About Time (The Stranglers album)

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About Time
Stranglers-about-time.jpg
Studio album by
Released15 May 1995 (1995-05-15)
Studio Rockfield Studios, Monmouth, Wales
Parr Street Studios, Liverpool, UK
Westside Studios, London, UK
Genre Post-punk
Length44:54
Label When!
Producer
The Stranglers chronology
Stranglers in the Night
(1993)
About Time
(1995)
Written in Red
(1997)
Singles from About Time
  1. "Lies and Deception"
    Released: June 1995 [1] [2]

About Time is the twelfth studio album from the Stranglers and the second one from the Black, Burnel, Greenfield, Roberts and Ellis line-up. The album was released in 1995 through the When! label. It was co-produced, engineered and mixed by Alan Winstanley, who had worked with the Stranglers on their first four albums (as the engineer on Rattus Norvegicus , No More Heroes and Black and White and producer on The Raven ). Nigel Kennedy plays electric violin on "Face", and a string-quartet is used on three of the eleven tracks ("Face", "Still Life" and "Sinister"). [3]

Contents

"Lies and Deception" was the only single released from the album, reaching No. 94 on the UK Singles Chart, [4] and is one of the few Stranglers songs solely written by drummer Jet Black. Released as a two-CD set, CD1 of "Lies and Deception" was backed with non-album tracks "Swim" and "Cool Danny", CD2 was backed with non-album tracks "Kiss the World Goodbye" and "Bed of Nails". [5] [6] [7] [8]

The album peaked at No. 31 in the UK Albums Chart in May 1995. [9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [11]
The Great Rock Discography 4/10 [12]

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that About Time is a "competent but unexceptional record" that contains "a couple of tough, catchy songs" in "Lies and Deception" and "Golden Boy", but is "largely bogged down by tepid songwriting and undistinguished performances." [10]

Track listing

All tracks are written by the Stranglers

No.TitleLength
1."Golden Boy"3:13
2."Money"3:20
3."Face"3:27
4."Sinister"4:44
5."Little Blue Lies"3:34
6."Still Life"5:20
7."Paradise Row"3:51
8."She Gave It All"4:45
9."Lies and Deception"3:50
10."Lucky Finger"4:14
11."And the Boat Sails By"4:33

Personnel

The Stranglers
Additional musicians
Technical

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References

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  3. "The Stranglers". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  4. ""Lies and Deception" Peak Position". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  5. "About Time Album Lyrics". maxilyrics.com. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  6. "The Stranglers". lastfm.com. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  7. "Album review: The Stranglers – Decades Apart". rock-metal-music-reviews.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. "The Stranglers". besteveralbums.com. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  9. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 535. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  10. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "About Time Review". AllMusic . Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  11. Larkin, Colin (2011). "Stranglers". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN   978-0-85712-595-8.
  12. Strong, Martin C. (2002). The Great Rock Discography (6th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1012. ISBN   1-84195-312-1.