The Stranglers
Norfolk Coast
(EMI)
Well, this is a surprise. It's taken The Stranglers 14 years, but they've finally managed to shed the mediocrity that blighted their output since the departure of founding singer/guitarist Hugh Cornwell. And how!
While living up to their incendiary live reputation, the timidity of songs from the band's past four albums had relegated the punk veterans to Stranglers-tribute act status in the eyes of many.
But the band, which still includes three of the four signatories to its first recording contract in 1976, has drawn breath and decided to give long-suffering fans what they want. Norfolk Coast, the band's 15th studio album, is the remarkable result. It adopts a modus operandi they last employed in the heyday of punk.