Is it possible to review Hugh Cornwell without mentioning The Stranglers? Probably not, even though it has been sixteen years and ten albums since he left the band. This latest album continues to catalogue the schizophrenic approach which continues to fuel or possibly haunt the singer (his name on the cover is even spelled out in the style of the old Stranglers logo).
Taken from a triple album of live recording – People Places Pieces, a positively prog-rock piece of ambition – backed by an excellent rhythm section of bassist Steve Lawrence and drummer Windsor McGilvray, Dirty Dozen alternates Stranglers songs with solo work. The album opens with 1978’s Top 20 Stranglers hit Duchess, and it’s a jolt for older heads to hear it without the original’s characteristic keyboards. Despite the subsequent excellence of his renditions of Goodbye Toulouse and Nuclear Device there’s still a sense that he’s offering cover versions of his own songs…and it feels a little odd.
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More convincing in this respect are his solo pieces, which follow the conventional melodic strain developed from his later Stranglers recordings. The driving Black Hair Black Eyes Black Suit and the exquisite First Bus to Babylon are prime examples of his enduring knack for a catchy tune and effectively showcase his great, character-drenched voice, while Nerves of Steel highlights an unfortunate over-reliance on the rhyming dictionary.
Pick of the album though must go to a superb rendition of Walk On By, extended even from the lengthy Stranglers version, and one which is the match of that all-time classic.
It’s a solid release, interesting to fans of his former band, while not offering anything particularly new to established followers –a typical live album, in other words.
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