With John Lydon flinging the filth and the fury at the nation via the medium of a game show, the ever present fascination with punk is currently hitting new levels. Time then, for the old stagers to make a comeback – except that the Stranglers never really went away.
Norfolk Coast is their fifteenth studio album, working against the notion that it’s better to burn out than fade away. While the band have managed to avoid the former fate, their decreasing profile might suggest that the latter is something they’ll have to fight against. Norfolk Coast is an OK record but that’s about it. JJ Burnell’s trademark rumbling bass and the pulsing keyboards hark back to their classic days, but in truth nothing here can hold a candle to the songs that made their name. Paul Roberts does his best to snarl and sneer through the rockier numbers, yet the band sound strangely best when they divert from the blueprint. Both ‘Dutch Moon’ and ‘Santfe Kuss’ have a jazz feel to them (the latter, almost unbelievably, sung in French) and are actually not too bad.
The Undertones and Stiff Little Fingers are proof that middle-age punk rock isn’t necessarily a bad idea, for the Stranglers, however, it may be time for a rethink.