#21- The Stranglers - North Winds
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Year - 1984
Album - Aural Sculpture
UK Chart position - Non Single
Vocals - Jean-Jacques Burnel
Key Lyric - I used to dream about destruction
But now that I feel it getting near
I spend my time watching the ocean
And waves are all I want to hear
Interesting Points
1- This is a beautifully introspective song. The band had come a long way since singing about violence all the time
2- This song reminds me of travelling on the train to Sydney and back to spend days going through second hard record stores. Lugging back the fruits of my victory was always a challenge. I played this album every trip. Pet Shop Boys were the other constant.
3- Aural Sculpture was my first trip into the Stranglers. At this stage all i’d heard was Golden Brown and the lead single off Aural Sulpture, the gorgeous Skin Deep. I loved Aural Sculpture. It wasnt until i went into a second hand shop in Sydney that i asked for stuff by the Stranglers and he said do you want stuff like Rattus Norvegicus or the new **** lol? I got curious. He played me Rattus. I was blown away and sold into the meninblack cult. Somehow music always sounded better on the Record Shop Hi Fi.
4- I never knew this was a JJB song that he sings the vocals on. I always assumed it was Hugh. At the time of this album, JJB was caring for his terminally ill father and removed himself from much of the project. He snuck this track in upon his return.
5- The cassette version of this album had a computer game playable on the Spectrum. That fascinated me as computers just werent a thing at the time.
Summary to date
Year
1977 - 4
1978 - 2
1979 - 2
1980 - 0
1981 - 1
1982 - 0
1983 - 0
1984 - 1
1985 - 0
1986 - 0
1987 - 0
1988 - 1
1989 - 0
1990 onwards - 0
Where to find
Rattus Norvegicus - 4/9
No More Heroes - 0/11
Black and White - 1/12
The Raven - 2/11
The Gospel According to the Meninblack - 0/10
La Folie - 1/11
Feline - 0/9
Aural Sculpture - 1/11
Dreamtime - 0/10
All Live and All of the Night - 1/13
10 - 0/10
1991 onwards - 0
B Sides - 0
Greatest Hits - 0
Standalone Single - 1
Running Vocal Count
Hugh Cornwell - 6
Jean-Jacques Burnel - 5
Other - 0
Rundown
#31 - Walk on By
#30 - Ugly
#29 - All Day and All of the Night
#28 - Meninblack
#27 - Goodbye Toulouse
#26 - Princess of the Streets
#25 - Sweden (All Quiet on the Eastern Front)
#24 - Duchess
#23 - Sometimes
#22 - La Folie
#21 - North Winds
We go back to back Aural Sculpture next. After this track there will be few surprises in the top 19. A couple, but if we are looking for deep album cuts you are likely to be disappointed. Mind you, 6 of the top 19 werent singles. A few arent even on a album…except compilation kind of stuff.