Glass' has some charm in that it sounds so incredibly dated. But there is where the charm ends. On the dark '6 becomes 9' it works. Two tracks in, 'New York' try's hard to get a Mercury Rev vibe going with some eerie 50s B-movie style backing vocals, but even at this early stage you know it's too late to save the album. The sub Johnny Cash vocals of the St Christopher endorsing 'Sinking' are dreadful beyond belief, and its guitar line could easily have been at home on either of the last two U2 albums.
Stranglers feel in both bass, jagged guitar and chorus.
But there's the rub - they're good because they remind you of somebody else. In striving for an original sound, The Frank and Walters have fallen at their own feet. Kraftwerk were probably a big influence in the recording process and 'Glass' was probably bags of fun to make what with exploring all those new keyboards and drum machines and sound textures and stuff, but unfortunately they forgot to make an album that is in any way enjoyable or endearing to the listener. Franks for the memories lads, it's time to give up while the going is average.