299) Hugh Cornwell & Robert Williams - Nosferatu

Those people in punk bands jumping on the bandwagon to make a quick few quid. Hugh Cornwell was clearly not one of these people having played with Richard Thompson and toured for a few years before The Stranglers hit the big time. They didn’t mess about releasing four albums in their first two years and whilst on tour in America Cornwell befriended Captain Beefheart drummer Robert Williams and they agreed to make an album. We also had a member of Frank Zappa’s band, Devo, Ian Dury, and Mick Jones to guest.

I have clearly never heard this record and all the above I have read on the internet and put into my pidgin English but Hugh Cornwell, Ian Dury and Mick Jones, bloody hell let me hear it.

It doesn’t mess about ten songs in thirty-five minutes. The title track is all drums (a shock I know with Robert Williams collaborating) and Cornwell goes into full shout mode, its quick, brief and sets the scene.

The album is loosely based on a silent movie of the same name about a vampire and Losers in a Lost Land is minimal and creepy, funeral paced but with a chorus that unsettles and intrigues.

White Room is a cover of a Cream song that wouldn’t sound out of place on an early Stranglers record; to be clear that’s me praising it.

Irate Caterpillars Cornwell speaks to us over dark rhythms and Devo take over for Rythmic Itch with both the Mothersbaugh brothers involved, Wired for the first five seconds is The Clash before sax arrives and Cornwell goes with an aggressive vocal but Williams is producing interesting rhythms in the background here and especially on Big Bug.

Wrong Way Round has a guitar riff that swirls around, and Ian Dury arrives as a circus master over Hugh’s deadpan vocals and as Ian shouts and bawls the guitar twitches and cuts through, underrated guitarist Mr Cornwell on an excellent track.

Puppets the synth dominates and the background shouty vocals are seemingly where Mick Jones appears although I struggle to pick out his distinctive voice.

Cornwell would have known Nosferatu was not going to follow The Stranglers into the top ten. It’s not an easy record but each subsequent listen brings out something and I would highly recommend.

7/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: Wrong Way Round