Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers) – Totem and Taboo (2012)

Incredibly, it’s been 22 years since Hugh Cornwell left The Stranglers. With his former band he released 10 studio albums in 14 years.Hugh has always been an intellectual, often ignored in his punk roots, and has an urbanity and eccentricity about him akin to David Byrne, so it’s no surprise that Totem and Taboo is a reference to a collection of essays by Sigmund Freud. Cornwell appears to be saying that he walks a different walk, that he sees things differently, that what he enjoys we would revile at. With such a strong claim one might expect the music to be difficult and experimental, but the sound is classic guitar, bass and drums. It has the sound of a 60s band; the bass is, at times, as rumbling as anything JJ Burnel ever put down between grooves and Hugh’s guitar work has always been interesting and individual. In keeping with the 60s sound, ”˜Stuck in Daily Mail Land’ sounds like a Ray Davies number and ”˜God is a Woman’ has a bass line straight from Cream’s ”˜Badge’.Cornwell’s song writing has often revolved around well known phrases and this album is no different, with song titles like: ”˜I Want One of Those’, ”˜Bad Vibrations’, ”˜Love Me Slender’ and ”˜In the Dead of the Night’. But where once his lyrics were mysterious and open to interpretation, now they all too often banal; take this from The Face: “Amongst the faithful there was Paul/he shook my hand in the hall”.

mp3 320 kbps | 107 MB | UL