"(Get a) Grip (On Yourself)"

Aahhhhh, literate new wave. It's hard to classify as "punk" a song that's so well performed. The Stranglers were old men by 1977, but they had the chops and weren't afraid to use them. "Grip" is fuelled by unstoppable keyboard runs and a proper thudding drum, with guitars well in the background. The lyrics are a bit dense, but rather that than some of the mysogynism they came out with ("Peaches", anyone?). The song fairly hammers along at 100mph with Hugh Cornwell's vaguely knowing, sneering voice reciting over the top. This one's useful when your lip curls of its own accord and everyone around you is being tiresome.