New keyboard player

[Bear Cage]

Nothing but admiration for the guy to come in and join the band in truly difficult circumstances.

Of course that goes without saying, I really admire him, I see quite a lot of negative comments about its a tribute band now. That's been said ever since Hugh left, but I hope they won't continue if anything God forbid happens to JJ, they must be thinking of an end date for the band? But Jet said its last man standing, I have been impressed with what I have seen, but yesterday saw a particularly lacklustre version of GB, possibly the worst I've seen and it wasn't the keyboards, it was the vocals, it just doesn't suit Mr Warnes voice, I wish JJ would have a go at singing it, I think he would make a better job, it just looked a bit sad, sorry to be negative, but I have to say how i feel, I think Baz does a great job, but he really struggles with the mellower songs.Lt Kudu.

Baz voice does struggle at times when compared to the original (which he can never sound like, so thankfully doesn’t tryt to), I also find I notice this more than some friends I go with, who’ve only ever seen the Baz line-up. However, overall I think he never does a bad job, and on lots of tracks he’s excellent.

The Stranglers are now JJ, Baz, Jim and Toby, they are far from a tribute act trying to sound exactly like the Stranglers on record (or of whichever tour you wish to try and compare). Instead they each add something of themselves into the songs they play, which is what you’d expect them to do (unless you want a tribute act).

[BikerinBlack]

You know the rules - we aren't allowed to criticise a band member until JJ gives us the nod.

Hahaha! Indeed.

I like that he's playing it slightly differently, it shows he's adding something and mixing it up a bit. If he didn't it would just be rote and lack something.

While I understand where you're coming from in a way, I feel the combined sum of Jim's relatively heavy handed playing (plus the way he plays around with the cymbal crashes and fills in comparison with the originals), Toby's slight deviations from what Dave played (and Dave was always VERY particular about playing it EXACTLY as it was on the record) and Baz's less-than-ideal voice is partly what gives this current line-up its "tributey" feel. None of what I've seen and/or heard so far from the recent gigs has looked, sounded or felt right at all.

This tour will be my first since S16 tour as that one tour with Baz as the lead singer was the breaking point for me .But im lucky that im old enough to have seen the stranglers live since 79 .

[markorbit]

I haven't seen the Golden Brown yet but think Toby is doing fine on all the tracks I have heard so far. Any miniscule differences are to be expected with another player but he sounds quite close to me. He'll probably struggle most on the less musical things and more freeform synth tweaks such as the solo in Sleazy.

EDIT> just watched Golden Brown and I think it's fine including Baz. Something I did notice though and expected - when a new musician comes in they LISTEN TO THE RECORDS. Over time the original players may deviate slightly with feel, sound or whatever and it becomes a newer thing - this performance reminded me of the record in ways I haven't heard for a long time.

[Greatkudu]

I haven't seen the Golden Brown yet but think Toby is doing fine on all the tracks I have heard so far. Any miniscule differences are to be expected with another player but he sounds quite close to me. He'll probably struggle most on the less musical things and more freeform synth tweaks such as the solo in Sleazy.

EDIT> just watched Golden Brown and I think it's fine including Baz. Something I did notice though and expected - when a new musician comes in they LISTEN TO THE RECORDS. Over time the original players may deviate slightly with feel, sound or whatever and it becomes a newer thing - this performance reminded me of the record in ways I haven't heard for a long time.

Sir we agree to disagree, I think what made it worse was the audience dancing like it was an Adele concert,it just looked so lame, Baz does a good job on the rockers but GB is his worst song IMHO, the keyboards sounded great, but im going to be negative again, I don't like Jims drumming on GB either, it shows how great Jet was when he drummed. Sorry for being negative, as a drummer I notice it more. Lt Kudu.

[markorbit]

Sir we agree to disagree, I think what made it worse was the audience dancing like it was an Adele concert,it just looked so lame,

I think that's why I liked it Lt Kudu! It reminded me of it's heyday on a Christmas Top Of The Pops.

[Greatkudu]

Sir we agree to disagree, I think what made it worse was the audience dancing like it was an Adele concert,it just looked so lame,

I think that's why I liked it Lt Kudu! It reminded me of it's heyday on a Christmas Top Of The Pops.

Hmmmmm

[markorbit]

Sir we agree to disagree, I think what made it worse was the audience dancing like it was an Adele concert,it just looked so lame,

I think that's why I liked it Lt Kudu! It reminded me of it's heyday on a Christmas Top Of The Pops.

Hmmmmm

I was probably missing an exclamation mark at the end but yeah, I remember that being a happy time for a Stranglers fan. I presume we are both referring to the same performance. I can forgive the ending at this stage of Toby's tenure. Might have been Jim that stopped early... don't really mind at the mo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfs1rr5aPR8

[jetblacksdad]

Thought it had a nice groove , laid back and rich sounding

Nae bad!

[StanInBlack]

I guess it all boils down to , do you want to see The Stranglers or not

I wouldn't actually mind going to see The Stranglers but I've long accepted that that's an impossibility now, particularly since two of them can't do it and one of them doesn't want to do it. I mean, there's four people currently playing on stages in France thinking they're The Stranglers, but that's not the same thing.

If you do then the fact is this is the nearest you are ever going to get now

Ooh, I REALLY don't know about that - not while Hugh Cornwell is still writing, recording and gigging at least.

I see quite a lot of negative comments about its a tribute band now. That's been said ever since Hugh left

Not to this degree it hasn't, and it's never been more true than it is now.

The Stranglers are now JJ, Baz, Jim and Toby, they are far from a tribute act trying to sound exactly like the Stranglers on record (or of whichever tour you wish to try and compare). Instead they each add something of themselves into the songs they play, which is what you’d expect them to do (unless you want a tribute act).

Yeah, you've got this completely wrong. There's a human element to playing an instrument which is part of what makes a musician have their own unique style and feel and these nuances are incredibly difficult to near impossible to replicate. You can have several guitarists play the same part and while they make get the notes in the right order and the rhythm exact, none of them will sound alike to one another. By the same token, what gives a band its identity is a particular combination of individuals. The more you change that chemistry, the more it inherently sounds different and the more distance is created from the original construction - and this is why the four members of The Stranglers line-up that counts (Black/Burnel/Cornwell/Greenfield) sound like The Stranglers, and while this current "trigger's broom" iteration of whatever the fuck this is doesn't look, sound or feel right. It's also why tribute bands NEVER sound (and could NEVER sound) exactly or even anything like the bands they're supposed to be tributing.

[StanInBlack]

That performance of "Golden Brown" didn't remind me of the record at all. For obvious reasons, it could never be anything like the record either.

[Greatkudu]

I think that's why I liked it Lt Kudu! It reminded me of it's heyday on a Christmas Top Of The Pops.

Hmmmmm

I was probably missing an exclamation mark at the end but yeah, I remember that being a happy time for a Stranglers fan. I presume we are both referring to the same performance. I can forgive the ending at this stage of Toby's tenure. Might have been Jim that stopped early... don't really mind at the mo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfs1rr5aPR8

Sir sorry to be negative, but I really wasn't impressed by that at all, of course I can forgive Jim for ending it early, but it was as lame as a Vicars handshake, best bit was actually the keyboards IMHO. Lt Kudu.

[toilerinblack]

I've just watched a few more live tracks from the french tour.....and This Song was very good i thought where again Toby played brilliantly on this track,then i watched a live acoustic track of the lines with JJ on acoustic sitting on the edge of the platforms stage while Baz sang the vocals standing,wouldn't that of been a nice time instead to have done say the Dave song acoustic or If Something's to have tributed Dave like they did on the acoustic sessions.... yes it's their band to do whatever they want to do on the tour but surely if your gonna sit and do the lines acoustic at that point of time in the set it would of been a nice time to do say the Dave song for example and maybe If something's or GB to tribute Dave ? instead of the Lines... it's just my one fan's take on it maybe many will disagree which is fair enough after all it's their band to do the tour just however they want to.