THE STRANGLERS: 'FELINE' 40th Anniversary Limited Coloured Vinyl Edition Reissue UNBOXING
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2024
- #thestranglers #colouredvinyl
An unboxing and mini-review of the final album by the original lineup of The Stranglers before the advent of the horn section.
Music: Steve Holmes (c) steveholmes.ba...
Seriously, the best taste in books, And great taste in albums as well. I’m very glad you exist.
Ah one of my all time favourite Stranglers album - thanks for this Stephen ❤️🎸🍷✨
In celebration of the Feline!
Great to see this, Steve. Was hoping you'd do an unboxing of the Feline reissue - and here it is... :))
It was essential!
Great album. I just bought the double vinyl and the CD this afternoon.
As you do!
According to Hugh Cornwell: "Pawsher is an old Greek name. It's now spelt "Portia", but the original spelling was "Pawsher". I think John came up with the title. The song came together in a jam, and it always reminded me of Porsche cars. We should have sold it to them to use in an advertisement. The only lyrics are me singing the title over and over again."
Thanks Dirk- I recall reading that somewhere now!
You don't think it's a drug reference then?!
My favourite album from the CBS era. Just love the feel of the album. Dave's last tour with the Hammond organ. Pawsher was the original spelling for the greek name Portia. Hugh just wanted a psychedelic sound as per Syd Barrett from pink Floyd. Just a jam basically. He also thought the car company Porsche should have used it in an ad. campaign.
Thanks, same here re CBS era, totally agree. On the points you make, I'm aware of them all but I always want to think there's more to it! But that was The Stranglers in their key period, right? Always befuddling mere mortals like me, but in a GREAT way!
@@outlawbookselleroriginal to be honest after feline it was pretty much downhill after that. For the first time in the bands history they had money and with that came division. Hugh and JJ began to disagree about most things. Hugh saw the CBS contact as a new beginning for the band but JJ wasn't into being too commercially successful. He had always had a problem with Golden Brown as it was the most commercially successful song but he never contributed to it in the sense he didn't actually play an instrument on it. The band had been living out of each others pockets for years and with that there was a strong bond, when the money started rolling in that bond started to break. A shame but that's band dynamics for you.
@@marcdewolf7334 yes, that's my take on it exactly, totally agree. For me, the best Stranglers album after 'Feline' is actually 'Un Jour Parfait'. When they did exactly what they liked, they were at their most successful commercially, right? So why not continue that way? The exception of course was 'TheMenInBlack', which everyone seems to forget charted at #8 and then dropped. But for me that's the test of the hardcore fan- trouble is, there's always (weirdly) been that anti-intellectual element in the bands' following -y'know, the people who said "I prefer 'Shut Up' to 'Nice'N'Sleazy' and they are still with us now, sadly. To me, this was the element in the audience who didn't support 'TheMeninBlack' album. I think as soon as bands who were successful by following their own instincts often fail when they start trying to be 'commercial' and Hugh definitely had that going on. Strangely, when he left, JJ seemed to sense the need to maintain the lifestyle at the cost of innovation, hence the five piece 'frontman' lineup. What I wanted to see then was a more experimental, studio-based situation, with JJ, Dave and Jet looking at more European markets and producing moody, thoughtful stuff- after all, JJ plays guitar, so they only needed a guitarist for live work. WIlko Johnson, for me, seemed a natural 'replacement' for Hugh, who was of course irreplaceable, as they all were. Good to chat.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Remarkably their most successful era was between 1977 & 79. However as with most bands at that time they were screwed over by managers and accountants and saw very little of the money that they made. When bands of that era made money they were too busy enjoying the women, the drink and the drugs, all of which were in ample supply. This meant they took their eye off the money. They saw sense in 1979 when they got rid of the management and accountants and got in people they knew. The problem though was that Dai Davies (manager) told Hugh they (The Stranglers) had now peaked commercially and it was time to split up. He advised Hugh and JJ to break up the band and start again with him and JJ under a new name. Hugh thought this was a ridiculous suggestion and wrote the song 'fools rush out' about this suggestion by Dai. However Hugh admits today that opinion by Dai was spot on as from 1980 sales started to dip significantly The meninblack album was purchased by most fans as a 'blind' purchase. At that time the fans always knew the Stranglers albums were a safe bet. I remember my mates buying it and we're shocked at how bad it was. They thought they were getting another Raven or black and white but I know many fans who dropped them after buying this album. La folie had dreadful sales, peaked at 14 and then dropped down to around number 50, but when golden brown was in the charts the album shot back up the charts reaching 11. Incredible that one song alone made such remarkable album sales figures. The golden year from golden brown to European female brought in many new fans (as three top 10 singles tend to do) but it was a short term thing and sadly feline was a peak for the CBS years and the only single the band wrote (European Female) was the only single to go Top 10 in 7 years with that label. CBS on reflection offered the most money but artistically virgin or sire records would have been better companies to be with as the Stranglers were always a small fish in a very large pond under CBS but sire and virgin couldn't match CBS and their accountant advised them to take that offer due to the debts they had to pay off. On top of that during the recording of feline in Brussels Dave and JJ during a drunken stupor destroyed a song Hugh had been working on (I believe it was the song 'souls') and Hugh said he couldn't work with people who did things like that. I think from that day Hugh began a professional relationship with JJ and Dave and the friendship took a major blow.
@@marcdewolf7334 Aware of all this of course, having been a fan since 77 and read all the articles, books, interviews etc along the way. I like 'TheMenInBlack' a lot, but obviously it was a step too far for many, but it worked for me. Ever read Phil Knight's book? It's amazing.
Wonderful album. Nailed it with the European comment. Listened to it whilst wandering around the bowels of Zürich station the other week. Been on a Bowie/Lodger binge recently but will give this another listen tonight. Btw, my teenage mind always thought PAWsher was a word link with the Feline theme. And give me AS production over 10 any day. Would love a release of the Owen Morris demos.
Yes, I'd love to see them issued too. I think we all would!
Gotta do the vids that feed your needs, & how many Stranglers videos are out there?
Rock On.
My copies are languashing in HMV awaiting collection,its a fabulous album hugh sounds majestically brilliant on it & never say goodbye is one of the stranglers many finest moments.
That flamenco influence from Robbie Krieger of The Doors!
Stephen almost all of the CD's I buy now are digipacks, I'm guessing there are using less plastic now. Last album of the original line up I bought on release. One of my favourites now, however it took me an age to get into this album.
I think it just comes down to digpaks being cheaper, really. I like 'Feline' a lot, but I find it uneven- there are tracks that really, really shine and some which are more throwaway, I feel - "Midnight Summer Dream", "European Female", "Ships That Pass In The Night" are all killers, but there are plodders like "It's A Small World" and "Blue Sister", which tries too hard for that "Golden Brown" vibe, I think. But I loved the Kincaid guitars and the space in the recording and live, a lot of this stuff was fantastic at the time.
I received your recommendation of the book Strangled today. Perhaps I will play Feline once I start this book. Feline is unique and does not sound like any other Stranglers albums which is a pity. Your channel is very interesting.
@@patrickmasterson5420 -'Strangled' divides people: it is not a conventional biography, but then The Stranglers were not a conventional band...I love it, personally. Thanks for the kind comment.
Loved The Stranglers back in the day, a band of contrasts.
Dour but melodic. Cosmopolitan but street-hardened. Intellectual but unpretentious. Artistic but political.
Golden Brown is one of the greatest No.1s ever. Has the potential to have a Stranger Things/Running Up That Hill moment still.
All true, apart from the fact that "Golden Brown" only made it to #2. But yes, a revival would be great! Thanks Mark!
Didn't one of the band let it slip that G.B. was about heroin?
That must have been why it didn't get the top spot but it hung around for ages, I loved it.
@@markkavanagh7377 -Yes, there is a video about this on the channel in my Stranglers playlist that goes into the Classical Literature background of the lyrics and the relationship between the song and Homer's Odyssey.
Never say goodbye Hugh wrote the lyric's for the death for JJ's dad
No, you're thinking about "Let Me Down Easy", as Hugh remarks in Jim Drury's 'Song By Song' book.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal oops yes sorry wrong song thank you 🙂
How limited is it
Not sure mate, should say on the Townsend Music website. It's not numbered or anything.
Never heard this album
It was the Bs about Spanish guitars, electric drums.. Not convinced by the singles.. So pass