Coup de Grace (The Stranglers album)

Coup de Grace
Studio album by
Released26 October 1998
StudioFunny Bunny Studios, London
Matrix Studios, London
Mixed at Maison Rouge, London
GenreRock
Length42:46
LabelEagle
Producer
The Stranglers chronology
Written in Red
(1997)
Coup de Grace
(1998)
Norfolk Coast
(2004)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
The Great Rock Discography4/10[3]
NME2/10[4]

Coup de Grace is the fourteenth studio album by the Stranglers, released in 1998 by Eagle Records. It was the last album to feature guitarist John Ellis, who left the band in 2000.

The tracks on Coup de Grace represent a greater writing input from bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel than on more recent outings;[5][6] he also sings four of the ten tracks. Heavily influenced by the band's troop-entertaining trips to such places as the Falkland Islands and Bosnia, and (in Burnel's words) "life in general", the tracks covered such topics as the ravages of war, religious conflicts, and failed relationships.[citation needed] The album included the minimally-accompanied ballad "In the End".

"Miss You" shares its title with a track on the previous Stranglers album Written in Red, but is a different song.[7]

The album failed to reach the official UK Albums Chart, their first such release not to do so.[8]

  1. ^ "The Stranglers: Coup de Grace" at AllMusic. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Stranglers". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  3. ^ Strong, Martin C. (2002). The Great Rock Discography (6th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1012. ISBN 1-84195-312-1.
  4. ^ Wirth, Jim (13 November 1998). "The Stranglers - Coup de Grace". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  5. ^ "'74-'14: Forty years in photos-part 2 (1998)". thestranglers.co.uk. 14 September 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Never To Look Back - JJ interview". thestranglers.co.uk. 11 September 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  7. ^ Scott, Jason (1 September 2013). "The Stranglers - Compilation LP's Pt 3: The Stranglers (CD, Armoury ARMCD 053)". Careful With That Wax Cylinder, Eugene. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  8. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 535. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.