Cd Review: The Stranglers DECADES APART

The Stranglers fill a unique niche in the punk and new wave rock music genre history. The band has actually existed since 1974, where they carved out a unique dark identity a little bit like a British Doors-type pub band. With their heavy keyboard sound provided by Dave Greenfield, and J.J. Burnell's pulsating bass, coupled with the drum mastery of former ice

cream businessman Jet Black, the band provided the perfect backup sound for the growling vocal work of Hugh Cornwell and his lead guitar. Unlike so many of the punk genre acts, The Stranglers were genuinely master musicians. Yet despite all of this musical mastery, the band deliberately performed some of the most outrageous songs and stage shows of any band. The Stranglers once performed a notorious outdoor concert with strippers wearing only their nylons and garter belts. The news media was hardly entertained much by this.

But, The Stranglers, have always been a crowd pleasing punk act, with tons of great singles on the UK charts. The Stranglers have had at least 23 top 40 singles in the UK, making them the most successful UK punk act of all time.

DECADES APART is a collection of many of those hit singles, as well sides of some songs not on any album. Overall, the singles collection here is a pretty good package and overview of this great UK punk act. Included in the package is the new single, "Retro Rockets" which has more than a little bit of the classic late 70's Stranglers' sound compared to so much of their material recorded from the album, THE RAVEN, on.

After Hugh Cornwell left the group in 1990, the group went through a small number of lead singer replacements before letting Baz Warne take over as the lead man for the group. DECADES APART includes most of the singles from this newer lineup as well. Yet, the group remains a top notch act, with endless new songs.

Strangely, and when you speak of The Stranglers, you do mean strange, the album cover for DECADES APART looks like strangely like a retro-version of their 1977 album, RATTUS NORVEGICUS, with the creepy looking house photography. One look at the cover tells you that this is indeed The Stranglers.

Even if you never heard this band, and would like to own a nice package of their best singles, this greatest hits package comprises one of the best UK acts never to get any American airplay. The Stranglers still remain one of the best UK acts of all time, and even though their drummer turned 71 this year, they continue to turn out great albums and singles.

The Bottom Line: ++++(four stars out of four, or excellent).