The Collection 1977–1982 is a compilation album by The Stranglers

The Stranglers

The Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...

. It was released to complete their contract with EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

, who had acquired the band's back catalogue on the United Artists

United Artists

United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

 and Liberty labels. The album collected together several of the bands most popular singles and album tracks, and also included a "new" track, "Strange Little Girl".

The inclusion of "Strange Little Girl" was an ironic move on the band's part: EMI had been very indifferent to the band when they acquired their catalogue the previous year, not regarding them as a great commercial proposition. The band proved them wrong by having an enormous hit single with "Golden Brown", despite lack-lustre promotion from EMI. When required to deliver a final single, the band re-recorded the song "Strange Little Girl", which they had originally been on a demo tape they had given to EMI in 1974. EMI rejected the tape at the time, but the re-recorded "Strange Little Girl" went on to be a top 10 hit.

A companion VHS video was released to accompany the album, containing promo clips for several of the band's songs. This was later released on DVD.

Track listing

1. "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
   (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
   " Grip " is a single by The Stranglers from the album Rattus Norvegicus. The Stranglers' first single, it reached number 44 in the British Singles Chart. The song was written by Hugh Cornwell, and featured Welsh coal miner Eric Clarke on saxophone.Cheap Trick references the song in "Go For the...
   
   "
2. "Peaches"
3. "Hanging Around"
4. "No More Heroes"
5. "Duchess
   Duchess (The Stranglers song)
   "Duchess" is a single by The Stranglers from the album The Raven. The ninth track on the album, it peaked at number 14 in the UK Singles Chart. The supporting video for the song was banned by the BBC, as they deemed it blasphemous for its content, which featured the band dressed up as choirboys.-...
   
   "
6. "Walk On By"
7. "Waltzinblack"
8. "Something Better Change"
9. "Nice 'n' Sleazy
   Nice 'n' Sleazy
   Nice 'n' Sleazy is a single by The Stranglers from their 1978 album Black and White. The song featured on the 'White' side of the album, and reached number 18 in the UK Singles Chart. The single cover featured a picture of a victim of The Boston Strangler.- External links :* [] Allmusic review...
   
   "
10. "Bear Cage"
11. "Who Wants the World?"
12. "Golden Brown
    Golden Brown
    "Golden Brown" is a song by the English rock band The Stranglers. It was released as a 7" single in December 1981 in the US and in January 1982 in the UK, on Liberty...
    
    "
13. "Strange Little Girl
    Strange Little Girl
    "Strange Little Girl" by The Stranglers was released in the UK in 1982 as their last single while signed to Liberty Records . By the time of release, the band had already decided to leave the label for Epic Records, and this last single was part of the severance deal, along with the compilation...
    
    "
14. "La Folie"