The Stranglers | La Folie | 1981 - Album Review
The Stranglers | La Folie | 1981 - 📅 44th Anniversary Vinyl Album Review
Today marks the anniversary of the release of “La Folie” by The Stranglers, yes, 9th November 1981. I’ve always had a soft spot for this one, partly because it feels like the band stepping out of the punk-shadow and into something a little slipperier, a bit more mysterious. Recorded in August-September that year, it’s their sixth studio album and takes the title from the French for “madness” though the band say it’s more “the madness of love”. The tracks flicker between the sharp-edged “Non Stop”, “Everybody Loves You When You’re Dead” and the beautifully odd “Golden Brown”, “La Folie” itself, and yes, I mean odd in the best possible way.
What’s quite interesting is how the album performed. In the UK, it reached No. 11 on the Albums Chart and stayed in the chart for around eighteen weeks. As for the US? It’s harder to pin a clear peak, but the band never cracked huge US mainstream chart success with this record, so the UK remains the main indicator of its impact. Chart-wise then, it wasn’t a number-one blockbuster, but it held its own and left a mark. On the track front: “Let Me Introduce You to the Family” and the inescapable “Golden Brown” (still their best-known song) slide into view; “La Folie” as the title track closes things off with a whispering, haunting French sung by bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel.
Listening now, what hits me most is the tone: there’s a thematic cohesion around love, obsession, perhaps the darker edges of affection. The waltz-like rhythm of “Golden Brown” feels like a lounge act gone slightly sideways, while the title track is eerie in its elegance. The Stranglers seem to be flirting with pop structure yet refusing to give up their edge. I found myself drawn into the album not as a punk statement but as a kind of grown-up (if still mischievous) new wave record. If you’ve never heard it from start to finish, give it a spin, maybe lean into its strange beauty and off-kilter hooks. It’s not just nostalgia - it still holds up.
#thestranglers #musicrecommendations #onthisdayinmusic #musicreview #goldenbrown
How Would You Rate “La Folie”? 👇🏼
