Customer Reviews

No More Heroes

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this album in the 70s when I was hitchiking around Europe, and it has never lost its appeal. The title track is a driving masterwork, but every track on the album maintains its grip. This was their second album, in the original line-up with Hugh Cornwell driving, although most of the tracks were recorded in the same sessions as the first album 'Rattus Norvegicus'. The mood is angry, the music is immaculate. I would hate to try to pick stand out tracks, but 'English Towns' and 'Something better change' are personal favourites.

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.

Angry pre-punk, with virtuoso keyboard/synth layered over gravelly bass and driving guitar work. The essential Stranglers disc. Should also be available in domestic release.

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.

This is without a shadow of a doubt the best early stranglers album. Hugh Cornwall is fantastic and JJ Burnel is ace and David Greenfield and Jet Black are cool too. This whole album is superb both dark and funny at times its one of their best early releases. My favorites tracks? you want one how bout all of them great stuff indeed.

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.

I disagree with the other reviewers here who regard this as less than the Stranglers' finest effort. I am not a rabid fan of the band but this one has always grabbed me from start to finish. I would recommend it to anyone looking to hear a punk band with classic rock roots more openly displayed, and the chops to back up that attitude.

The Stranglers' first album plods along, only really picking up halfway through - THIS one starts with a bang and does not let up until the last phased out weird noises at the end of "School Mam."

It's got a great survivor's tale of the suicide of a heroin addict friend ("Dagenham Dave"), drunken-sounding rave-ups ("Bitching", "Burning Up Time"), biting social commentary ("I Feel Like A Wog"), good old thuggish sexism ("Bring On The Nubiles") ... but the reason I keep listening to this album decades later is the hooks. I dare you to not start tapping your foot to "Something Better Change."

They sort of recreated this awesome vibe on their next one ("Black And White" is worth checking out) and then they started off in a musical direction that really hasn't interested me much. But "No More Heroes" remains for me a pinnacle of the English punk rock era.

The inclusion on this reissue of "Straighten Out" - their best non-lp track - and the great rocker "5 Minutes" just makes this package even better.

Not many Stranglers' fans would consider this the group's best. It is made up partly of left-over material from the Rattus Norvegicus recording sessions and consequently it is little surprise that it fails to reach the same high standards. The title track ranks up there with the very best songs of the 1970's (or indeed of any period). Its lyrics also underline the group's penchant for intellectual themes (lead singer Hugh Cornwell researched for a doctorate in Bio-Chemistry before forming the band and bassist JJ Burnel was also a University graduate). Coupled with this intellectual side is a punk attitude based around the desire to shock. Paedophilia is a frequent theme of the group's early songs (lyrics like 'hello little girl, are you on your own? does your mummy know where you are? would you like a sweetie?'). The group have been called the most mysogynous of all time by the Guardian newspaper. Alongside the sexually-explicit lyrics there are some very powerful tunes built around the superb interplay between booming bass, Doors-style keyboards and unconventional guitar playing. Not the best Stranglers album but still better than 99.9% of albums produced.

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

If you've enjoyed the early punk, the vomit-spiked hair and the bottle of beer up your pfui, you will really enjoy this!