind me of ‘West Side Story’ at 100 mph; and ‘Peaches’ the sleazy tale of beach vouyer.

Both sides of the single are on here too – (Get A) Grip (On Yourself) which is fuckin’ murder to type and ‘London Lady’.

The first 10,000 copies had a free single – a live version of Dave Greenfield's rancid ‘Peasant In The Big Shitty’ and Choosy Susie’, which is OK. I would like to have seen Hugh Cornwell's masto-stage-spew classic ‘School ma'am’ somewhere on this package, but never mind. This’ll do.

KRIS NEEDS

Shoddy Ebay Stuff

 I was quite lucky in that I discovered eBay quite early on, about 2001 perhaps. At that time there were some genuine bargains to be had. I remember getting both the Stiff America MIB and Last Supper posters for about £30 for the two. There was loads of other stuff too, it was great, not to mention exiting when the clock ran down to the last minutes! Every so often, although increasingly infrequently, I dip in and have a look at the Stranglers in music memorabilia. Sadly, for the last few years it seems that only about 20% of listings related to genuine memorabilia. It is shocking how much badly produced reproduction stuff is on there. Even worse than the repro stuff are the items that have been cobbled together by someone on a computer. It may be that the sellers are not trying to pass this stuff off as genuine (the price gives that away) but the items are lazy, devoid of thought and just out to make a quick buck... and seemingly people are buying the stuff.

Here's an example that I saw tonight.

No need for answers on a postcard to reveal the anomaly here! No need for a watermark here to safeguard the image from copiers!

Thankfully, the proliferation of bootlegs for sale on eBay has died down. I hate to see that someone has forked out £15 for something that is freely available online... we left that kind of thing behind in Camden High Street 25 or more years ago!

Ultravox Brighton Centre 27th May 1984 TFTLTYTD#7

 

Yesterday evening I learned of the passing of Ultravox's bass player Chris Cross. This band broke through on the early London punk scene (whilst also pre-dating it having formed in 1974), but they were worlds apart from the three chord thrash. The band brought together grating guitar and synthesizers, Roxy Music, meets Kraftwerk with a bit of Johnny Thunders thrown into the mix. 

With the departure of John Foxx, Midge Ure entered the fold as the band shifted to a more chart friendly sound that rode the crest of the New Romantic wave. Later still, Ultravox held their own with the hit heavy albums of Quartet (1982) and Lament (1983). Chris Cross was a constant presence across the years.

I prefer the Foxx era band, but never saw them. I did however see them play with Midge in Brighton in May 1984 and that is the gig posted here.

RIP Chris Cross (1952-2024).

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-ylsKhNvpgu

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-75alQMEGMs

Something Better Change/Straighten Out Promo Advert (Record Mirror 22nd July 1977)

 

The best A side/B side release ever, bar one (12" of Ghost Town/Friday Night Saturday Morning/Why? pips it). I love 'Something Better Change' even though it could be said that it may have been riding the Summer of Hate wave somewhat :). 'Straighten Out' however is in a class of its own and the better of the two tracks in my opinion. Of course you cannot think of these two tracks without the accompanying promo videos... perhaps the finest footage of the band in 1977.

Derngate Theatre Northampton 27th October 1999 DVD

 

This one is interesting from the perspective of gaining some insight into where the band were at at this point in what was already then a long career. Changes were afoot again with John Ellis soon to leave the band. This is an audience film recorded from the balcony so there is a clear view of the stage throughout. The sound however is not the best.

I did not enjoy this period at all. Seeing them in Cambridge the year before was thoroughly disheartening for me... as I recall JJ provided vocals on 'The Raven' and nothing more. This is similar, Paul is very animated and happily hitting various percussion instruments. JJ looks very much removed from the proceedings... really going through the motions at this stage. What I found interesting as I put together some artwork for this DVD was that the set, consisting of 23 songs featured only two songs recorded by the current incarnation of the band. I find that a little surprising even whilst acknowledging that this 'Hits and Heroes' tour was promoting another greatest hits release. That said they were not adverse to throwing in some live obscurities into the set, notably 'Pin Up', 'Ice Queen' and 'Two Sunspots'. See what you make of it.

DVD image: https://we.tl/t-fVWZ1QOrWN

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-KVmTHkS8to

01. Duchess
02. (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
03. Coup De Grace
04. Pin Up
05. Just Like Nothing On Earth
06. Skin Deep
07. Ice Queen
08. Princess Of The Streets
09. The Raven
10. Genetix
11. Always The Sun
12. Goodbye Toulouse
13. Nuclear Device
14. Two Sunspots
15. Burning Up Time
16. Tank
17. Something Better Change
18. 5 Minutes
19. Golden Brown
20. Valley Of The Birds
21. Thrown Away
22. Hanging Around
23. No More Heroes

Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen 1st April 1985

 

Keeping up a bit of momentum over the Easter weekend, here is an anniversary gig from the German leg of the Aural Sculpture tour. Thanks to the original Dime uploader (Stacheleber) for this version, a nice sounding audience recording and an upgrade to what I had previously. The accompanying info file also clears up a date anomaly for this gig that appears on many lists as having occurred in Mannheim, but as the taper asserts from being there, on the night of 1st April, the band were in Ludwigshafen. 

The artwork reflects a split between 'European Female' and 'Golden Brown'.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-jYr1DtMQyS

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-a8txhsBaMS

01. Intro

02. Something Better Change

03. Uptown

04. Dead Ringer

05. No Mercy

06. Souls

07. Nice 'N' Sleazy

08. Skin Deep

09. Let Me Down Easy

10. Midnight Summer Dream

11. European Female

12. Golden Brown

13. Strange Little Girl

14. Peaches

15. Death & Night & Blood

16. Threatened

17. Punch & Judy

18. Hanging Around

19. I Feel Like A Wog

20. Down In The Sewer

21. Nubiles (Cocktail Version)

22. The Raven