Your most Favourite JJ sung songs..

[aldinblack]

For me JJ the singer was probably at his best in his early raw young energy years for sure... Curfew,Threatened and so on.
The later years Hugh was more superior for me and better singer and the further it went like 10 it was for me only the Hugh sung songs l liked.
JJ's strengths are his ability to be able to talk through great songs like the The Raven and Time to die like no other for me and also his aggressive type vocal approach like like 5 minutes,Threatened and so on are great,for me the ones that don't work so good for me are that requires a singers vocal range for songs like like Down or In the end which are beautiful written songs that does require a certain type of vocal range to sing those type of songs for me that's not easy with his limited vocal range on certain songs.
You can see a difference in the same song but with two different vocalists and a prime example for me is North Winds sung by Paul and again with Norfolk Coast,again one of britian's finest bass players does boast a very unique style of singing that on certain songs is quite incredible and on others not so good..and for me his finest two has to be....Time To Die and The Raven.

I know what you mean, I tend to think of JJ as a very good vocalist rather than a great "singer". He's always had several different delivery styles he could call on.
But when you say on 10 you only like Hugh's songs, well for me NTLB is the best song on that album by a mile!
Now I don't know whether "vocal range" or something else is the limitation there, as I know little about what it takes to sing.
Hugh was a great singer in his day, a song like Vietnamerica really shows off his ability. He can't do that anymore now though, which is understandable at his age.

[aldinblack]

Totally agree,but you mean what made them so good,as they are a shadow of what they were now.Lt Kudu.

I’d disagree, they may not be hitting the quality of their peak (B&W, Raven, Rattus, MIB), but I rate the Baz albums as up there with, and better than quite a lot of, the rest

I agree, "a shadow" is a bit harsh. They are not as good as mk1 obviously, but then who is?

Hugh isn't as good as mk1 either btw.

[markorbit]

There’re not many Strangler’s Albums with JJ sung songs as the weaker tracks, and many of my favourites are JJ sung, e.g. London Lady, Dagenham Dave, 5 Minutes, Curfew, Threatened, Death & Night & Blood, The Raven, La Folie, North Winds and Never To Look Back from the Hugh era, and more recently, In the End, Unbroken, Freedom, Giants, Water, Breathe.
Overall my “most favourite JJ sung” is probably Curfew.

Isn't Breathe sung by Baz? I thought it was!

[Bear Cage]

Totally agree,but you mean what made them so good,as they are a shadow of what they were now.Lt Kudu.

I’d disagree, they may not be hitting the quality of their peak (B&W, Raven, Rattus, MIB), but I rate the Baz albums as up there with, and better than quite a lot of, the rest

I agree, "a shadow" is a bit harsh. They are not as good as mk1 obviously, but then who is?

Hugh isn't as good as mk1 either btw.

I’d say they’re not as good as Mk1 at it’s best, but also better than Mk1 at its worst

[Greatkudu]

So many,JJ very underated,of course he's not a great singer,but his vocals are unique and suit the Stranglers material,I will just pick two as so fucking many,so for me the Raven,the breathy vocals are sublime and the other one the Man they Love to Hate,just sublime again,i could go on so ive just mentioned these two,love JJs vocals I wish he would sing more live to be honest.Lt Kudu.

[theraven1979]

I disagree here, MK1 covers a long time - 16 years. I'd say Hugh's vocal performances on Guilty, Monster and MoM are spot on and comparable to anything from 80s MKI. Of course he's lost his snarl but that would be terrible doing that in his 70s.

Jim

Hugh isn't as good as mk1 either btw.

[aldinblack]

I disagree here, MK1 covers a long time - 16 years. I'd say Hugh's vocal performances on Guilty, Monster and MoM are spot on and comparable to anything from 80s MKI. Of course he's lost his snarl but that would be terrible doing that in his 70s.

Jim

Hugh isn't as good as mk1 either btw.

Well I wasn't really referring to his vocal performance with that comment, although as I said in my post in the old days he could blast out a beautiful Vietnamerica, and I doubt he could do it like that now, but yes he remains a very good singer even now.

I was referring to Hugh Cornwell and the current Stranglers, and saying neither of them as overall acts (not just vocals), are as good as Stranglers mk1.
Eg I like Monster and MoM a lot, and I also like Suite, DM, NC - but IMO none of these compare to any Mk1 Stranglers album, with the possible exception of 10.

[theraven1979]

Yeah fair enough. I think Hugh's always been a great singer though. I guess he's lucky in some respects to still have "that voice"


Jim

[Greatkudu]

I wouldn't say Hugh was ever a great singer,the best voice for the Stranglers without a doubt,but more a vocal stylist,Elvis was a great singer,Hugh a great vocalist,able to croon and snarl,JJ again a vocal stylist able to shout and do the breathy vocals like European Female,then do something like Was it You, again it's not about showing off,how long you can hold the note for but what is needed for the song.Lt Keys.

[toilerinblack]

I wouldn't say Hugh was ever a great singer,the best voice for the Stranglers without a doubt,but more a vocal stylist,Elvis was a great singer,Hugh a great vocalist,able to croon and snarl,JJ again a vocal stylist able to shout and do the breathy vocals like European Female,then do something like Was it You, again it's not about showing off,how long you can hold the note for but what is needed for the song.Lt Keys.

Yes i agree..i'd go along with that description of Hugh a vocal stylist...that's a very good description and yes he's not the best singer but who was a distinctive stylist that so suited the Stranglers style and music with his snarl that's pretty much spot on.
Again you describe JJ right to whose still a unique stylist to shouting and breathy vocals like you say which is why MK1 were as successful as they were,
Firstly as Hugh has always said himself the band wrote bloody good songs that must of peed them off over the years for not getting their full recognition for their quality music and songs...so what made them stand out from the rest as well all know...
1) They played great music
2) they had two unique stylist singers who sounded very different making their songs sound so different which was a bonus to their singles.
3)They had a keyboard player that gave the melody's such a recognisable lift that stuck in the brain.
4) Catchy basic bass lines like never before.
You put it all together and that had the band on top of their game and charts and sales for 16 years.

[Greatkudu]

I wouldn't say Hugh was ever a great singer,the best voice for the Stranglers without a doubt,but more a vocal stylist,Elvis was a great singer,Hugh a great vocalist,able to croon and snarl,JJ again a vocal stylist able to shout and do the breathy vocals like European Female,then do something like Was it You, again it's not about showing off,how long you can hold the note for but what is needed for the song.Lt Keys.

Yes i agree..i'd go along with that description of Hugh a vocal stylist...that's a very good description and yes he's not the best singer and a distinvtive stylist one that really suited the Stranglers style and music with his snarl that's pretty much spot on.
Again you describe JJ right to whose still a unique stylist to shouting and breathy vocals like you say which is why MK1 were as successful as they were,
Firstly as Hugh has always said himself the band wrote bloody good songs that must of peed them off over the years for not getting their full recognition for their quality music and songs,so ..
1) They played great music
2) they had two unique stylist singers who sounded very different making their songs sound so different which was a bonus to their singles.
3)They had a keyboard player that gave the melody's such a recognisable lift that stuck in the brain.
4) Catchy basic bass lines like never before.
You put it all together and that had the band on top of their game and charts and sales for 16 years.

And a fantastic drummer Sir who played for the song.Lt Kudu.

[toilerinblack]

I wouldn't say Hugh was ever a great singer,the best voice for the Stranglers without a doubt,but more a vocal stylist,Elvis was a great singer,Hugh a great vocalist,able to croon and snarl,JJ again a vocal stylist able to shout and do the breathy vocals like European Female,then do something like Was it You, again it's not about showing off,how long you can hold the note for but what is needed for the song.Lt Keys.

Yes i agree..i'd go along with that description of Hugh a vocal stylist...that's a very good description and yes he's not the best singer and a distinvtive stylist one that really suited the Stranglers style and music with his snarl that's pretty much spot on.
Again you describe JJ right to whose still a unique stylist to shouting and breathy vocals like you say which is why MK1 were as successful as they were,
Firstly as Hugh has always said himself the band wrote bloody good songs that must of peed them off over the years for not getting their full recognition for their quality music and songs,so ..
1) They played great music
2) they had two unique stylist singers who sounded very different making their songs sound so different which was a bonus to their singles.
3)They had a keyboard player that gave the melody's such a recognisable lift that stuck in the brain.
4) Catchy basic bass lines like never before.
You put it all together and that had the band on top of their game and charts and sales for 16 years.

And a fantastic drummer Sir who played for the song.Lt Kudu.

Yep...you know what i was thinking just that one hour ago in my car listening to La Folie and it was Jet's drums that made every single song stand out the sound of his drums on that album is one of my favourites from him apart from The Raven obviously..
So yes sorry i should of said Jet's drums and you have said it in one.. he not only played in the song....He played for the song!
Well said...well it would do coming from a drummer yourself ...lol