''Written in Red'' is the thirteenth studio album recorded 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 in January 1997 through the When! label. It was co-produced by Gang of Four's

Andy Gill Andrew James Dalrymple Gill (1 January 1956 – 1 February 2020) was a British musician and record producer. He was the lead guitarist for the rock band Gang of Four, which he co-founded in 1976. Gill was known for his angular, jagged style of g ...

. The media launch-party for ''Written in Red'' was held on 13 December 1996 at

EuroDisney Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Chessy, France, east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, resort hotels, Disney Nature Resorts, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and a golf course. Disneyland Park is the origin ...

in Paris, and featured live performances of tracks from the effort. Other tracks performed at the event include "

Always the Sun "Always the Sun" is a song by English rock band the Stranglers, first released as a single on 6 October 1986, the second single from the band's ninth studio album ''Dreamtime'' (1986). A remixed version was released as a single on 24 December 1990 ...

", "

Golden Brown "Golden Brown" is a song by the English rock band the Stranglers released as a 7-inch single on EMI's Liberty label in 1982, noted for its distinctive harpsichord instrumentation. It was the second single released from the band's sixth studio ...

" and " Let Me Introduce You to the Family". The week the album was released, the band performed at several

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

branches including those located in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

. "In Heaven She Walks" was the only single to be taken from the album, released on 3 February 1997. The single was in two parts: the first CD featured a sleeve similar to the ''Written in Red'' cover, with a track listing of: "In Heaven She Walks", a live version of "Golden Brown" from 1995, and an extended version of "In Heaven She Walks". The second CD sleeve featured a still from the

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

; the tracks were "In Heaven She Walks", and live versions of " Grip" and "

Something Better Change ''Something Better Change'' is the debut album by Canadian punk rock band D.O.A. The album was recorded between 1977 and 1980 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and was released in 1980 on the label Can. Friends. (See 1980 in music). For ...

" (also from 1995). It was the first Stranglers studio album that failed to reach the Top 40 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, peaking at No. 52 in February 1997. In his review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that though the Stranglers sound "tight and professional," the album "lacks strong songs, making ''Written in Red'' an utterly undistinguished album." In 2014, bass player

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. ...

said of the album, "...it had nothing to do with me apart from one or two songs. I've got no feelings about it as an album as I was disconnected from it all. I had given up on the band, it wasn't a band anymore, just

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

and a guy with

Protools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-product ...

Track listing

;2014 expanded vinyl edition ''Written in Red'' was reissued as a 2-LP limited edition by Let Them Eat Vinyl, including 2 bonus tracks. *Tracks 12 and 13 are taken from the "In Heaven She Walks" CD single.

Personnel

; The Stranglers * Paul Roberts – lead vocals, percussion, production *

– bass, vocals, production * John Ellis – guitar, vocals, production *

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, production *

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, production ; Additional musicians * Dave Billows – vocals ; Technical *

– production, mixing (5, 9) *

Cenzo Townsend Vincenzo Capellini Townshend (born 28 October 1963) is an English record producer, mixer, and audio engineer, and has worked with artists and bands including the Rolling Stones, a-ha, Kaiser Chiefs, U2, Snow Patrol, Florence and the Machine, F ...

– additional production, engineering assistance, mixing (1, 2, 4–11) * Mike 'Spike' Drake – mixing (3) * Jock Loveband – engineering * Peter Schweir – engineering * Pete Woodruff – engineering * Chris Madden – engineering * Mitsou Tate – engineering assistance, additional programming * Andrea Wright – engineering assistance * Gordon Vicary – mastering * Trevor Dawkins – equipment co-ordination * Ichiro Kono – photography * Joe Wright – design, direction ;Vinyl edition bonus tracks * Max Bisgrove – mixing (12) * George Allen – mixing assistant (12) * Cenzo Townsend – remixing (13)

References

External links

* http://www.stranglers.net {{Authority control The Stranglers albums 1997 albums Albums produced by Andy Gill