I only know The Stranglers from Butt-head's take on the "Skin Deep" video.
That was all I knew of them for years. I bought a best-of CD years ago to hear "Golden Brown" because I'd heard that Bedhead had covered it live. I thought that song, "Something Better Change," "No More Heroes," and "Duchess" were pretty good. Rated "Skin Deep" as a guilty pleasure. Really, really didn't like "Peaches." It's still not one of my favorites of theirs, although it grates on me a bit less than it used to. Dumb song.
Albums 1 through 4 and 6 are great, like the
Face Peelers series with TLS at the helm. The 5th record is a concept album about aliens or something, so I haven't been able to convince myself it won't be stupid. I could be wrong, and I'll find out if I find a cheap enough used copy.
Aaaaand that's my unsolicited Stranglers spiel!
Sparks had about three career highpoints, and some pretty dumb shit. I preferred the first two albums overall. "You Can't Be Too Strong" is one of the few songs that piss me off so much I want to yell back at the speakers, like it was Bill O'Reilly on the radio or somethin.'
I
really don't like this song, now that you mention it. I tend to forget it's on that album. The anti-abortion business makes my skin crawl. Even with "You Can't Be Too Strong," I like
Squeezing Out Sparks a lot more than his first three. There's a pervasive faux-soul, pub-rock element to those (which makes sense, given the dudes who were in the band) that I think is a little offputting, and I like the leaner, scaled-back Rumour on
Sparks.
I do like those first three albums a lot, but it seems like for every "Pourin' It All Out" and "Don't Ask Me Questions," there's a "Lady Doctor" or "Hotel Chambermaid."
The only other GP albums I've heard are
The Parkerilla, which I really didn't like, and
The Mona Lisa's Sister, which I thought was okay.
Is any of his other stuff worth owning?
