Black and White (The Stranglers album)
| Black and White | ||||
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| Studio album by The Stranglers | ||||
| Released | 12 May 1978 | |||
| Recorded | February 1978 at T.W. Studios, Fulham, London | |||
| Genre | Post-punk, punk rock, new wave | |||
| Length | 39:50 | |||
| Label | United Artists | |||
| Producer | Martin Rushent | |||
| The Stranglers chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Black and White | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| Trouser Press | unfavourable |
Black and White is the third studio album by English new wave band The Stranglers. It was released on 12 May 1978, through record label United Artists.
As with The Stranglers' first two albums, Black and White was produced by Martin Rushent. The album sees The Stranglers adopting a more experimental approach to song structures and time signatures (for example, "Curfew" features 7/4 time).
The band recorded a version of "Sweden" sung in Swedish, called "Sverige" and released it in Sweden. The song was partly inspired by Cornwell's PhD placement at Lund University in the mid-1970s. In an anecdote related in the Swedish online magazine, Blaskan, it is stated that the song was inspired by a disastrous visit to Sweden during a European tour, when a gig was violently interrupted by a gang of "raggare" (greasers).
The song title "Death and Night and Blood" is taken from a line from Yukio Mishima's novel Confessions of a Mask.
The song "In the Shadows" had previously been released as the B-side to the band's 1977 single "No More Heroes".
All tracks written by The Stranglers (Hugh Cornwell, Jean-Jacques Burnel, Dave Greenfield, Jet Black), except as noted.
Black and White was released on 12 May 1978. The album peaked at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart, spending eighteen weeks in the chart.
The first 75,000 LPs came with a free white vinyl 7" composed of three tracks: "Walk On By" (a cover of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David song written for and originally recorded by Dionne Warwick), "Mean to Me" and "Tits".
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