Golden Brown by The Stranglers : Progressive? |
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softandwet
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 06 2019 Location: France Status: Offline Points: 211 |
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Posted: August 13 2020 at 12:31 |
This Stranglers song hit me earlier today on the radio : harpsichord, weird time signature, weird key signature, experimentation with multiplication of the lead singer voice, etc
THIS IS PROG! I shouted. But then I look up the band on Wikipedia, and so progarchives, and discovered that it was, unfortunately, not a prog band at all. I was truly disappointed to understand that this song was a kind of a UFO in their discog. But how would you have react in this case? Would you have made the link between progressive music and this song, or would you have just ignored it? |
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Cos the answer could be in your mind Maybe one cut and we’ll find We’re just a wavelength behind But we are entwined And I know what you need |
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Psychedelic Paul
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 16 2019 Location: Nottingham, U.K Status: Online Points: 34775 |
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Nope. The Stranglers "Golden Brown" is about as appealing to me as Gordon Brown.
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Gentle and Giant
Forum Senior Member Joined: October 24 2019 Location: Blackpool Status: Offline Points: 3715 |
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Great song, never prog though and never thought it as such.
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Oh, for the wings of any bird, other than a battery hen
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Hercules
Prog Reviewer Joined: June 14 2007 Location: Near York UK Status: Offline Points: 7024 |
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The Stranglers were always an anachronism amongst bands that were close to the punk scene. They were one of the few bands with a keyboard player - and a good one at that - and they went far beyond the punk norm in terms of experimentation. I felt they exploited the punk scene rather than were ever truly part of it.
And they do have undoubted prog influences, even though they were never a prog band. Big Country also came out of the punk scene (the Skids) but made music with strong prog influences whilst never actually being prog. They're one of my favourite bands.
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A TVR is not a car. It's a way of life.
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Hrychu
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 03 2013 Location: poland? Status: Offline Points: 4138 |
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Nope. It's not prog rock but it's cool nonetheless.
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Bez pierdolenia sygnał zerwie, to w realia wychodź w hełmie!
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dr wu23
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 22 2010 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 20468 |
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Some of the Stranglers songs were brilliant imho but I wouldn't call that track prog, but this lp is surely out there and parts are proggier than many bands on PA.
Weird and bizarre to say the least....and it's one of my favorite strange lp's. 2 tracks..... |
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AFlowerKingCrimson
Forum Senior Member Joined: October 02 2016 Location: Philly burbs Status: Offline Points: 16187 |
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Listening to the song now on youtube. Nope not prog. If it is then Belle and Sebastian would have to be prog too.
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richardh
Prog Reviewer Joined: February 18 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 26151 |
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Very clearly is prog but not everything they did was. Stuff like 5 Minutes and No More Heroes still fall under New Wave rather than prog. 'The British Doors' was apparently what someone once called them.
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Mortte
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 11 2016 Location: Finland Status: Offline Points: 5538 |
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Golden Brown is not UFO track in Stranglers Discography, it fits really well into La Folie-album where it is, although I think it´s greatest song in that album. Stranglers were the ones in seventies some journalists blamed not to be punk, because some members were too old and also many of them were great musicians. I would call them post-punk from the beginning but everybody can call them whatever they like. Not my most fav post-punk band, but like them anyway quite much!
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Blacksword
Prog Reviewer Joined: June 22 2004 Location: England Status: Offline Points: 16130 |
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It's proggy, but no, not really. It is what it is, an excellent song which happens to have a harpsichord in it, and happens to be in 13/8 time. The recurring "are the Stranglers prog rock?" debate will now ensue (again)
Golden Brown is one of the greatest hit singles ever written by any band, of any genre IMO. |
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Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy!
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chopper
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: July 13 2005 Location: Essex, UK Status: Offline Points: 19943 |
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Interestingly there was something about this in the latest edition of Prog where they interviewed Rick Wakeman and JJ Burnel. From memory 2 of them went to the pub and left Dave Greenfield and Jet Black to write something and when they came back they'd come up with a sort of "prog" suite and the only bit they liked became "Golden Brown". Sorry typing this from memory as I can't find my copy of Prog at the moment.
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BaldFriede
Prog Reviewer Joined: June 02 2005 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 10261 |
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Jean and I consider The Stranglers to be prog, simply because they often use real polyphony which is rare in prog even (Gentle Giant are a band that often use it). Any band that uses this highly advanced compositional technique should be considered as prog.
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BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
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Manuel
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Agreed.
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chopper
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: July 13 2005 Location: Essex, UK Status: Offline Points: 19943 |
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You've mentioned this before and I think you said it was in a track on Black And White. Could you remind me which track(s) as my thicky musician mind isn't sure what you mean by polyphony?
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Greenmist
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 10 2020 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 294 |
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No, wouldent consider it prog rock at all, for a start its too repetitive. No complex structures nothing.
Best thing about that song was when someone made a parody of it and called it Gordon Brown "Treasurey waste, data misplaced, get out of town, James Gordon Brown"
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Psychedelic Paul
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 16 2019 Location: Nottingham, U.K Status: Online Points: 34775 |
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I had no idea there was a Gordon Brown parody version when I mentioned Gordon Brown earlier, although the name of the song is so similar it almost begs for a parody version to be made.
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Muskrat
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Prog or not ?
Impossible question if you don't definite this term. So, what is progressive rock ? I'm afraid that each of us have his own idea. Anyway, there's no copyright on it. There was a time when I thought that only Yes played prog.
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Lewian
Prog Reviewer Joined: August 09 2015 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 14108 |
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There are songs that immediately shout "I'm prog" at the listener and there are songs that shout "I'm not prog". Golden Brown obviously doesn't fall in any of these categories (at which it is not alone by any means). If a genuine and generally accepted prog band had done it, nobody would complain it's not prog. However making a prog case for this song in an isolated manner is rather an uphill battle. It shows that it's a different discussion whether a song is prog or whether a band is prog. There is no objective truth on these matters in any case (ultimately such categories are meaningless, but discussing something meaningless is what we do all the time anyway), but the discussion is a different one. BTW I belong to the big group of people who love this song. Whether it's prog or not doesn't matter much though.
Edited by Lewian - August 14 2020 at 09:12 |
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HolyMoly
Special Collaborator Retired Admin Joined: April 01 2009 Location: Atlanta Status: Offline Points: 26133 |
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They’re a pretty unique band in general. Not even sure the term “prog” would do them justice. I’d just call it “interesting, ambitious music”.
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Droxford
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I rate The Stranglers very highly. Though they appeared with the Punk/New Wave of 1976/1977 , they created their own niche as it were. The Stranglers' fabulous 'Black and White' album (1978) is sadly very overlooked. Their keyboardist, Dave Greenfield , was often counted as being influenced by Ray Manzerk, but claimed to be more influenced by Jon Lord. And I can see the connection , particularly with Deep Purple's 'Burn' album. But wouldn't count them as prog. Doesn't mean that they didn't ever display some Prog influence now and then.
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