The Stranglers - Goodbye Toulouse (High Quality)

[QRCharts]

Fuck yeah! :-)

[sicleeeves]

This band were everything to me back in the day.Remember meeting them backstage at Bath Pavilion (27.9.78)  GR8 gig.

[redmike9560]

This is my fave Stranglers song!!

[Pietruss]

Toulouse Rocks ;)

[hugocarayonable]

When I discovered this album, I found myself happy to live in Toulouse !

[tootstanner]

Without a doubt pure and utter brilliance!!..I am so glad i was around in those days!!! ..Music meant something back then, what is there now? the fucking xfactor! whats wrong with youngsters in Britain these days?..dont they do youth culture anymore?..We had all the fire and passion and thank god i was there!!

[somame69]

If you love the bass line on this, try "Alice"....Sisters of Mercy"

[vfrl4fma]

Just saw then (minus Hugh) in Preston...utterly brilliant

[tommynnocker]

this is withhout question my favourite song of all time

[sismg]

well said 50 man im 51 went 2 c em wen i waz 17 best punk ever

[beeflin]

Standout composition, this one!

[Quoinblock]

It has to be said that the Arctic Monkeys are a lot better than X Ray Spex ever were.

[mosquito1958]

I agree with you keventheshedend1976 mate none can get close to what you mentioned

[Amberol]

They probably have a bigger following and a longer lasting following as their tunes just do NOT age... The Stranglers, IMHO, went for every kind of music and was bloody good at it!! I'm 50 this year and... these guys really ROCK!

[theonepiece99]

Yer cafes tell the tale been to the said city not an interesting place good fir the bhoys today cmon the Celtic

[mccon59]

Buy the album - It's top 10 album of the day along with The Members

[smmeegal]

yeah da best!! thankyou so much xx

[karlshoneybear]

Reminds me of my great mate Tally...finally i can hear the song without him singing along everytime...brill...k

[thescreamsmusic]

Excellent innovation,Musicianship & of course songwriting,A Truly brilliant album,then they produced avant garde material on No more Heroes,The Raven to name just two more classic albums.Different league,in fairness the quality & standards of innovation,songwriting etc,had been set a mere 6 or 7 years earlier by The Beatles,so it does raise the level they must've aspired to.

[1967Eileen]

This is one of the best.

[aaronconrad1973]

A Classic.

[cosmicrider287]

gonna give toulouse a visit for my holidays,sounds terrific.

[vinceyboy321]

fucking awesome

[HommaHieno]

Lots of creativity and positive energy.

[86TERRYMAC]

JJ IS THE MASTER OF THE BASS GUITAR 1 WORD LEGEND

[cementbug]

without a dopubtht he best song of the era, heavy under-rted as they did not fit the profile of what a punk/new wave band should look like, such a shame, on of if not the best bass lones ever: subtle, catchy, infectious...

[WarpLover]

My mum said this is music to shake your shoulders and tap your feet too. That's bollocks. I would bang my head to this as a kid.

[celticchris1888]

JJ has got some fucking sound right through this album. A bass lesson from start to finish,

[somame69]

@celticchris1888 along with Waters (different genre) wrote the book on playing bass

[Volanne]

Saw them live in... Toulouse !

That was in 1984 or 1985, for the Aural Sculpture tour.

Surprisingly, they didn't play this tune.

[pretentiouspigeon]

im sorry but hands down best bass tone in the world ever!!!

[couscoustv]

You have excellent taste.

[markbaravelli]

Great track... back to my childhood.

[Lula40959]

oh is it toulouse lautrec or just london kids in the 1970s?

[sergejisd]

@Lula40959 being Jean-Jacques Burnel Anglo-French i think it's about the French city Toulouse

[somame69]

@Lula40959

summer of 77/78,hot hot in the uk! so were these guys

[jrjupton]

bass!!

[cosmicrider287]

@jrjupton melody!

[shugw63]

fucking awesome sounds.....better now than they ever were...rattus was/is an excellent album from the era......gone yerself Hughie

[hcjc57]

...And this aural masterpiece STILL pops up in their set list from time to time! Now, if we can only persuade EMI to release "Decades Apart" on Capitol in the USA in conjunction with a tour!

[alanhug]

no more great bands anymore

[lessmosquito]

Saw them play Hammersmith on Fri & they were fecking keyboard-astic!

[averageguitarheroguy]

been living here for 7 years now... toulouse really isn't all that great, guys...

[formsofthingsunknown]

i'll never forget the first time i heard this record, it was on richard meltzer's 12 o'clock rock program on kpfk los angeles in 1977 and he played tracks from the first albums by stranglers, ultravox and television, and it was my first taste of punk and new wave and what a blast of fresh air it was! this music still sounds powerful and striking after all these years. saw the stranglers a couple times back in the early/mid 80s and they were great...

[kangaroocomedy]

Totally FUCKING BRILLIANT!

[kevintheshedend1976]

REALLY!!!

Thanks, I'll have to give that a read then, although it still doesn't quite quite add up. . . . .

. . .Paula leaned out to me

from her high balcony

Toulouse

I will return someday

so you can hear me say farewell-a.

I 'spose I was expecting summit a bit more romantic than prophetic doom. but hey, what does it matter......it'll always be a timeless and brilliant track

[Rawlinson18]

@kevintheshedend1976 I recommend as a good read "Hugh cornwell a mutitude of sins". He says this song is about Nostradamus predicting that Toulouse will be nuked.

[kevintheshedend1976]

Brilliant

So much of this genre was underground.

The Damned, The Clash, The Buzzcocks, X-Ray Spex.. the list is endless, but none of them had a top 20 hit. Bands just weren't promoted and marketed back then as they are now.

All of those bands piss on Oasis, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and Kings of Leon from a very great height, but the latter all made more money from 1 tour (on the back of 1 album) than their predecessors did in their entire careers

Modern music industry, eh

[Dreddloxx]

Bands like The Stranglers never needed a top 20 hit,as their music spoke for itself...there will be people still listening to this stuff LONG after the Arctic Monkeys,Kings Of Leon,etc...have shuffled from this mortal coil...It is timeless.

[555Nato]

@kevintheshedend1976 ,

you got that right.

it's mostly pulp which is hyped nowadays.

if for example a female singer doesn't have the looks they can forget about it.

what a superficial ugly scene it is nowadays.

"when is it gonna change"(skrewdriver ;-P as bad as i wanna be)

[funincenmd]

@555Nato  "Its only the children of the fucking wealthy that tend to be goodlooking"

[555Nato]

@funincenmd ,dont worry, it aint.

[Panvil]

@kevintheshedend1976 you really shouldnt judge bands like kings of leon and arctic monkeys the way you do. Arctic monkeys are extremely true to their punk roots, and are often defined as a "post-punk band". Kings of leon is an awesome band - and extremely talented live. really, you cant hear the big differences between studio and live.

[kevintheshedend1976]

@Panvil

If you read the comment properly you'll see that the point I was making wasn't how good or bad Arctic Monkeys or Kol are - I like both of them- but more how outrageously talented and relatively unerground bands of the late 70's were and how much the music industry has changed in the way they globaly operate and promote bands thru an instant world wide media.

[longclawson]

@kevintheshedend1976

Tsk...........

[Druschba]

@kevintheshedend1976: You are so fucking right!

[nosnilor]

@kevintheshedend1976 Too simplistic, you could say the same with footballers, actors or anyone. Society has changed. And it wasn't/isn't about top 20 but about good frigging music. Nothing t loving this tough and this is up there with the best.

[shuffleknuckle5]

@kevintheshedend1976 Hey Grandad, you sound like my dad and his dad. My dad listened to his dad slagging off the Stranglers (no talent son - listen to elvis - now that is talent) and then my dad slags off my bands. Stranglers are brilliant - but shit it wasn't the end of talent and I bet they would agree with me. Amazing that such a donkey Ignorant statement should get so many votes.

[kevintheshedend1976]

@shuffleknuckle5Where the fuck does it say anything about the end of talent?You're missin the point entirely. My top 10 albums include Oasis, Stereophonics, RHCP & Kanye West. In the late70's,amazing talent remained heavily underground. As nosnilor pointed out, it wasn't just the music industry. That period was shit. There was riots, overt racism, football hooliganism, strikes, 33% inflation & the Tube wasn't safe at night, But surely you can't deny that the music back then was phenominal?

[TheFourthDefender]

@kevintheshedend1976 The music industry has become like every other. Not axed on quality, focusing on which fuels human progress, but rather on selling the shit that can make the most money. It was an unavoidable end in capitalist society, but it is still sad to witness it. Be not worried though; every civilization eventually crumbles down and a new one takes its place.

Those days will come again.

[funkyfunker]

@TheFourthDefender vive le revol

[Radonwings]

@kevintheshedend1976 The Arctic Monkeys are pretty good IMO, but you're right, these guys are far better than all of those bands and more.

[dickerkata]

This is so funny...I´ve been a guitar-fan for so long,listening to all this rock and metal guitar stuff like everyone...but when I heard rattus for the first time.I thought I got something wrong....C´mon,listen to the guitar-soli in the first 5 songs,how different and great they are...not technically,but so unique...I forgott all those great guitar-players at the moment...don´t mind...I´m sorry...Hugh is a *unt...

[Rawlinson18]

Should have cocentrated on the bass sunshine , youre a cunt.

[nadionadianona]

uahahhahahahahahahha this is one of the best comment I've evere read

[Rawlinson18]

Hugh was offered a million pounds to rejoin, he just said "I don't need a million pounds".

[lufc74is]

just played outside huddersfield in the uk fantastic.still hugh should be up front.they got a great reception.was huddersfield the last time the sex pistols appeared all together.?

[MoveOverCasanova]

to me it is not that Hugh Cornwell is so "extremely intelligent" - he is just very down to earth, humble and has an instinct for what it is that counts in life

[dickerkata]

Yeah,the bassline,as ever...C´MON:what about the double layered ,polyphonic guitars????ufd!!!

[tootstanner]

This is one the bands finest tracks..The bass line is hypnotic..a brilliant band, saw them supporting the Who at Wembley stadium in 79..

[dickerkata]

Yep,I agree!that´s exactly the way I see things...

[LORDGODSIRALEXFERGIE]

Hugh Cornwell is an extremely intelligent and intellectual person. That is why the Stranglers were so powerful with him at the helm, but they have lost the life now. You could find meaning in every song when he was with them!

[MoveOverCasanova]

i think the rest of the band contibuted nearly as much creativity and spirituality - i think the stranglers were such a consistent, powerful package, that every dropout would have been a mess.

and as you see, they are doing very fine gigs up ´til now---genesis with ray wilson could have been glad about such a situation

[LORDGODSIRALEXFERGIE]

You are so right! Pity they will never get together again.

[dickerkata]

Of course,they do sound more like the stranglers now than they did with Paul...But I think they sound like a re-construction of the early stranglers...some kind of a cover-band...

[lacusicusi]

AAAAA!!!! Finally they understood us, the hurt fans.

They got rid of that clown Paul Roberts, and YES, I agree: They sound very good with BAZ....

I saw them in 1981 in London,with Hugh, but now I'm in L.A. so I don't have much chances of watching them live... Are they coming over here any time soon?

[ALTRENT900]

Isn't Hugh on tour here in the U.S. right now?

AL

[RattusNorvegicus67]

big fan ? come over here ya tight cunt...OH AHM IN THE STATES???> fanny baws.. :)

[Rawlinson18]

This comes from Nostradamus predictions that Tolouse will get Nuked

[bilebeast]

Yeah, oh how we love our paranoid meninblack

[toomanyteardrops]

Best stranglers song ever.IMO

[kaiser0790]

anyone know when they next play?thanks

[lacusicusi]

how much can I miss The Stranglers IV...how could they choose such a bad replacement for vocalist... how can they sound so bad when they used to sound so good... I still hope someday Hugh goes back and they kick out Paul Roberts.

[bingoace]

We have Baz now, and he is doing a grand job. The Stranglers sound better than ever. It is no good mourning for Hugh. He was the one who ditched them. Praise the other three who made the effort to keep the band alive. The Strangler's great sound is still there.

[ALTRENT900]

Even if the band brought back Hugh and became a 5 piece again, I'm not sure they would be any better than they are now. Hugh doesn't have the same energy these days.

AL

USA

[nxtmaster]

You don't have to miss them - see them live with Baz on vocals and you'll know what I mean - excellent!!

[grahamsometimes]

never a better debut...

[toomanyteardrops]

i'll second that!

[ajj4account]

Great song. They never played this stuff, at the time, on the radio in the U.S. though.

[kangaroocomedy]

This song has stood still, it was awesome then, and its still awesome now....Its made of Fucking granite....

From Her High Balcony...I will Return Again Some Day So You Can Hear Me Say Farewell...Goodbye Toulouse...

[coprey66]

This was the soundtrack to my adloesence. Intense!!

[getsmile1970]

Jean is very cool!

[kangaroocomedy]

A NME critic once wrote of the Stranglers as postmodern as they reintroduced traditional and classical elements of style and carried this modernist style to the extreme.

I said bull-shit to your words boy, stand by and let the boys loose with their unstoppable ferocity.

[goodbyetoulouse77]

Greatest group around, rode through toulouse on motorcycle tour recently, couldnt get the song outta my head for weeks, who would want to, legendary timeless classic!!!!!!!!

[kaiser0790]

i feel old all of a sudden

[matthew633walsh]

i agree great album

[kaiser0790]

best stranglers track by far

[hanging1v]

best album ever s1v

[modsheff1]

fuckin fuckin fuckin brilliant! FUCKIN DOGSBOLLOCKS!!!

[XMizerableX]

This song is fantastic! Thanks for posting! Brings back many memories! :)

[kangaroocomedy]

Thank you, thank you! Excellent. A great reminder that these recordings were mostly straight 4 track, ie; gtr, bass,drums.keys, hardly any MULTI-TRACKING in comparison with the last two decades recording.  This stuff really gets the adrenalin going, AWESOME!

Thanks Esatre.

[Tilly220]

Glad to see this, and with such good sound quality. Hope you post some more from Rattus.