a kind of quasi, unexpected music review then. strange, for it concerns a band that i truly, deeply love, yet have possibly kind of neglected or not followed for, oh, three (3) decades, look you see. which yes, coupled with the clever references in the title, means that on the stereo is the new album off of The Stranglers, Dark Matters. or should that be "The Strangers".
indeed, slay me where i stand, condemn me as not being a "proper fan" all you like, for when Hugh Cornwell dropped out from the band in, what was it, 90 or 91, i too dropped out. his view, or at least the diplomatic variation of it, was that The Stranglers had gone as far as they could, they were creatively exhausted, there was nowhere for them to go, at least not with him in the band. everything about the final album with the "classic" line up, 10, said this was, with regret, true. should the best thing on your album be a cover version, and make no mistake best by some distance, then there is no distance left to run.
yes, i am aware The Stranglers continued, playing to an ultra-loyalist fan base which i am clearly lacking the credentials to be part of. i saw one of the early gigs of the "hope you like the new direction", and have a couple of the records they made (certainly this new one, and at least one other), and i was very much like, well, all right, but not for me.
why, exactly, did i then go ahead and purchase (as pictured in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode), this album, Dark Matters, off of The Stranglers? devotion, loyalty, respect and to honour. this album commenced recording prior to all that plague, global pandemic stuff. then, as with so many thousands, Dave Greenfield of the band passed away. with the album all but finished, a decision was taken to complete it, and to include a tribute to him off of he who is the last remaining original man in black, JJ Burnel.
brave and interesting is the question of when, exactly, a band ceases to be that band in the light of membership replacement. a stark harsh truth, something with The Stranglers would never ever shy away from anyhow, is that at some stages of this recording you are hearing just one original member of the band. considering JJ Burnel's well documented (and in respect of some journalists extremely well demonstrated) martial arts skills, i am not going to question too much, but also i would reasonably expect this to be the last "new" recording under the name "The Stranglers". but, JJ can and will do as he wishes, for he will hit you harder in the face than ever Roger Daltrey would, to be sure.
the album, or record, itself? actually, it is all rather good, except with the annoying "what if" nag hovering all over my mind as i listened. it's a really solid listen, and if anything kind of harks back to that exciting era of The Stranglers, where they were transforming from angry, confrontational punk shouting to complex, multi-layered, experimental, angry confrontational punk stuff. yet, and no disrespect to the current band, what i want to hear is Hugh singing, what i want to hear is the voice of JJ that i remember doing that shouty singing. quite conflicted, i am, then. here i am wishing to hear something that is not a thing any more, but the label on the box says to my mind it is.
coming with the album when purchased off of the official site, gratis (and of course people are selling this on ebay), is a lovely gesture of a disc, an eight track selection of reasonably recent performances which showcase Dave Greenfield. mostly these are songs from the "classic" era, if not all the really well known numbers, with one or two from this new album. for any fans, like me, of The Stranglers sounding as we kind of knew it, this is an absolute beauty.
getting back to the actual album and one slight problem is that which plagued 10, as in the best song on it, in this case This Song, turns out to be a cover. apparently the original is by someone called The Disciples Of Spess, yet here The Stranglers are given a co-writing credit? not sure what's going on, but having relied on the internet, a school of thought says The Stranglers have re-worked it considerably more than you would normally associate with a cover.
better, probably, to say actually, you know what, the best one (song) here is of course And If You Should See Dave, which is JJ's tribute to his mate and fellow band member, one would think in that order. there is no room for wishy washy mediocre sentiment here, it's a solid tribute which is a solid a Stranglers tune as you could wish for. overall, though, there's not a "bad" track on it, if it is so that it only ever really goes above average momentarily. at not stage during the course of the just north of forty (40) minutes of the record did i pause, go for a cigarette (sorry) and come back to it, so yes, it does hold your attention.
now that i think, i did give serious consideration to buying the previous album, Giants, mostly as i really liked their infamously dark humour with the cover art. also, it featured 75% of the original line up, it marking the final time Jet Black recorded with the band. that's Jet Black who was born before the start of World War II. my recollection, though, was that finances made such a chance purchase unwise, and these days copies of the album go for a farcical fee. although let me check the official site.
do i say this record is one full worthy of considering adding to any collection? yes, probably. it may not be The Stranglers as known (which is weird, since they have existed longer without Hugh than with, go figure, ask Marillion or Genesis i suppose), but it's a fine, solid album, and one i will play a fair few times, i do believe.
well, that's that. and yes, i suppose at some point, or stage, best i have a listen to whatever it is that the Manics have decided to record and release.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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