‘This Time It’s Personal’ is out now.

Now that it’s finally happened, it seems bizarre that the collaboration between erstwhile Stranglers frontman, Hugh Cornwell, and punk’s own poet laureate, Dr John Cooper Clarke, hasn’t occurred sooner.

After all, both emerged from the 1976 seismic blast that blew apart an increasingly moribund music scene to inject a much-needed burst of energy and relevancy to the nation’s bored youth.

Of all the punk bands that broke through, The Stranglers were the ones most likely to polarise opinions, both in and out of the punk scene. Derided for being too old or too good with their instruments, The Stranglers cared little for the criticisms thrown at them. Punks that spat at them were swiftly dealt with.

Crucially, The Stranglers scored more Top 40 hits than any of their contemporaries and, after ten albums, Cornwell quit the band in 1990 to strike out on his own. Since then, Cornwell has released a steady stream of albums that deftly display his restless creativity.

Similarly, since ploughing his own unique furrow, Dr John Cooper Clarke has become one of the most popular poets this country has ever produced. His early career saw him appear alongside many of Manchester’s punk luminaries including Buzzcocks, The Fall and Joy Division.

His poetry has gone on to prove influential with a younger generation of bands, most notably Arctic Monkeys. Still a popular live draw, John Cooper Clarke has garnered a new generation of fans by branching out into TV as well being the subject of a BBC documentary, ‘Evidently… John Cooper Clarke’.

Together, Hugh Cornwell and John Cooper Clarke have conspired to create their new album, ‘This Time It’s Personal’. A collection of songs from their youth, the album finds John Cooper Clarke eschewing his usual spoken word delivery in favour of singing.

And it still beggars belief that it’s taken them this long.

‘This Time It’s Personal’ is out now.

Watch the ‘Johnny Remember Me’ video here:

Watch John & Hugh discuss the whole album below.