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AUSTRALIAN IMPORT
The first and finest of the band's many albums, Rattus Norvegicus is also the closest the Stranglers came to defining how they were lumped into the punk movement -- even if it is still difficult to tell why. Brutal, bleak, and bellicose, the Stranglers ranged in temperament between the bully boys hiding in the alley round the corner and a bad-tempered uncle who invites himself over for dinner, then spends the day complaining about the price of the bus fare. Rattus is as split between these extremes as anything the Stranglers ever did but, even at its most pointlessly offensive (and between them, "Ugly" and "Peaches" conspire to upset almost everyone who reads the lyrics), the album disports itself with both a musical and a lyrical conviction, which means you can't take the insults too seriously. Or, if you do, you're as much of a problem today as the whiners who didn't get the joke back then.
1 Sometimes 4:55
2 Goodbye Toulouse 3:16
3 London Lady 2:32
4 Princess of the Streets 4:37
5 Hanging Around 4:27
6 Peaches 4:07
7 (Get A) Grip (On Yourself) 4:01
8 Ugly 4:07
9 Down in the Sewer: Falling/Down in the Sewer/Trying to Get Out Again 7:58
10 Choosey Susie 3:13
11 Go Buddy Go 3:58
12 Peasant in the Big Shitty Live 3:43
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