Black and White (The Stranglers album)

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Black and White
Studio album by The Stranglers
Released	May 12, 1978
Recorded	Rockfield Studios, Wales
Genre	Rock / post-punk
Length	??:??
Label	United Artists 1978 EMI 2004
Producer(s)	Martin Rushent
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
The Stranglers chronology
No More Heroes (1977)	Black and White (1978)	Live (X Cert) (1979)

Black and White is The Stranglers third studio album and was recorded within 18 months of their debut Rattus Norvegicus. Produced by Martin Rushent and engineered by Alan Winstanley, the album is divided into the black side and white side, each nominally characterised by the style and mood of the songs which they contain. This release sees The Stranglers adopting a more experimental approach to song structures and time signatures (for example, "Curfew" features the asymmetric 7/4 time).

The band recorded a version of "Sweden" sung in Swedish and released this in Sweden (the song was inspired by Cornwell's PhD placement at Lund University in the mid 1970s). The song title "Death and Night And Blood" is taken from a line from Yukio Mishima's novel Confessions of a Mask.

When released in 1978 on the United Artists label the first 75,000 LPs came with a free white vinyl 7" - Walk On By / Mean To Me / Tits. Singles from the album were: Nice'n'Sleazy (B-side: "Shut Up"), and an edited version of their cover of Bacharach and David's "Walk on By" (B-side: "Old Codger"). Old Codger featured a guest vocal from jazz singer George Melly. Most of these tracks were included in the remastered 2001 CD re-issue of the album.

At this time, the band also recorded "Mean to Me" and a cover of "Mony Mony" with a female singer, released under the moniker "Celia and the Mutations". United Artists released this as a single but it failed to chart.

Contents 1 Track listing 1.1 White side 1.2 Black side 2 Line up 3 References

[edit] Track listing

[edit] White side

1. "Tank"†
2. "Nice N' Sleazy"†
3. "Outside Tokyo"†
4. "Hey! (Rise Of The Robots)"†
5. "Sweden (All Quiet On The Eastern Front)"†
6. "Toiler On The Sea"†

[edit] Black side

1. "Curfew"‡
2. "Threatened"‡
3. "In The Shadows"†
4. "Do You Wanna"§
5. "Death And Night And Blood" (Yukio)‡
6. "Enough Time"†

Bonus tracks on CD reissue:

• Mean to Me†
• Old Codger
• Shut Up‡
• Tits" (live)†
• Walk on By†

[edit] Line up

• Hugh Cornwell: guitars, lead† and backing vocals
• JJ Burnel: bass guitar, lead‡ and backing vocals
• Dave Greenfield: keyboards (Hammond L100 Organ, Hohner Cembalet electric piano, Minimoog synthesizer), lead§ & backing vocals
• Jet Black: drums
• Laura Logic (of X-Ray Spex): guest saxophone on "Hey!"
• George Melly: guest vocals on "Old Codger"
• Lew Lewis: harmonica on "Old Codger"

[edit] References

• The Torture Garden - Official Hugh Cornwell site. Discography - Black and White. Retrieved on March 19, 2005.