I have been working on a comic mini-opus to be titled "Dancing in the Butt of God". In an attempt to promote it I am going to plop upon this page sketchbook art that represented progress in developing the narrative or otherwise looked better than the majority of my sketchy efforts.
But first. . . .the Stranglers
Here is my review of the Stranglers' first record-
ReplyDeleteRattus Norvegicus
This album is a classic. Soooo Fucked up though! It has no irredeemably shitty songs and a couple of uber anthems maybe three if you include London Lady. The band comes through with a very unique sound identified by Dave Greenfield's constant runs up and down the keyboard and a crunchy angular bass attack courtesy of JJ Burnel. It references the bluesy stoner conventions of 60s garage/british invasion with a dose of post modern theatre. Most of the time, despite its melodic ambition, it sounds so barbaric that it seems to predate everything that came before it. It's in a funny space that way. None of these songs sits comfortably alongside any other song from any band. The lack of sellout or pretension on this album made it difficult to put down a band that deserved, on the basis of its offstage obnoxiousness alone, commercial and critical failure. I'll end this digression of slagging by adding that the album is a "must".
For me, the super standout on this album is (get a)Grip(on yourself). The lyrics assert that rock and roll is the heaviest possible moral transgression and that the singer (hugh cornwell on this one) was a participant in such a transgression, among others. The music is built around a progression of about four notes that is delivered with pummeling simplicity. Combine this simplicity with rampant keyboard flourishes and you get a tension that is really satisfying. The honky saxophone riff delivered during the chorus elevates this jam into art rock dimensions. A beautiful tune.
The other standout on the album(in my opinion) is Hanging Around. Hanging Around is way more theatre, a romance with the bummers of coming of age in an urban shithole with like a monkey on some guys shoulder. The vague slice oh life nightmare seems totally spot on "streets are steamy" "eyes are on the ground"and the average listener will grok this ambience. This song sports a great rugged musical arrangement, the likes of which the Stranglers could never really get back to in spite of remaining pretty good songwriters in subsequent records. Hanging around seems like it rose not from a band but from the city's very crust so powerful and direct is its sound.
Besides Grip the first songs that really grabbed me on this record were Ugly and Down in the Sewer. Ugly chugs along with this riff that is tough on the guitar end with this keyboard figure that sounds sort of upbeat. The lead singer affects some kind of ultra degenerate cockney accent and talks about strangling his girlfriend among other things. Hey she DID lace his coffee with sulfuric acid! The lyrics, after a kind of musical peak, drift into a rambling stream of consciousness lecture on the relationship between your physical appearance and your chances of getting laid, laying the groundwork for some heavy thinking on the part of me.
Down in the sewer is a goofball rock opera with the lyrics being reflections of a guy who lives in the sewer. The music is sort of a bluesy goth stoner rock hybrid with ambitious musical intro and finale where all the musicians grind the shit out faster and faster with each repetition. The repeating figure over which the lyrics are delivered is great, menacing somewhat lysergic in flavor, and somehow lazy. The music says "listen to this guy talking about making love to a 'water rat or two'. . .he knows what he's talking about". That type of jam is reprised somewhat in Black and White's "Death and Night and Blood" to spectacular effect.