CD: 504591-2
RELEASED: 2001
LABEL: EMI

01. Midnight Summer Dream
02. It's a Small World
03. Ships That Pass in the Night
04. European Female
05. Lets Go Tango in Paris
06. Paradise
07. All Roads Lead to Rome
08. Blue Sister
09. Never Say Goodbye
10. Savage Breast *
11. Pawsher *
12. Permission *
13. Midnight Summer Dream/European Female *
14. Vladimir and Olga *
15. Aural Sculpture Manifesto *

* bonus tracks

Digitally remastered reissue of 1983 album, includes new artwork with extensive sleeve notes & previously unseen photos. Having moved from UA to Epic, the Stranglers rounded out 1982 with the "European Female" single and Feline album, a defiantly pop-heavy album flavored by the group's own special take on the then-prevalent synthesizer sounds. Moving ever further from the menacing rock of their earlier work, and introducing sax, trombone and trumpet on some tracks, the Stranglers were now shedding a lot of their fans-in-black, though sales suggested a new constituency had been won. This album is also the first Stranglers album to include acoustic guitars which many former punk bands were turning to at the time and the sound is not a disaster by any means. The bass-lines have become less booming and more lilting but they still form an interesting back-drop. The ideas had not yet entirely dried up for the song writing. If you want a punk album, you better go for one of their superb earlier efforts. If you accept the need for groups to evolve and fancy something more mellow this album will be of interest to you.

Influences / Similar Artists:
Fischer-Z, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, The Doors