''Live at the Hope and Anchor'' is a live album by

the Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have origin ...

, released on 9 March 1992 by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

. It consists of an entire set from a concert at the Hope and Anchor pub in Islington, North London, recorded on 22 November 1977.

Background

This particular concert took place on the opening night of the " Front Row Festival", a series of shows by regulars of the venue during 1977. The album was originally only available as a bootleg recording. The song "Tits" featured on the white EP that was given away free with the first 75,000 copies of the band's '' Black and White'' album in 1978. " Hanging Around" and "Straighten Out" were included on the "Front Row Festival" album, released in 1978. "In the Shadows" was previously released on the "Don't Bring Harry" EP in 1979. Many of the songs in the band's set that night were played by request; for this show, they rehearsed their entire catalogue. It is regarded as one of the band's more memorable shows. In 1992 the whole concert received an official release, produced by Stranglers bassist/vocalist

Jean Jacques Burnel Jean-Jacques Burnel (born 21 February 1952) is an English musician, producer and songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist with the English rock band The Stranglers. He is the last founding member to remain in the band. ...

Track listing

;Note There's a noticeable pitch drop on "Peasant in the Big Shitty" which is quite sudden and after the second verse. It sounds as if either the tape was manually altered during recording of the song live or (more likely), in the studio. It's akin to a power drop affecting the recording. Also the e.q. and sound levels throughout the album are inconsistent. Again it's noticeable more from transitions from some songs. E.g. "In the Shadows" to "Walk On By" have completely different e.q. and balance. Although this can be a bit jarring in places, it adds to the rough hewn (and punky) feel of the album as a whole.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes, except where noted. The Stranglers *

Hugh Cornwell Hugh Alan Cornwell (born 28 August 1949) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and writer, best known for being the lead vocalist and lead guitarist for the punk rock and new wave band the Stranglers from 1974 to 1990. Since leaving the ...

– guitar, vocals *

Jean-Jacques Burnel Jean-Jacques Burnel (born 21 February 1952) is an English musician, producer and songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist with the English rock band The Stranglers. He is the last founding member to remain in the band. ...

– bass, vocals *

Dave Greenfield David Paul Greenfield (29 March 1949 – 3 May 2020) was an English keyboardist, singer and songwriter who was a member of rock band The Stranglers. He joined the band in 1975, within a year of its formation, and played with them for 45 years ...

– keyboards, vocals *

Jet Black Brian John Duffy (26 August 1938 – 6 December 2022), professionally known as Jet Black, was an English drummer and founding member of punk rock/ new wave band The Stranglers. He last performed with the band in 2015, and officially retired in ...

– drums Technical * Jean-Jacques Burnel – producer * Tim Summerhayes – engineer ( Rak Records Mobile) * Assorted Images – sleeve * Chris Gabrin – photography * Trevor Rogers – photography * Nik Yeoman – liner notes

References

1992 live albums The Stranglers live albums EMI Records live albums {{1970s-rock-album-stub