Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Rock 'n' Rumble

What Exactly Is A 'Morry Thou'?*

The Stranglers are live in Southend tonight, and being one of the first handful of bands I actively collected (along with the Pistols and The Damned) there's no question of not trotting along. I know Hugh Cornwell's long gone from the line up - but it's still 75% original Strangulation. The other three are present and correct: Ol' Beardy, Ol' Pudding Basin and JJ Burnell, one of the coolest punk bass cadets (actually punk bass players were typically the snappiest member of the band) - all karate moves, monkey boots, motorbikes and that thunderous rumble underpinning the 'men in black's' signature sound. It's a 'greatest hits' gig, so hopefully these B-side babies may be somewhere in the setlist...

The Stranglers - Tank




Tank - with an intro from Peter Cook


Go Buddy Go - I'm no lip reader, but even I can see, the second word in this clip clearly isn't 'boogie' or 'woogie'


*Apparently a 'morry thou' as mentioned in The Stranglers '(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)' is, well - click here to find out or here - for a picture

13 comments:

Keith said...

I had never heard of them before. Those songs sound cool. If the rest of their stuff is like that, then they must have been pretty awesome. I hope you have a good time at the show.

Mondo said...

Thanks Keith, I don't think they took off in the US, Golden Brown and No More Heroes are the biggies you may know

Keith said...

I don't think they ever did. I'll check those out. Thanks. Hope you're feeling better now.

marmiteboy said...

I loved The Stranglers and although I could easily trot along and see 'em too I'd be worried that without Hugh I'd be seriously disappointed.

Hope you have a great night Mondo.

Mondo said...

Almost back to normal now Keith -

Don't think you'd have been disappointed M, was a great night and a knockout set - they haven't tried to do a Hugh Mk 2, but replaced him a baldy Geordie who does a fantastic job and hits the g'tar solos note for note . And with that Doorsish keyboard sound and J J's bass, you'd hardly know Hugh was missing - 'Walk On By' was an absolute cracker - and they even played 'Tank', and treat of treats the first Strang's single I ever bought

Axe Victim said...

If all goes well I am going along on Saturday night to see 'em with my pal Istvanski. Mind you I did tel lhim to offer the ticket to anybody else he knows who might appreciate them more than me, but I've kind of got used to the idea of going now...

BLTP said...

One of the first singles I bought on my own was golden brown, sounds like a good gig and Tank is one one to me and rather good.
How old is the drummer he must be 80!

Mondo said...

Col - you'll love it and be amazed at how many Stranglers tunes you know.

Great Night - BL keep an eye out if they're ever round your way - Golden Brown was superb - Southenders are notoriously a tough crowd (don't know why - they just are), but the place was rockin' and everyone was up for a sing-a-long to Golden Brown, Always The Sun, No More Heroes..

PS Mrs PM always sings Gordon Brown instead of Golden Brown now though - *gnashes teeth*

Mondo said...

PS - 'Tank' was the B - side of 'Walk On By' along with Old Codger featuring George Melly on lead vocals - all tracks are available on the CD reissue of the excellent 'Black and White' album - almost all the first 5 albums are worth grabbing if you haven't yet.

Axe Victim said...

That's what Istvanski said before he started whistling them all down the phone to me!!!!

Piley said...

so ja give em a go then mondo? Somethin about NOT having the original lead singer always makes a band look like a tribute act to me...

P

Mondo said...

Not so P, Hugh would have been a bonus, but it's very rare to got 100% original on any retro line up now and The Stranglers signature sound was always really that bass rumble and those keyboard runs - so all that's still intact, you should have popped along you'd have loved it.

Also have you checked out some of the recent albums? Norfolk Coast is as good as any of the classic period material

rockmother said...

I have always been a massive fan of The Stranglers but like Piley I haven't been able to see them live post-Cornwell as I worry it just wouldn't really be the same - he had such a distinctive voice. I do love them though. Hope you had a good night. If I ever get to be a local MP I'm going to play 'Something's Gotta Change' as my entry piece!