About Time
Studio album by
the Stranglers
Released15 May 1995 (1995-05-15)
StudioRockfield Studios, Monmouth, Wales
Parr Street Studios, Liverpool, UK
Westside Studios, London, UK
GenrePost-punk
Length44:54
LabelWhen!
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]

"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[10]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[11]
The Great Rock Discography4/10[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

References

  1. ^ "The Stranglers Discography". Connolly & Company. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  2. ^ "The Stranglers - Lies and Deception". germancharts.de. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  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.
  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. ^ a b 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.



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