The Album Review Club - *** Christmas Break Playlist (next album 7/1/26) ***

[JRockBlues]

They got more mellow as they evolved. The latter albums are very different from Rattus Norvegicus. I had every album till Hugh Conwell left, Dreamtime was the last album he played in. After that I had no interest in the band when Paul Roberts became frontman.

JJ Burnel even got involved with an anime soundtrack. Good series too (Gankutsuou (Count of Monte Cristo adaptation)).

 

[Deepest Blue]

Prog Punk

Angry Psychedelic Pub Rock for me ;)

 

[GornikDaze]

JJ Burnel is a 7th degree black belt (nanadan) in Shidokan Karate and is head of Shidokan UK. In the early days of the band they had a fight with The Clash and The Sex Pistols and guess who won?

The Law?

 

[Saddleworth2]

The Law?

Or maybe Harry Hill.

 

[OB1]

It is a modern classic. Pity they have never come close to doing it justice on film. I'm bloody sure Peter Jackson could have made a good fist of it as a trilogy.

I’d like to see that. Funnily enough, LotR is a book I rank alongside The Stand.

 

[daveoswald]

An absolute masterpiece from one Britain's most under the radar, unfashionable bands, very marmite, for me they would be up in the British pantheon hall of of fame alongside the Beatles, stones, pink Floyd. Led Zep, Queen, the Pistols and the clash, their next four albums weren't to shabby either. the lyrics, melodies, Jean Jacques bass and the magnificent key boards of Dave Greenfield, the whole album is sublime.

 

[PinkFinal]

Greenfield wasn't aware of the Doors when he joined the band.
He was a Yes fan.


It's not particularly easy to pinpoint their influences.
The Doors influence accusations I always found rather lazy.
I'd say a definite Lou Reed vibe on Cornwell's vocals
And a slight Turtles kind of pop influence is evident on songs like Duchess.
Never a punk band but definitely liked by a lot of punks.
Having a similar energy to punk bands, edgy lyrics and emerging at the same time they predictability got lumped in with the new wave.

 

[tonea2003]

pretty much a perfect album for me, love every track, they were way better musically than any of their contemporaries
seen them countless times always magnificent
could of been bigger if it wasn't for jj insisting on weird choice of singles i.e dont bring harry and la folie, pretty much commercial disasters

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

I’m getting twelve songs on my version of the album on Apple Music.
TBH I can see where Sadds is coming from with this album.
Having listened a few times now, I’m finding much of the album very ‘samish’. The chief difficulty I have is with what now sounds like contrived vocals on a lot of the songs.

For me the album started at ‘Hanging Around’ although on second listen, the opener ‘Sometimes’ had kind of grown on me.

Ugly? Not sure. It does sound kind of ugly and misogynistic when you examine it by todays standards.

I’m taking it that ‘Down in the Sewer’ ends the original album and I would say, that is where it should end.

Although of the three songs after on my version I have to say, I quite like ‘Go Buddy Go’. A really good driving rock n roll crowd pleaser I would say. That would be great live.

It’s a pleasant listen for a diversion from what I’ve been listening to lately, but I do think much of it has dated and it’s a nostalgic look at the 70’s for me.
6/10.

 

[threespires]

Greenfield wasn't aware of the Doors when he joined the band.
He was a Yes fan.


It's not particularly easy to pinpoint their influences.
The Doors influence accusations I always found rather lazy.
I'd say a definite Lou Reed vibe on Cornwell's vocals
And a slight Turtles kind of pop influence is evident on songs like Duchess.
Never a punk band but definitely liked by a lot of punks.
Having a similar energy to punk bands, edgy lyrics and emerging at the same time they predictability got lumped in with the new wave.

I can see what you mean about Greenfield and Yes, but Burnel did say that LA Woman was a bit of a life changing album for him so I'm not sure you can dismiss The Doors impact that easily.

A very hard band to categorise, you can hear all sorts, apart from the stuff already mentioned I hear echoes of Love and Roxy too, so we can add art rock into the mix with the psychedelia. Real musical magpies which I think is to their credit and works well especially on individual songs but has probably counted against them commercially. It also means they sometimes feel like they lack a specific identity; I actually like bands that don't feel constrained by genres etc but I've still found myself confused as many times as I have engaged by them over the years.

 

[Coatigan]

I’m getting twelve songs on my version of the album on Apple Music.
TBH I can see where Sadds is coming from with this album.
Having listened a few times now, I’m finding much of the album very ‘samish’. The chief difficulty I have is with what now sounds like contrived vocals on a lot of the songs.

For me the album started at ‘Hanging Around’ although on second listen, the opener ‘Sometimes’ had kind of grown on me.

Ugly? Not sure. It does sound kind of ugly and misogynistic when you examine it by todays standards.

I’m taking it that ‘Down in the Sewer’ ends the original album and I would say, that is where it should end.

Although of the three songs after on my version I have to say, I quite like ‘Go Buddy Go’. A really good driving rock n roll crowd pleaser I would say. That would be great live.

It’s a pleasant listen for a diversion from what I’ve been listening to lately, but I do think much of it has dated and it’s a nostalgic look at the 70’s for me.
6/10.

Next week shoule be interesting!

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

Next week shoule be interesting!

?
Do you mean this thread or the other.

 

[Coatigan]

?
Do you mean this thread or the other.

This one. Just with some of your takes on this week's album ;). As in I know what's to come.

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

This one. Just with some of your takes on this week's album ;). As in I know what's to come.

Ah listen. Each to their own.
I like Stranglers, but I know others will have idolised them. That’s fine.

 

[Black&White&BlueMoon Town]

Rattus Norvegicus - The Stranglers

I'm getting this in now as I have a pretty busy start of the week with City in town for a practice and friendly match, and not sure how much time I'll have after today.

To cut to the chase as others have noted, Dave Greenfield on keyboards and Jean-Jacques Burnel on bass are the stars of this album, and that cannot be understated.

It turns out I had heard and have a track from this album before. In double-checking my Living In Oblivion, The 80's Greatest Hits collection, I did see "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)" on Volume 1, which is a song I liked the best and remembered hearing before.

So when I too was wondering how a song from 1977 made it on an 80's compilation, I read this in the liner notes:

"A classic piece of seething punk from the class of '77, the burbling "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)" was one side of the Stranglers' stunning debut single. Not many bands used keyboards in those Luddite days, but the Stranglers always did have an m.o. all their own."

That song sounded more new-wave to me with the heavy keys opening to it, but I've learned this week is not a band that fit most categories of its time. My familiarity with The Stranglers wouldn't be until I enjoyed hearing them on college radio during their "third phase" in 1986 with "Always The Sun", which was the only song of theirs I recall making it to US FM radio. That was clearly a departure from what I heard here.

The other song of note for me was "Hanging Around", which I too enjoyed, and was heavy on the keys and bass presence. I thought Hugh Cornwell's vocals worked best on those two songs, and also on "Goodbye Toulouse".

It wasn't a long debate on "London Lady", "Peaches" (fantastic bass line opening), or "Down in the Sewer (Medley)" that those would have worked better for me as instrumentals.

While I heard parts of the Doors keys influences from the first note of "Sometimes", it was "Down in the Sewer" that dare I say sounded a bit like Deep Purple in the beginning. To its credit, that song got nearly 2 minutes of just enjoyable music before the vocals came in.

The lyrics or delivery on most of the songs not mentioned simply just didn't do it for me. That's probably the biggest knock on this album for me, because musically, I did enjoy their debut.

Musically, this is an 8, vocally a 3, so I'm on a 5.5/10 overall on this.

The ironic lyric of the day for me: "Please don't talk much, it burns my ears"

 

[bennyboy]

Rattus Norvegicus - The Stranglers

I'm getting this in now as I have a pretty busy start of the week with City in town for a practice and friendly match, and not sure how much time I'll have after today.

To cut to the chase as others have noted, Dave Greenfield on keyboards and Jean-Jacques Burnel on bass are the stars of this album, and that cannot be understated.

It turns out I had heard and have a track from this album before. In double-checking my Living In Oblivion, The 80's Greatest Hits collection, I did see "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)" on Volume 1, which is a song I liked the best and remembered hearing before.

So when I too was wondering how a song from 1977 made it on an 80's compilation, I read this in the liner notes:

"A classic piece of seething punk from the class of '77, the burbling "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)" was one side of the Stranglers' stunning debut single. Not many bands used keyboards in those Luddite days, but the Stranglers always did have an m.o. all their own."

That song sounded more new-wave to me with the heavy keys opening to it, but I've learned this week is not a band that fit most categories of its time. My familiarity with The Stranglers wouldn't be until I enjoyed hearing them on college radio during their "third phase" in 1986 with "Always The Sun", which was the only song of theirs I recall making it to US FM radio. That was clearly a departure from what I heard here.

The other song of note for me was "Hanging Around", which I too enjoyed, and was heavy on the keys and bass presence. I thought Hugh Cornwell's vocals worked best on those two songs, and also on "Goodbye Toulouse".

It wasn't a long debate on "London Lady", "Peaches" (fantastic bass line opening), or "Down in the Sewer (Medley)" that those would have worked better for me as instrumentals.

While I heard parts of the Doors keys influences from the first note of "Sometimes", it was "Down in the Sewer" that dare I say sounded a bit like Deep Purple in the beginning. To its credit, that song got nearly 2 minutes of just enjoyable music before the vocals came in.

The lyrics or delivery on most of the songs not mentioned simply just didn't do it for me. That's probably the biggest knock on this album for me, because musically, I did enjoy their debut.

Musically, this is an 8, vocally a 3, so I'm on a 5.5/10 overall on this.

The ironic lyric of the day for me: "Please don't talk much, it burns my ears"

Interesting that you loved the music but not the vocals so the score ended up a lot lower.
Did the vocals really spoil your listens that much.
Ps.Not a criticism each to their own.

 

[Protein Junkie]

; I actually like bands that don't feel constrained by genres etc but I've still found myself confused as many times as I have engaged by them over the years.

Interesting that you like bands not constrained by genres.
Good debate but I’m not sure bands consciously get constrained by this unless they are manufactured.
Enjoying what you produce, lack of ability, doing what the fans want etc.
Love your train of thought so welcome more context or examples 3S.

 

[RobMCFC]

Interesting that you loved the music but not the vocals so the score ended up a lot lower.
Did the vocals really spoil your listens that much.
Ps.Not a criticism each to their own.

I do know what B&W means and I agree. I know you nominated The Jam, but this is the same criticism I have about all these bands - why do they have to sound like they have an attitude problem? Why can’t they just step up to the mic and sing? Some of the music on this album is really good but they don’t half spoil it with those vocals.

Like you said, each to their own. I keep using Bon Jovi as an example - not my favourite band but a good example of what, to me, sounds like a great voice. I know plenty on here would disagree, but JBJ, Steve Perry, and Jimi Jamieson of Survivor are examples of the kind of voice I like to hear (outside of those gruff Americana voices, of course :) )

 

[bennyboy]

I do know what B&W means and I agree. I know you nominated The Jam, but this is the same criticism I have about all these bands - why do they have to sound like they have an attitude problem? Why can’t they just step up to the mic and sing? Some of the music on this album is really good but they don’t half spoil it with those vocals.

Like you said, each to their own. I keep using Bon Jovi as an example - not my favourite band but a good example of what, to me, sounds like a great voice. I know plenty on here would disagree, but JBJ, Steve Perry, and Jimi Jamieson of Survivor are examples of the kind of voice I like to hear (outside of those gruff Americana voices, of course :) )

I think it is just the era of the punk and new wave in the late 70's.
There was not many vocalist inspired groups around that time.
Elvis Costello maybe later on but apart from that I cannot think of many Brits at the time from the punk and new wave.

 

[RobMCFC]

I think it is just the era of the punk and new wave in the late 70's.
There was not many vocalist inspired groups around that time.
Elvis Costello maybe later on but apart from that I cannot think of many Brits at the time from the punk and new wave.

Yes, I agree. I’m sure it was an exciting scene at the time. But for those of us who are slightly younger, you can forgive us for listening all these years later, out of context, and wondering what all the fuss was about.

I don’t feel this way about all that great music from the mid- to late-60s - I can listen to that now in wonder and truly appreciate how groundbreaking it all was and most of it still holds up today.