Walk On By by The Stranglers

I thought it would be rather appropriate if my next blog post in this series celebrated the work of Hal David, who died a few days ago.
Hal David, for the uninitiated, was the songwriting partner of Burt Bacharach. Hal David wrote the lyrics for many very well known songs during his long career, including "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" and "Do You Know The Way To San Jose".

I was originally thinking of including a different single by The Stranglers when i first composed a mental list of records to talk about here. My first thought was to use their first ever single "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)", which i own and which got to the heady heights of number 44 in the UK charts in early 1977.
Maybe i'll get around to that one day?

But, due to the death of Hal David, i thought i'd include this single instead. It has always been a favourite of mine anyway and i love the way The Stranglers covered this classic song and really made it their own.

As you might be able to see from the photo above, i got this single free with The Stranglers 3rd album, Black And White. The 'Black and White' album was released in May of 1978 and got to number 2 in the UK album charts. It was their 3rd album release in 18 months! Can you imagine a band doing that now, except as a kind of gimmick?

The "Walk On By" single was given away free with the first 75,000 copies of the album and is in white vinyl. The A Side of the single is "Walk On By" itself and the B Side included two tracks, "Mean To Me" and "Tits".
 
"Walk On By" was originally a hit single for Dionne Warwick , for whom it was written, back in 1964 and reached number 8 in the UK charts.

Giving away free singles with albums was something that The Stranglers had done before and was done by other bands at that time as well. It was obviously a marketing ploy to get fans to rush out and buy the album as soon as it came out, in the hope of getting that freebie. Thereby increasing the chances of a high chart position the next week.
Limited edition coloured vinyl, or picture sleeves on singles were done for exactly the same reason. Some things you just can't replicate with an mp3 can you?

When i bought The Stranglers first album 'Rattus Norvegicus' in April, 1977, the first 10,000 copies also came with a free single. I own that one as well and who knows, that may feature here at some time too as there is a personal story behind that album.

During the earlier days of Punk Rock, The Stranglers often got a bit of a bad press. Partly, i think, because of the age of some of the members and also because their music did hark back, at least partially, to earlier days. They were even compared to The Doors at times, i seem to remember. They were also accused of playing too well and treated with suspicion by some.
The content of some of their lyrics didn't help them at times either.

Personally, i liked them as soon as i heard them. Maybe because they reminded me of bands that i was listening to anyway? So, i was buying their records from the moment they came out and continued to do so until the turn of the decade when their music went downhill, in my opinion anyway.
I still own many of those early vinyl singles. But, as is so often the case, not the albums.

I first heard about The Stranglers when i read an article in Sounds magazine around 1976. I can't be sure of the year, but the article and the bands name, stuck in my mind. It was comparing the way that two very different bands toured in the UK at that time. The two bands were Deep Purple and The Stranglers. I suspect that i remember the article because Deep Purple were a favourite band of mine and were still huge back then.
I remember that The Stranglers spoke of how they were travelling around the country to gigs in an old ice cream van. A far cry from the way that Deep Purple were travelling!

I saw The Stranglers live twice. Both times in 1977 and both times in Liverpool. And thereby hangs a tale and one to be told at a later date.
The first gig was at the famous 'Eric's' club on Sunday 19th June 1977. 'Eric's' was famously situated in Matthew Street, opposite where 'The Cavern Club' had stood. It was a great venue and one that i visited several times in 1977 and 1978.

The 'Eric's' gig actually took place on the Sunday lunchtime. The Stranglers played two shows at 'Eric's' that day. The second being in the evening. I remember that i couldn't go to the evening show as i had to catch a train back home that same afternoon.
The story at the time was that The Stranglers should have played the Empire Theatre in Liverpool that day. But, due to all the furore at that time over the Sex Pistols song "God Save The Queen", that gig was cancelled and replaced with two at 'Eric's' instead. This was right at the time of The Queens silver jubilee celebrations and many people were a little bit touchy.
I know where i would rather have seen The Stranglers and i'm very pleased that i got what i wanted. I remember it as being a good gig, although a little bit strange. After all, it was a Sunday lunchtime. Not the sort of time you expect to see a major Punk band in a small underground club.
One song from this gig that sticks in my mind was "London Lady" which includes the lyrics, "Have you ever been to Liverpool?" I seem to remember the crowd singing along to that bit.

My second Stranglers gig was on 14th October 1977, this time at Liverpool University. This was during the tour for The Stranglers 2nd album 'No More Heroes'.

All i can say about this gig is, what a difference a few months make.
Whereas the gig at 'Eric's' had been an intimate and very enjoyable affair, the gig at Liverpool University was a very different experience.
Punk Rock had become far more mainstream in those few months and the clothes worn by many in the, far bigger, crowd reflected this. I even saw girls using kettles as handbags!
There was also a hint of violence in the air at all times. Something that was missing at 'Eric's'. Sure, Punk music was aggressive and crowds could often be boisterous. But, there's a huge difference between being boisterous and being violent. Unfortunately, this was the shape of things to come at many Punk gigs in the coming months and years.

1977 was a pivotal year for many people and for many reasons.
As i've mentioned in another one of these posts, it certainly had an effect on me as well. 1978, when "Walk On By" was released was just a continuation of that.
The Stranglers played a part in all of that for me. They were the first Punk band that i saw live and one of the first whose music i bought and played. And i'm still happily playing that music today.
Maybe, i'm still a rebel at heart?

The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore by Keane

So far i've written about the first vinyl single that i ever bought and the first one that i ever owned. Now, it's time to tell you about the last single that i acquired and one that i've never played.
I say acquired because i didn't actually buy it. It comes under that category of free singles that are given away by bands for their fans, or by record labels for promotional purposes.
I have several vinyl singles like this and may well talk about some others over time.

"The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" by Keane is, as i'm sure many people are already aware, a cover version.
The song, written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio, was originally a solo hit for Frankie Valli in 1965. Crewe and Gaudio wrote many songs for both Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.
Although "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" has been recorded by many artists, including Cher. Probably the most famous version is the one by The Walker Brothers, which was number one in the UK in 1966.

The version by Keane was recorded in 2004 and was originally meant as a download only release. Quite a revolutionary idea back then. It was then given to the War Child foundation, of whom Keane are patrons, so that it could be downloaded from the War Child website. This was in 2005.

The 7" vinyl single version that i own, was given away to some fans of the band in 2005 and was limited to only 1,000 copies, all individually numbered. It was done as a thank you to early fans of the band who had helped them with their initial success.You can see from the photo above, that my copy is number '0814'.
The vinyl single came with a copy of a hand written note, written and signed by the band members. The note starts with the words "Thanks for all your love and support during the last year".

So, how did i come to get my hands on such a limited edition single?
Well, Keane come from the town of Battle, scene of the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Battle is only 7 miles from where i live. So, i knew a bit about the band from a fairly early stage. Although they never played locally, concentrating their efforts instead on London. A strategy that proved to be a good one.

Strangely, seeing as how new a band Keane are, i do actually have some more vinyl 7" 45's by them. Some of their single releases also came out in numbered limited edition vinyl as well. I have a copy of "Somewhere Only We Know" (Number 1635) and, for some unknown reason, 2 copies of "Everybody's Changing" (Numbers 1033 and 2606). Both singles were released in 2004.

I do also have some other rarities by them. I have a copy, on CD, of the first ever release of their song "This Is The Last Time". Which was originally released in 2003 on the Fierce Panda record label.

I also have a 6 track promo sampler CD of Keane's first album, Hopes And Fears. It was sent to me by the record company, prior to the album release and has the serial number '0005' on both the CD and the cover. It also came with a note saying that the CD was copy protected, water marked and that my name had been logged for security reasons!

I have only seen Keane live twice. The second time was in June 2005 at a local music festival, a gig i ended up reviewing for the local paper. It was very much a homecoming gig for a band who had had a huge amount of success over the past year. I remember that the gig was only a couple of days before Keane's appearence, in front of a worldwide audience of many millions, at Live 8.

The first time i saw them was in rather different circumstances and was just before their breakthrough single, "Somewhere Only We Know", was released in February 2004. The gig was on 7th February.
The venue was the "Underground Theatre" in Eastbourne, just 15 miles from Hastings and i still have my ticket. I doubt that there were more than 50 people in the small theatre and i got the impression that most of them were family and friends anyway.
Something that sticks in my mind from the gig was that i was right at the front, actually leaning on the stage, during the whole gig. Not knowing that Keane were just about to come on, i'd wandered down to the front to have a look at the gear that the band were going to use. It was at that moment that Keane walked on stage, so i thought i'd stay right where i was. A very good decision on my part i think.

Well, Keane have certainly come a long way since that day, selling over 10 million albums so far.
Their fifth album, Strangeland, was released in  May 2012 and in common with all of their previous 4 albums, it went to number one in the UK album charts.
Apparently, only one other band have ever managed that same feat....... The Beatles.
I think that fact proves that this is definitely a case of local lads making good.

Postscript:
Guess what? I've now remembered that i have actually seen Keane a third time.
This third occasion was between the two gigs mentioned above. I have no idea how i came to forget this third gig, as it was a good one, just like the other two.
The gig, once again, took place in Eastbourne. This time though it was at the Winter Garden on 8th May 2004. I don't remember a huge amount about the gig except that it took place just at the time that "Hopes And Fears" was released and that it was a standing only gig. There were certainly far more people there than at the previous Eastbourne gig, just a few months before.
The one thing that does stick in mind is walking down a road, near to the venue, prior to the gig and walking right past Tim Rice-Oxley, of Keane. I wish i'd said "hello" now.