Disco de The Stranglers: “No More Heroes”

I find it hard to like this, the Stranglers' second, album. Sure, the title track is a masterpiece, and "Something Better Change" was a good single, and "English Towns" is an understated triumph, but... well, there's not much else that I can get very enthusiastic about. The band's melodic gift is never far from the surface (example: "Bitching") but the aggression is often to the fore (example: "Bitching"). Probably worked well at the time, and especially live, but it hasn't aged as well as most of their other work. Those who like their Stranglers heavier will enjoy it more than I do. It's still, of course, (and this is the old fogey in me) way better than most of the rubbish that gets into the charts these days.

So there's nothing that reaches the dark depths of "Ugly" on this CD. But a couple come pretty close. Fist there's the deliciously lewd "Bring On The Nubiles", the teacher-student relationship, "School Mam", and the extra track "5 minutes". While their is not a loser on the album for some reason it sounds rushed and incomplete. The band's in fine form here and Cornwall sounds angrier than on the fist but the songwriting just is not as good. More outrage than seediness. One things for sure The Stranglers realy try to offend you here and most times they do suceed. "I Feel Like a Wog" is excellent as is the next track "Bitching". While later releases still are pretty good, this is also their last really great one where they could even be considered a punk bank(or lumped into the same category). I would even consider them new wave and pre-industrial on a few tracks. All three extra tracks are excellent.

No More Heroes contains three of my favorite Strangler songs ever: Something Better Change, Bitchin', Dagenham Dave. I think The debut album is more consistant but it's still a worthy purchase. Also the three bonus tracks include the single Five Minutes, another great Stranglers classic.

I love punk rock and this is one of my fav punk ablbums and one of my fav albums period. You can dance to some of it,("Degingham Dave), you can feel the anger that was a part of the punk scene , ("Something Better Change"), and be offended by it ("Bring on the Nubiles") These guys can be pretty blunt with some of their language and talking about sexuality. They have a moderately hard rocking sound and lead by amazing hooks on the organ or synthesizer but punk all the way. And there's some baffling lyrics on the title song "No More Heroes" which I wonder about sometimes. If you like punk music that you can dance to, you should own this one.

One of the best Punk albums from 1977, a pure classic and as outrageous as any punk outing.