I don’t want to sound snobbish, and I probably will but the stranglers were sort of too intellectually different for punk. I think there is an intellectual quality also up to around Feline, it drifts off a lot with Aural Sculpture, when in hindsight interpersonal relationships had started to fragment. Controversially, the stranglers use of narcotics ceased at this period, which could be argued meant they sounded more straight and less quirky.
I am not familiar with the clash stuff you mentioned, and I have been playing a fair bit of clash over the weekend, and continually getting to the point where it’s enough after a few songs.
I don’t mind bits of Combat Rock, I believe The Clash were filling the smaller stadiums in the states at this point, which ultimately led to their demise anyway it seems. I just watched a couple of different live appearances of “Guns of Brixton”, very atmospheric on the 80/81 appearances. Had no idea that Strummer strapped on a bass, and I guess that was so Paul could put his all into the vocals. There was another version from 83 I watched and Topper was no longer in them, the drummer was pretty crap, the clash looked and sounded like an exhausted and spent force clearly not getting on with each other anymore.
I don’t think I have ever listened to Cut the Crap, I would say it’s probably never had appeal as every punk older than me hated it profoundly and told me to avoid. I can’t say that I was a huge fan of Strummer’s solo material either, at Glastonbury 99, the last time I went, had a choice between seeing Siouxsie and Budgie as The Creatures or Joe Strummer and still think I chose wisely in going to see Siouxsie.
parasiteinblack wrote: ↑04 Dec 2022, 23:27Yes definitely, the European aspect to the Stranglers work is integral to the appeal really and helped to set them apart from a lot of the other bands. I, too, have taken more interest in history and politics as a result of the Stranglers output.Jake wrote: ↑04 Dec 2022, 23:00 I agree, the most interesting period is from Black and White to La Folie and Feline too, I rate that so incredibly highly, a lot of punters still don’t. I think a lot of people talk of the stranglers with this sense of being English eccentrics, but don’t often refer to the European quality of the stranglers. That’s never going away, and there is a very European sound from The Raven onwards really. Never mind every album prior to that has really strong European references.
It’s pretty much commonplace that European culture gets noted in some way on stranglers records, from the beginning in fact. Sure The Clash brought us “Safe European Home” but the stranglers records are like encyclopaedic knowledge of European affairs. One of the reasons I developed an interest in European history and culture was exposure to the stranglers.
A lot of people are probably indifferent towards Euroman, I think it was a really blessing JJ made that album, The Raven was recorded in Paris, Meninblack across Europe in several studios I believe.
Even though La Folie was recorded in leafy England, it is so very obvious as a European album, and I believe the single of La Folie was more appreciated on the continent. One of my European memories in life is hearing Skin Deep frequently blasting out on the radio in the 90§s still, The Stranglers to this day retain a decent enough following in Europe. I’m fairly sure Hugh does as well, and I would also say Hugh still has European influence in his music, he’s a nifty Spanish style guitar player as well as singing about Cadiz etc
I really like the Euroman album and the fact it went top 40 is mindblowing really considering how it's not really commercial in the slightest. Really interesting stuff.
Yeah I also quite like their reggae stuff. Guns of Brixton is a classic and I quite like Crooked Beat as well.Back onto The Clash briefly, I would say certainly they also had very English sensibilities, but it was perhaps their tendency to lean towards an American sound which helped them break America. Strummer was at times a great singer, but both him and Jonesey especially leaned towards American accents. I have heard this helps British bands to sell, and get the American sales, the more American sounding the singer is, the more likely an American audience will relate, makes a lot of sense
I have to say some of my favourites are their reggae numbers. I think “Guns of Brixton” is a serious contender for a song of all time. I recently find myself appreciating what The Clash were doing with Reggae, to my mind them and The Ruts were around a very limited number of credible white reggae numbers. Police and Thieves, is definitely on par with the original and it represents an important period of white people in England rejecting racism, always a long way to go, people can say what they like about the politics of The Clash, I have said it a lot of it myself, but I do think they had a role, however small in improving race relations in Britain.
Simonon coming from Brixton I think in retrospect wrote something of a prophecy in Guns which at the moment is one of my favourite songs period. I can not recommend enough the history of Brixton podcast of which Simonon was an occasional contributor if anyone wants a bit of history the link is below, oddly enough I don’t think the song Guns of Brixton is mentioned once. It’s a seriously good history documentary series to my mind all white people of Great Britain should engage with such things
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09cyg ... /downloads
The Clash's english sensibilities I think are often more obvious on their less-loved stuff such as bsides like Stop the World, the Cut the Crap and Give Em Enough Rope albums and the tracks from the Combat Rock sessions that went unreleased for years.
They're worth checking out if you haven't heard them, it's like they're from an alternative reality where Combat Rock didn't crack the American charts and the Clash were more like a late 80s british indie band. Maybe I'm just talking crap though haha.
