ReStrangled: The Stranglers Fan Podcast

This week we take on a goofy little ditty from 1984's Aural Sculpture. A rock 'n' roll, knees-up, brass-laden tune about a seaside puppet show? Only The Stranglers could do it… It's 'Punch & Judy'.

We discuss the Italian origins of the puppets that inspired the song, debate the merits of the brass section, and ask the big question: is a giant papier-mâché ear a good concept for an album?

Our cover is a bit more dynamic in the drum department, with a few extra touches to liven it up!

See such soul and beauty over at our website https://www.restrangled.com, where you can vote in the audience scores poll, view the song stats and buy us a strong cup of coffee.

We’re diving into ‘Suite XVI’ this week with the high-octane rocker ‘Summat Outanowt’.

This week we talk about JJ’s use of some interesting musical scales, Baz’s almost “Cornwell-ian” guitar work, and explore Dave’s excellent array of synthesized bells and whistles, including a cheeky Theremin.

Our ReStrangled cover version is a fairly faithful rendition of the original version.

We’ve recently had a huge overhaul to the website - all the song stats are now available to view, you can claim your old votes, view and change them too! A huge thankyou to Paul Neyrinck for his help in getting the new website set up - you should check out his work over at www.neyrinck.com

Throw away your crutch and be bold! Head to https://www.restrangled.com where you can cast your votes on our audience poll, get in touch and buy us a coffee.

This week we’re taking on the big one from 1981, the curious hit single that is ‘Golden Brown’ off of ‘La Folie’.

We discuss the song’s recent resurgence in popularity, explore the peculiar time signature, provide our usual breakdowns of the complex instrumentation and, of course, the all important scores!

As always we’ve recorded our ReStrangled cover version - a fairly faithful cover with an original, symphonic arrangement introduction inspired by the live version from the ‘Friday the 13th’ gig at the Royal Albert Hall.

We’ve recently had a huge overhaul to the website - song stats for every song in the catalogue are now live! You can claim your old votes, view and change them too! https://www.restrangled.com.

A huge thank you to Paul Neyrinck for his help in getting the new website set up - you should check out his work over at https://www.neyrinck.com

We tackle a classic this week - Dave Greenfield’s Stranglers vocal debut off of 1977’s ‘No More Heroes’ - the bizarre, blues-jazz-psychedelic-swing track that is ‘Dead Ringer’

We dive into the album No More Heroes as a whole, provide our usual in depth breakdown of the bizarre instrumentation and ask the all-important question… ‘What is a Conkeroonee Stringer?’

Wasn’t it you…? That said you was into supporting our podcast? Head to https://www.restrangled.com and buy us a coffee, vote in our audience poll and view our song stats.

(Image credit: Erica Echenberg/Getty)

This week we’re joined by our first special guests, long-time Stranglers fans - Steve Hillier and Stevey Malone - to tackle the atmospheric track ‘In A While’ off of 1997’s ‘Written In Red’.

Steve Hillier is an original Finchley boy, a group of london boys who followed and worked for the band in the early years. Stevey Malone is a Swansea born musician and ex-professional footballer who has been following the band for years and has played bass for The Skids among other projects.

A bit of a detour from our usual programming this week as the Steve’s tell us some stories from back in the day including raucous tales of violent early gigs, a gob-covered support band and surprising hotel maids by sleeping in laundry cupboards.

If you enjoy what we’re doing, head over to our website https://www.restrangled.com where you can vote in our audience poll, view all the song stats and buy us a coffee.

Paul Roberts Comments on the lyrics of his songs - https://web.archive.org/web/20160711125601/http://soulsec.com/lyrics/writteninred.htm

The title track ‘Giants’ from the album ‘Giants’ is up for discussion this week. Alongside our usual breakdowns of the instrumentation and lyrics, we talk titans of industry, lilliputians and discuss our memories of the album’s release in 2012.

If you enjoy what we’re doing, buy us a coffee over at https://www.restrangled.com where you can also see the song stats and vote in our audience poll.

This week we’re performing an alien autopsy on the oddball single ‘Just Like Nothing On Earth’. The second track from the 1981 concept album ‘The Gospel According To The Meninblack’.

Our discussion sees us exploring the bizarre blend of paranormal, biblical and narcotic influences behind this album as well as a breakdown of the tongue twisting lyrics and wild instrumentation.

A podcast in perpetuity please people, purchase of peruvian potables is permissible as payment. Translation: buy us coffee please - https://www.restrangled.com. Don’t forget to vote in our audience poll and check out the song stats.

Illustration provided by Official UFO July 1977

Roland MP-600 Samples - https://www.leonardcharlesrecords.com/free-ableton-live-packs

Join us on a trip across the pond this week as we tackle Hugh’s sardonic paean to the US of A: ‘Big In America’ from 1986’s ‘Dreamtime’

We discuss the interesting chords and lyrical content, take a deep dive into Dreamtime as a whole and apparently it’s pop quiz week, with plenty of humorous digressions, blame the heat!

Our ReStrangling cover this week is a barn-stomping bluegrass-country-skiffle interpretation inspired by Jerry Reed, Dr Hook and Chas & Dave. Complete with banjo, honky-tonk piano and some superstition-style clavinet for good measure. Yeehaw!

Don’t forget to head over to our website https://www.restrangled.com where you can vote in our audience poll, view the song stats and buy us a pot of American coffee.

Big In America - Live In Madrid 1986 - https://youtu.be/w1pMFMIlFRk?si=AVk0n8DDimByspbA&t=1493

This week we’re taking a look at the psychedelic / dance / trip hop oddity that is ‘God Is Good’ from 1998’s ‘Coup De Grace’.

We discuss the lyrical and musical content, the circumstances surrounding the album and where the track fits into the musical landscape of 1998. Our interpretative hard rock cover takes the song to a different place entirely.

Have your say in our audience poll over at https://www.restrangled.com where you can also view all the song stats and buy us a much required coffee after this episode.

Check out Mili & Bertie here - https://www.miliandbertie.com/

Live Bootleg - Rock City Nottingham 1998 - Aural Sculptors Blog - https://tinyurl.com/yh7db3w3

We’re feeling Feline this week as we jump aboard the intriguing track Ships That Pass In the Night from 1983.

Join our natterings on this nautical number as we talk about the concept of Feline, the origin of the title phrase, The mandela effect harmonies and introduce our new section ‘The Gospel according to the MenInTrap’.

Our cover is inspired by Hugh’s comments about the arrangement and production. We've kept it relatively faithful with a few modern production flourishes bringing Feline into the 21st century or ‘Feline Plus’ as we’ve dubbed it.

Don’t forget to set sail over to our website where you can vote in the audience poll, view the song stats page and buy us a coffee https://www.restrangled.com

Stranglers In The Night Documentary - 1985 - https://youtu.be/zxK4Sg3R2XQ