How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Unmemorable
Value for Money
Advantages:
beefy
Disadvantages:
The out - takes from the first set
Recommend to potential buyers:
no
Full review
Just six months - time enough for UK Top Ten hits in Peaches and Something Better Change - elapsed after Rattus Norvegicus before the Stranglers released their second album, No More Heroes, in September 1977. This reached Number 2 in the charts, while its fierce title track became a Number 8 hit single. No More Heroes was heavier and more acerbic than its predecessor. Its misogyny was nastier still in Bring On The Nubiles and Something Better Change, while the ghoulish Peasant In The Big Shitty, the baleful English Towns (There is no love inside of me, I gave it to a thousand girls) and I Feel Like A Wog offered dangerous visions of alienation. On a more personal level, Dagenham Dave paid homage to a faithful friend and fan of the band who had died.
The Stranglers always were pretty beefy, nasty musicians who were mysteriously quite academic and nice people (well apart from Jet Black, that is, oh and Dave Greenfield, who looked a prat, oh yeah and JJ Burnel who was a bruiser, and Hughie Cornwell swore a lot - okay, okay, I take it all back).
Rattus Norvegicus was a massive hit album and used up the bulk of their most popular songs leaving the quickly assembled No More Heroes looking distinctly second rate and unattractive - it was probably more accessible and easy to assimilate than the debut, but just came over as pretty damn insubstantial fare.
There are good moments, but inevitably they just feel like fleeting moments and stuff like School Mam should never have seen the light of day - that they did is a bit of an indictment of United Artists who wanted to capitalise on their investment and the band themselves, who seemed to have little concern for quality control.
They snapped back to form with the rather more expanisve Black And White album the following year, but it would probably have been better if they had waited for that one rather than making sure they got the full mileage out of their set.
Judged next to their debut set, No More Heroes is weak and unattractive, insincerely packaged, looking much more like a K-Tel rush release than a work of some substance, which the band would have wanted.
The sound was still as sinewy and steely as the first set, but was lacking in inspiration. For the time being at least, the Stranglers were definitely just marking time.
Nasty bastards...
More details
How does it rate alongside the competition
Average
Cover / Inlay Design and Content
Poor
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