Walk On By - The Stranglers

Walk On By was the classic Burt Bacharach and Hal David standard, honed and crafted by the band as a live favourite during the early years before finally being immortalised in vinyl (as their 1st recorded cover version) in 1978 as the undisputed diamond in the band's covers arsenal.
A few bars of scratchy rhythm guitar then the drums and JJ's growling, prowling bass kicks in and we're off. And it gets me every time!
It's probably in the extended middle section of this song, where Dave and Hugh trade licks and solos; the band freeforming and extemporising wildly, that the Stranglers come closest to those oft repeated but mostly spurious Doors comparisons- the Robbie Krieger inspired guitar lead work tripping (in all senses of the word) and chasing Dave's Manzarek-esque cool organ and hot electric piano work, as the band in turns meander and run wonderfully around the bare bones of the song- taking this classic song to higher reaches previously untouched in any other of it's many recorded versions. It is the sound of the band doing just what they did best.
Because of this Walk On By is a brilliant song to lose yourself in, and despite it's near 6 and half minutes running time it still ends way too soon, leaving the listener with only one obvious option- hit the repeat button, strap yourself in and settle down for another blast of that classic Stranglers sound. Seriously- how fantastic is this song?
(Hint- Despite the band committing what could be argued as commercial suicide (but hey! Not for the last time) by firstly offering the song as a freebie single with the initial 75,000 of their Black & White album, they then released it as a stand alone single in it's own right. In a glowing testament to both the song's magnitude and to the band's more than loyal fanbase it still bothered the Top 20 singles chart second time around. Surely that speaks volumes?)