One of my favorite bands of the closing years of the ’70s were UK’s The Stranglers. In England, they were well received, but not so much in the US. (I still can’t understand that.) But that plagued The Jam, and Magazine, as well as a few other UK bands that did well on FM stations in the US, while their singles were order of the day in the UK (24 Top40 singles, 17 Top40 LPs).
They rode the stream of post-punk, as did many other bands, but after achieving their lofty status, they soon began to experiment with styles that were intriguing to them, and great fun for fans to hear. I’ve always complained they never received any attention here even though I did my best to let people in on the “secret”.
The UK will release a collected box celebrating the band’s 40th Anniversary with an 11CD set featuring their United Artists releases. The box will contain the six UA studio albums (Rattus Norvegicus – 1977, No More Heroes – 1977, Black And White – 1978, The Raven – 1979, The Gospel According To the Meninblack – 1981, La Folie – 1981; the band signed to Epic Records after La Folie). In addition, the box, called Giants And Gems: An Album Collection, wil release discs of live material that include Live (X-Cert) – 1979, and Live At The Hope And Anchor – 1992. Also included will be the B-sides collection, Off The Beaten Track released in 1986. To finish the set, the band’s last two albums are also included (Suite XVI – 2006, and Giants – 2012).
If you’re a Stranglers fan, this is a nice collection to add to your library.