Black and White (album)
| Black and White | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Stranglers studio album | ||||
|
Publication |
1978 |
|||
|
admission |
1978 |
|||
| Label (s) | United Artists | |||
|
Format (s) |
LP |
|||
|
Title (number) |
12 |
|||
|
running time |
39:50 |
|||
| occupation |
|
|||
|
Studio (s) |
TW Studios, London |
|||
|
||||
Black and White is the third album by the British band The Stranglers . It was released on May 12, 1978 by United Artists and reached position 2 on the UK album charts, making it one of the most successful albums of the British punk era.
Track list
- Tank (2:54)
- Nice 'n' Sleazy (3:11)
- Outside Tokyo (2:06)
- Sweden (All Quiet on the Eastern Front) (2:47)
- Hey (Rise of the Robots) (2:13)
- Toiler on the Sea (5:23)
- Curfew (3:10)
- Threatened (3:30)
- Do You Wanna (2:38)
- Death and Night and Blood (Yukio) (2:50)
- In the Shadows (4:15)
- Enough Time (4:16)
All songs were written by "The Stranglers", so they are a collaboration between Hugh Cornwell , Jean-Jacques Burnel , Dave Greenfield and Jet Black.
History of origin
As with the two previous albums, the album was produced by Martin Rushent . The first 75,000 LPs came with a free white vinyl single that contained three tracks: Walk On By (cover of a piece written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David ), Mean To Me, and Tits . The title of the piece Death and Night and Blood is taken from the novel Kamen no Kokuhaku by Mishima Yukio . The track In the Shadows was released in 1977 as the B-side of the single No More Heroes (from the album of the same name). There is a version of the play Sweden with Swedish text called Sverige , which was published in Sweden. After completing his studies in biochemistry, Cornwell had done research for a while at Lund University and thus had a connection to the Swedish language.
reception
The album stayed in the UK music charts for 18 weeks , where it reached position 2. The only single on the album was Nice 'n' Sleazy , which reached position 18.
Allmusic awarded 2.5 out of 5 stars. Alex Ogg stated for the website that Black and White was the Stranglers' weakest album to date, but had "absolutely breathtaking moments". Ira Robbins ruled for Trouser Press that Black and White was "an inferior infusion of previous works". David Quantick drew comparisons with Gang of Four and Joy Division in a review for the BBC , highlighted the album's "brutal" production and atmosphere, and noted that the band's lyrics with Black and White are a departure from the machismo of the previous albums.
The performance of the piece Nice 'n' Sleazy as part of a self-organized festival in Battersea Park in London in the autumn of 1978 caused some media coverage, as several male and female strippers ordered by the band undressed during the song. On the part of women's rights organizations, the band was accused of sexism after this performance, which the band took as an opportunity to incorporate this creative element into other stage shows.
Web links
- Black and White at Allmusic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Stranglers in the UK music charts. Retrieved June 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Review on Allmusic. Retrieved July 3, 2015 .
- ↑ band retrospective Trouser Press. Retrieved July 4, 2015 .
- ↑ Review on BBC.co.uk. Retrieved July 4, 2015 .
- ↑ Article on UK rock festivals. Retrieved July 3, 2015 .
- ^ Article in NME, March 24, 1979. Retrieved July 3, 2015 .
