Black and White

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Work

Black and White was released in May 1978 and was the band's third album. Like the two previous records it was produced by Martin Rushent. The group now opted for a more experimental approach to song structure and time signatures: Curfew is written in 7/4. Sweden even got a Swedish-language version, Sverige, for the Swedish market. Death and Night and Blood takes its title from a sentence in a novel by Yukio Mishima.

The first 75,000 LPs came with a free white single containing, among other things, Walk On By, an adaptation of the song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The press was positive; NME called the A-side the best work the band had ever made. Later critics judged it in different ways. Some thought it the weakest of the first three records, others saw an album that had already moved beyond punk and that left traces in Gang of Four and Joy Division.

Listening

Track list

1. 1Tank2:58Apple Music ↗
2. 2Nice n' Sleazy3:13Apple Music ↗
3. 3Outside Tokyo2:09Apple Music ↗
4. 4Hey! (Rise of the Robots)2:16Apple Music ↗
5. 5Sweden (All Quiet On the Eastern Front)2:50Apple Music ↗
6. 6Toiler On the Sea5:25Apple Music ↗
7. 7Curfew3:15Apple Music ↗
8. 8Threatened3:34Apple Music ↗
9. 9In the Shadows4:35Apple Music ↗
10. 10Do You Wanna?2:28Apple Music ↗
11. 11Death and Night and Blood (Yukio)2:50Apple Music ↗
12. 12Enough Time4:19Apple Music ↗
13. 13Mean to Me1:56Apple Music ↗
14. 14Walk On By6:22Apple Music ↗
15. 15Shut Up1:07Apple Music ↗
16. 16Sverige2:50Apple Music ↗
17. 17Old Codger2:49Apple Music ↗
18. 18Tits5:26Apple Music ↗

30-second previews via Apple Music. Listen to the whole album on Apple Music ↗

See also

• The Stranglers