Ex-Strangler (Gets a) Grip (on Himself): Hugh Cornwell Visits the Tractor Sunday Night

The Stranglers were always the odd ducks of the first wave of 1970's British punk. Older and smarter than most of their peers, their songs were anchored more in roller-rink keyboards than slashing guitars, and their lyrics emphasized lascivious humor and personal observation over the socio-political shouting of the Sex Pistols and the Clash.

Hugh Cornwell, The Stranglers' lead singer and guitarist from the band's early-seventies inception to 1990, was--in many ways--the face of the band. His distinctive English monotone of a voice and his biting lyrics gave the band its personality, and his restlessness helped pull the band away from spitting pub rock into jazz and exotic keyboard pop (to whit: the magical 1981 British hit, "Golden Brown," the most gorgeous waltz about smack that you'll ever hear). Once Cornwell left The Stranglers' ranks the band remained serviceable, but never quite seemed to find a personality of its own.

Both band and original frontman are doing fine apart though, thanks. The Stranglers continue to record and tour throughout England (their latest long-player Suite XIV contains some lovely pop songs like "She's Slipping Away"), and Cornwell's etched out a low-key but rewarding career solo. His new longplayer Hooverdam (available for free download on the singer's official website) is a likeably rough-around-the-edges collection of tunes largely free of the Stranglers' arty tendencies. All erstwhile punk-rock figures should mature so gracefully.

Tickets ($15 on TicketWeb) for Cornwell's set at the Tractor Tavern Sunday night are still available, and it promises to be a treat. The scruffy rockabilly sound of much of Hooverdam should fit nicely in the environs of a hotbed of roots music like the Tractor, and he reputedly divides his current sets democratically between Stranglers classics (with an emphasis on that classic punk/new wave 1977 opus, Rattus Norwegicus) and newer solo material, with a bare-bones guitar/bass/drums power trio configuration that cuts away all frills and boils old and new tunes alike down to their sinews. No more heroes, my eye.