The Stranglers are back with a new album, Dark Matters, a record that took a long time, effort, and hardship to complete.  They began work in 2020 after recruiting drummer Jim MacCaulay, following Jet Black’s retirement following a stroke.  Then in May 2020, keyboardist Dave Greenfield died of COVID-19 while in hospital for a heart problem. But they soldiered on, creating a great new work.  It was released on September 10, making an immediate impact on the UK charts.

The first single was “And If You Should See Dave…”, a tribute to Greenfield.  The third single is “This Song” (seen below), with an amazing parkour-filled video to accompany it.

What makes the video special is the “narrator” performance of Stuart Pearce, miming the words and acting out a role.  Yes, that Stuart Pearce, age 59, former Nottingham Forest defender (among other teams in a fifteen year career) who played for England at the 1990 World Cup, and currently manages West Ham United in the Premiership League.

Pearce is a lifelong fan of punk rock, and was more than willing to take part in the video when the band asked.  It’s three minutes of absolutely brilliant film.  I suspect half the budget for this video was spent on the choreography and closing areas off from photobombs.