New keyboard player

[theraven1979]

Agreed. I'm glad I managed to get a few gigs in this year. At the moment you have to seize the day in between lockdowns.

Jim

Videos on phones and generally most live recordings do not capture the sound, feeling and importantly the audience emotion of actually being at a gig. This truism becomes more so, the larger the gig (where the instruments sound so different to any recordings.
This is why I love live music and therefore I am not keen on looking at/listening to much live footage even on the gigs I have been to- it usually spoils the memories. 40 years of seeing them live and it continues. Aren't I a lucky?

[Bear Cage]

Taking 3 members away from the original 4 does not dilute The Stranglers?! That's a bit of an insult to Dave, Jet and Hugh tbh.

Jim

… this version of The Stranglers has been distilled down over the years to be a weaker variant (sorry!) of it's former self…

Jim

I disagree Jim
The Stranglers now (on record or live) are not as good as MkI at their best (but who is). However they are consistently better than MkI at their worst, so they do not distill or weaken, the add and enrich.
…

Neither I nor you (in your original post) used the term dilute (and as I stated live and on record, it included Dave and for most of it Jet).
You said ‘distilled down over the years to be a weaker variant’ In response I highlighted the later variant as
- not as good as MkI at their best, but
- better than MkI at their worst.
Statement which I stand by based upon owning and listening to all albums, and the multiple live Stranglers concerts I’ve been to including Mk1 in their pomp, through the brass, and just about every line-up since (excepting I’ve not seen the post Dave line-up live yet).

That is not an insult to any previous member

[Palais81]

Good on yer...who did you get to see, out of interest?

[Bear Cage]

Sadly, the only gig I’ve managed to get to this year is Bauhaus (who were excellent).

[Palais81]

Never seen them, always wanted to. I did see Love and Rockets in the 80s though, very good live.

[Bear Cage]

Never seen them, always wanted to. I did see Love and Rockets in the 80s though, very good live.

Agreed, preferred L&R live to on record.

[theraven1979]

Manics x 2, Low Hummer x 2, Sea Power x 3, Hugh, Peter Hook


Jim

Good on yer...who did you get to see, out of interest?

[Palais81]

Was Hooky any good?

[StanInBlack]

Taking 3 members away from the original 4 does not dilute The Stranglers?! That's a bit of an insult to Dave, Jet and Hugh tbh.

Not only does it dilute The Stranglers, it does so to the point where it's questionable to even consider them to be The Stranglers now. It's *a* Strangler and some mates, no how it's spun and no matter how many times people say "They ARE The Stranglers" in a bid to convince themselves that it is. I know quite a few people feel the same way.

[theraven1979]

Yes - much better than the last time I saw him

Jim

Was Hooky any good?

[ozymandias]

Taking 3 members away from the original 4 does not dilute The Stranglers?! That's a bit of an insult to Dave, Jet and Hugh tbh.

Not only does it dilute The Stranglers, it does so to the point where it's questionable to even consider them to be The Stranglers now. It's *a* Strangler and some mates, no how it's spun and no matter how many times people say "They ARE The Stranglers" in a bid to convince themselves that it is. I know quite a few people feel the same way.

Massive fucking yawn.

I popped back to see how the new keyboard player has been received and this absolute bollocks is still being regurgitated ad nauseam. Nothing new to say, just repeat to fade.

Beyond tedious.

[Greatkudu]

OK just to throw a huge spanner in the works, are Duran Duran, Simon Le Bonn and friends as they don't Have Andy Taylor? The reason they are still The Stranglers is they still have JJ, Baz been in the band over 20 years and Jim since 2012,sadly we all know Dave passed away, Hugh left and Jet retired due to ill health, I just don't get this idea that a band is not a band because of lineup changes, are Marillion still Marillion without Fish? Are Iron Maiden a fake lineup as Paul Dianno was original front man (on that note I could tell you a story about him but I won't) he used to live in Salisbury my HQ, if JJ leaves or hangs up his bass or something worse, then it would not be the Stranglers IMHO and no one would want to go im sure,and the band know that, I give the band about another 3 years at most to be honest, I don't see another album.Lt Kudu.