Namesakes #70: The Strangers

I'm behind on my posts and you almost didn't get a Namesakes this week. Fortunately, George came to the rescue with the piece below. He's even come up with a new name for the feature. I prefer mine, but I'll let him have his way just this once...

Bands With The Same Name - The Strangers

I don’t think it has escaped Rol’s notice that I am enjoying the series of BWTSN. Playing all the songs, as I do, is somehow like listening to a radio programme, some good tracks, some astoundingly awful, some tedious, rather than listening to an album of a group I might like, so expecting to mostly like the songs with one or two duffers (for example, playing a late-era Fall album). Rol has, again, kindly offered this page to me, and I hoped to unearth some bands all called The Stranglers, and to my amazement I unearthed seemingly dozens of them. Nope, my typing let me down, I had found a whole load of Strangers. So, here you are, a bunch of Strangers to get to know better. And to any teachers who read this, here’s 16, yes sixteen*, songs to play to your class as they do a test, something to inspire them...

(*We'll see.)

THE STRANGERS #1

To start, some red hot surfing rock and rolling American Strangers...

THE STRANGERS #2

And here are the early 1980's soul-funk-disco Strangers (Heatwave soundalikes):

THE STRANGERS #3

Some Australian Strangers now, who started off sounding like The Shadows, which is of course Not A Bad Thing.

137 seconds of splendid twanging. They drifted/moved away from their twangy roots, judging by later videos that will not be inflicted on you.

THE STRANGERS #4

Strangers from a third continent now. This is an early 1970's  Afrorock/Afrobeat band from Nigeria...

THE STRANGERS #5

A song from these Strangers (Boston USA), which I saw described as garage rock, from 1965...

THE STRANGERS #6

Here’s a description of our next group, “After being estranged from the world, The Strangers are here to inspire a new movement in hip hop and bring restoration and guidance back to the hood”. 

THE STRANGERS #7

Before playing the next one, I high hopes of a good listening experience. These doo-wop/Rhythm and Blues Strangers were signed to the King label. In the picture that’s Pringle Sims, second from the right.

Words that I never uttered to my partner in our courting days, even though she did live to the north of me.

THE STRANGERS #8

Other words not seen enough on these pages, or other blogs: a song from Finland’s best 1960's twangy-guitar band:

……that translates as Three Guitars.

THE STRANGERS #9

More European Strangers, and Thessaloniki’s best 1960's pop band (I think the translation said something like that).

This particular song seems to have attracted two of Walter’s (our pigeon) friends to the yard! Luckily, neither of the cats are near.

THE STRANGERS #10

Next: Dublin’s very own version of Herman’s Hermits...

THE STRANGERS #11

Not Belgian Strangers next, because (1) no videos, and (2) it seems to be a compilation album of singers none of whom are called Mr or Ms Strangers, not a band or bands, although they might all be strangers to each other. Unless the world of 1960s Belgian pop was a small village. Instead, a twangy version of a film’s theme tune by these Strangers (from Sweden).

Another Shadows-style group. 

THE STRANGERS #12

No German-Swiss Strangers, but despite that let-down, there’s more, all the way from Panama (as the introduction says), these Strangers are wailing about pity:

That’s eleven so far. 

(I hate to quibble with a Maths teacher about numbers, but... er...)

THE STRANGERS #13

Here’s some Birmingham (UK) Strangers (sounding a bit like Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas to these ears)...

THE STRANGERS #14

There’s more. And again from the 1960s, New Zealand’s Strangers (have you noticed that the only continent not represented is Asia?)

THE STRANGERS #15

More Scandinavian twangy-guitar/beat pop, from Denmark:

THE STRANGERS #16

Anyone still here? One more to go. And it’s a one off release, one commenter on the video claims that this is his father singing.

Did I save the best until last? Am I the only one who has heard each of these songs all the way through? Which of these Strangers would you now like to be more acquainted with?

(Despite the midway miscalculation, we ended up with 16 Strangers after all. In future, I'll ask George to show his working. Apologies also to those of you who are used to the songs being in some kind of chronological order. Again: numbers, not his strong point.) 

Thank you to George for his sterling work today. This is a band name I probably would have got around to at some point, but it seems only appropriate that he does the work for me... after all, there's no one Stranger than George!

My only worry is that we'll feel his absence in the comments box today, especially with Ernie off defusing bombs and ordering his Martinis shaken not stirred in Athens. I guess I'll have to listen to them all myself...

(By the way, I did check, and there don't seem to be any other bands called The Stranglers, so George's typo worked in his favour.)