Rattus Norvegicus

Having a hard time describing this album without referencing the hundreds of British punk albums in this list. It’s a collection of punk and rock songs with bits of new wave. Sounds grimy. (3.5)

The self consciously PUNK ones like Ugly and London Lady aren't great and neither is the letting their roots show, "hello, fellow young people", blues number (lame blues always comes as a number) Princess of the Streets.

But I have a genuine soft spot for The Stranglers way with a smuggled Doors influence into the London punk scene. The extravagantly bracketed (Get A) Grip (On Yourself) is the real highlight. I'm also enjoying discovering the epic Down In The Sewer.

My favourite fact about The Stranglers is that Hugh Cornwell went to school with Richard Thompson of Fairport Convention and they were in a relatively successful covers band together.

Who even knows what the goal is here?

Throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks I suppose. Is it "Pub Rock?" Is it The Fall? Is it Prog? Dudes aligned themselves with "Punk," but really it has little to do with punk. Maybe that's why The Stranglers piss me off, they're poseurs.

Everything is marketing, though. The music isn't that great on this record, some incredibly fun riffs ("Peaches," "Get a Grip.."), and the organ/keyboard being the MAIN VOICE on this album is oh so great. Extra point for being unique. Minus a point for the shoddy fecking vocals.

"The Stranglers are an English rock band formed in 1974. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 20 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have originated in the UK punk scene." oof

Almost like The Doors meets early XTC. I liked it, but it doesn’t hold a candle to some of the other post-punk bands thriving at the time (Talking Heads, The Damned, the aforementioned XTC) from a sheer songwriting perspective. Glad I listened, but I wasn’t blown away.

New wave |------X---| Punk

Had never listened to The Stranglers. Actually enjoyed this one quite a bit. Good songs.

I have come to have a lot of respect for this band above their singles as they are featured heavily in a TV music programme where I am. This was great, with its Roxy music inspired New Wave sound. Even Peaches, which in someone else’s hands, could be tawdry, here seems tragic and oddly kind of cool.
One star off for not featuring a rat on their cover. At least RATT knew how to pull in the rat lovers.

This is a weird one for me, because I generally like the vocals and what I paid attention to in the lyrics, just the music seemed incredibly cheap and dated. Like it belonged as a soundtrack to an 80's/early 90's video game. It would have worked great there (honestly reminded me of TMNT: Turtles in Time, haha). But as an actual album, it doesn't work for me.

fun psych punk

I almost feel like I should like this more than I actually did. There’s nothing bad about it, it’s a perfectly alright album but for me it was nothing more than alright. Maybe another few listens and it will be different but as it is now it was grand but won’t live long in the memory.

Top Track - Goodbye Toulouse

Why don't I have this record? It's great. This has lots of fun extended instrumental bits like in "Goodbye Toulouse," and of course I was delighted to hear "Get a Grip on Yourself" for the first time in quite a long time. Check out the keyboards on this record! Ha, it's nice hearing this stuff on something better than crappy 1970s car radio speakers.

(ok yes, "Peaches" is stupid, but it's funny-stupid so that's ok)

Five stars

Once again I am finding that I just absolutely love these early punk / proto-punk bands. This album was a great time!

It's kind of funny, my summary has punk listed as my favourite genre from the generator and yet, I don't think I've really gotten a single true punk or hardcore record. Several proto-punk and post-punk records, but no Ramones, Sex Pistols, Black Flag, Minor Threat, etc.

No for me

I have a new favorite album.

I mostly liked the album. Towards the end, I found it a bit exhausting. However, none of the songs really stuck in my memory. 3/5

I've always had a soft spot for The Stranglers. Mum had a tape of their Best Of in our car when we were kids. Great singles band. I'd never heard a Stranglers album until now. All the trademarks are there: Doors' keyboards, sexist lyrics and a fucking incredible bass tone. This is a very solid pink-adjacent album. It won't replace the Best Of in my heart, but I enjoyed listening to this album today.

Pretty decent.

A punk band who could actually play their instruments.... in fact the bass in this album is S-Tier, just a ridiculous groove going on. I had heard "Peaches" before and this is far above that level. Just a tight punk album.

Man, some of these lyrics really didn't age well at all. It's a shame because the music is really good. The lyrics are a little off-putting though. Not all of them but every now and then I found myself rewinding and going 'did he really say that?' and yes he really did.
A good album nonetheless. A lot going on to keep you listening, each song has it's own feel to it which is nice, feels like I've had a stretch of albums lately that were basically the same tow songs over and over. I enjoyed this album and will definitely listen to The Stranglers more, I think I had heard some of their music randomly but never actually played them on purpose. 3.75/5

Extremely cool glam punk that's a rocking stew of television style spindly lead guitars, Elvis Costello new wave synth, Doorsy psych organ parts, Iggy Pop garage rock drive, Modern Lovers aloof cool guy vocals. It's got a real spacious spare production and an almost disco inflected rhythm with actual danceable beats - damn this really rips.