| features in: Album Chart of 1977 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s |
Just five months after April’s “Rattus”, “No More Heroes” was in the shops with no quality control issues whatsoever; it was every bit as grubby, provocative and well produced. There’s an integrity in this band that is endearing, even if it does lead to moments which are uncomfortable for some. Straight away, “I Feel Like A Wog” blasts in with 0% subtlety and makes you wanna grab Hugh by the lapels, square him in the eyes and sneer “who the fuck are you calling a wog?” On closer inspection, he is expressing empathy with the alienated and the downtrodden: “I feel like a wog people giving me the eyes, but I was born here just like you, I feel like a wog, got all the dirt shitty jobs”. Following strongly is “Bitching”, which has a great VU trance-groove to it, as it takes a swipe at shallow gripers with lyrics such as “why don’t you all get screwed, why don’t you tell me something new?”. Fighting apathy is the order of the day on the killer-cut “Something Better Change”, sung by JJ, which somehow manages to be at once guttural and pop. “Something’s happening and it’s happening right now” seems to place the group at the centre of la nouvelle vague. Out with the old and in with the new underpins the message of the following track, “No More Heroes”. Whatever happened to Leon Trotsky? Dear old Lenny? The great Elmyra, and Sancho Panza? This is ’77 – time for new D.I.Y. ethics to kick in – write a fanzine, join a band, get creative, be your own hero. At this time, The Stranglers might have been courting controversy and dividing opinion but they certainly made you feel and think… I for one love the cut of their jib.
The Jukebox Rebel
08–Aug–2008
| Tracklist |
| A1 | [03:17]  The Stranglers - I Feel Like A Wog (Hugh Cornwell, Brian Duffy, David Greenfield, Jean Jacques Burnel) New Wave |
| A2 | [04:26]  The Stranglers - Bitching (Hugh Cornwell, Brian Duffy, David Greenfield, Jean Jacques Burnel) New Wave |
| A3 | [02:46]  The Stranglers - Dead Ringer (Hugh Cornwell, Brian Duffy, David Greenfield, Jean Jacques Burnel) New Wave |
| A4 | [03:19]  The Stranglers - Dagenham Dave (Hugh Cornwell, Brian Duffy, David Greenfield, Jean Jacques Burnel) New Wave |
| A5 | [02:16]  The Stranglers - Bring On The Nubiles (Hugh Cornwell, Brian Duffy, David Greenfield, Jean Jacques Burnel) Post-Punk |
| A6 | [03:36]  The Stranglers - Something Better Change (Hugh Cornwell, Brian Duffy, David Greenfield, Jean Jacques Burnel) New Wave |
| B1 | [03:29]  The Stranglers - No More Heroes (Hugh Cornwell, Brian Duffy, David Greenfield, Jean Jacques Burnel) New Wave |
| B2 | [03:26]  The Stranglers - Peasant In The Big Shitty (Hugh Cornwell, Brian Duffy, David Greenfield, Jean Jacques Burnel) New Wave |
| B3 | [02:24]  The Stranglers - Burning Up Time (Hugh Cornwell, Brian Duffy, David Greenfield, Jean Jacques Burnel) Post-Punk |
| B4 | [02:12]  The Stranglers - English Towns (Hugh Cornwell, Brian Duffy, David Greenfield, Jean Jacques Burnel) New Wave |
| B5 | [07:10]  The Stranglers - School Mam (Hugh Cornwell, Brian Duffy, David Greenfield, Jean Jacques Burnel) Post-Punk |
