| Description : | Did I mention that I'm Scottish?! Now I can, in some feeble and sad way, bask in reflected glory and wallow in self-indulgence!
Yes, in the beginning Strangeways, CHINA WHITE as they were originally known, were from the west coast of SCOTLAND and our "other" capital city, GLASGOW. And they were 100% "Jock". But I guess since another band in 1984, English as it happens, used the same name, they adopted the now eternally etched moniker, and never looked back.
Their first three albums were pure class, with "Sons" and "WITF" crowned by most as aor classics.
That's not to demean their s/t debut, because with its slightly rawer edge and rockier tunes it was still a brilliant album which could be compared to a hybrid of SHY, BOULEVARD, VIRGINIA WOLF, and YAYA.
It was as though it were a melodic melting pot of slightly differing styles, just waiting for the magic touch. Up popped new American vocalist TERRY BROCK and producer extraordinaire KEVIN ELLISON and voila "Native Sons" was born. Filtered, refined... unique! How could they top this you thought, but they did! 1989 magnificent "WITF" was as fine an example of dynamic aor in its purest form and in my humble opinion, only ever equaled by Boulevards 2nd and final album "INTO THE STREET".
Some fifteen years later along came the horse! Oh how I wept! Strangeways had gone "waystrange" and I was floored, crestfallen..and thoroughly gutted. "And The Horse" had just shit on me! I mean bands progress, they move on, change and evolve but the leap was just too long...gargantuan, and truth be known, on this occasion I just didn't want to jump. And you know the rest.
But what did make up for the disappointment of Strangeways final three albums was the release of Terry Brocks' "BACK TO EDEN" solo opus, a fine album which you can check out in another part of this database.
He would also put in an excellent performance on The Signs cracking 1st album as well as their much maligned 2nd. Original vocalist Tony Liddell, a fine singer in his own right, would front Tgers of Pan Tang for their 2001 comeback album "Mystical".
Reissues! HANGDOG RECORDS, a strange and misty place, reissued Strangeways first 3 albums in the late 90's whilst releasing their final 3. I gotta say it...the quality of both artwork and recording was SHOCKING, and did give the impression of being bootlegs.
Do yourself a favor and pay the extra cash it might cost you to acquire "Sons" and "WITF" in their original forms...you'll thank me in the long run. There are also two compilations available "Living In The Danger Zone" (Castle Records,2003) and "Greatest Bits" (Hangdog,1999).
Strangeways first three albums were reissued in 2006, by Majestic, including bonus "live" cuts.
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