Aural Sculptors - The Stranglers Live

Aural Sculptors - The Stranglers Live 1976 to the Present

Welcome to Aural Sculptors, a blog aimed at bringing the music of The Stranglers to as wide an audience as possible. Whilst all of the various members of the band that have passed through the ranks since 1974 are accomplished studio musicians, it is on stage where the band have for me had their biggest impact.

As a collector of their live recordings for many years I want to share some of the better quality material with other fans. By selecting the higher quality recordings I hope to present The Stranglers in the best possible light for the benefit of those less familiar with their material than the hardcore fan.

Needless to say, this site will steer well clear of any officially released material. As well as live gigs, I will post demos, radio interviews and anything else that I feel may be of interest.

In addition, occasionally I will post material by other bands, related or otherwise, that mean a lot to me.

Your comments and/or contributions are most welcome. Please email me at adrianandrews1@sky.com.

Saturday, 14 July 2018

Buzzcocks Maxwell's Hoboken NJ 15th July 1991

Here's another anniversary gig with an early reformation gig from Buzzcocks. Interestignset list with a couple of songs from their aborted album that never mad ethe cur for the excellent 'Trade Test Transmission' comeback album of 1993.

FLAC: https://we.tl/MDP7UFVJjJ

Artwork: https://we.tl/HFnXVmS6uG

01. I Don't Mind
02. Love You More
03. Who Will Help Me To Forget
04. Alive Tonight
05. Tranquilizer
06. Run Away From Home
07. Last To Know
08. Autonomy
09. Get On Our Own
10. Dreaming
11. Never Gonna Give It Up
12. Everybody's Happy Nowadays
13. No Comprimise
14. When Love Turns Around
15. Serious Crime
16. Isolation
17. Mad Mad Judy
18. Harmony In My Head
19. What Do I Get
20. Ever Fallen In Love
21. Fast Cars
22. Orgasm Addict
23. Boredom

Monday, 9 July 2018

The Adicts Sea Scouts Hall Cambridge 1981

Last week it was my pleasure once again to see ex-pat Ipswich punks The Adicts in London. It was a fantastic gig and as ever Monkey was a very messy boy!

Here's an early set from then recorded in Cambridge at some point in 1981.

FLAC: https://we.tl/0SKpVu8ALW

01. Just Like Me/Distortion
02. Easy Way Out
03. Pictures
04. Sensitive
05. Mary Whitehouse
06. Peculiar Music
07. Wild Thing
08. Songs Of Praise
09. Let’s Spend The Night Together
10. Dynasty
11. Let’s Go
12. Numbers
13. Straight Jacket
14. Organised Confusion
15. Tutti Fruitti

Sunday, 8 July 2018

Music En Stock Festival Cluses France 8th July 2008

Here's another anniversary gig. One of the first to be played post Paul.

FLAC: https://we.tl/f2LcgKaPJW

Artwork: https://we.tl/Yd3FfK1mdc

01. The Raven
02. Big Thing Coming
03. All Day & All Of The Night
04. Peaches
05. Long Black Veil
06. Death & Night & Blood
07. Toiler On The Sea
08. Golden Brown
09. Always The Sun
10. Never To Look Back
11. Goodbye Toulouse
12. Sommat Outta Nothing
13. Walk On By
14. I’ve Been Wild
15. Lost Control
16. Duchess
17. Burning Up Time
18. London Lady

01. 5 Minutes
02. JJ Speaks
03. Dagenham Dave
04. No More Heroes

LINK RESTORED: Move Festival Old Trafford Cricket Ground Manchester 8th July 2004

LINK RESTORED: Move Festival Old Trafford Cricket Ground Manchester 8th July 2004 (here).

Happy Birthday!

Saturday, 23 June 2018

Buzzcocks Finsbury Park London 23rd June 1996

It's hard to think that this first UK reappearance of the Pistols was 22 years ago! Buzzcocks supported in the day and their set was broadcast on Radio 1.

The day was something of a party occasion. The weather was fine and itbrought out multitides of punks, new and old. I recall seeing Tim and Gaye, Charlie and many mates from Uxbridge and Sussex.

The Pistols on the day were incredible, albeit rather distant for me. That idea, perpetuated by Malcolm, that they couldn't play was blown out of the water (plus by '96 they were all very accomplished musicians by virtue of other projects!).

Check out 'Filthy Lucre Live' for the Pistols contribution to the day, but here's what Buzzcocks did.

FLAC: https://we.tl/3KDzW0vf9j

Artwork: https://we.tl/Ze7yogkyA0

01. Interview
02. You Say You Don't Love Me
03. What Am I Supposed To Do?
04. Hold Me Close
05. Playing For Time
06. Love You More
07. Harmony In My Head
08. What Do I Get?
09. Back With You
10. Boredom

Friday, 22 June 2018

The Damned Marc Riley Session BBC 6 Music 18th June 2018

Nice little BBC session from Monday evening's Marc Riley show on 6 Music, showcasing three tracks from the new 'Evil Spirits' album.

FLAC: https://we.tl/dsSNXpQ6IC

Artwork: https://we.tl/lboJK8X415

01. Intro
02. Devil In Disguise
03. Interview
04. Lively Arts/Silly Kids Games
05. Standing On The Edge Of Tomorrow
06. Evil Spirits/Outro

Wednesday, 13 June 2018

Philippshalle Dusseldorf 13th June 1988 - UPGRADE

Here's an anniversary upgrade for you thanks to my old friend DomP. 30 fucking years, goodness gracious!Trouble was brewing big time in Dusseldorf on 13th June 1988. For more details check my original post here.

Cheers Dom!!

But here's the link to the upgrade:

FLAC: https://we.tl/g61fsJxuJk

01. Intro
02. Always The Sun
03. Spain
04. Uptown
05. Souls
06. Toiler on the Sea
07. North Winds
08. Vietnamerica
09. Strange Little Girl
10. The Raven
11. Peasant in the Big Shitty
12. All Day And All Of The Night
13. Shakin' Like A Leaf
14. Big in America
15. Who Wants the World
16. Tank
17. Was it You?
18. Down In The Sewer
19. The Last Post

Oh! The youthful exuberance of it all!

(Dusseldorf trip June 1988)

Running Cost Contributions

Hi there all!

Today, I have renewed the subscription for one of the two We Transfer accounts that support the Aural Sculptors site. In order to ensure that the links to the files that are posted on the site remain live and accessible it is necessary to maintain two We Transfer accounts, meaning that the total running costs of the Aural Sculptors blog totals £210 per year.

We Transfer is not the cheapest file sharing service available, nor does it offer the greatest storage capacity (hence the practical need for two accounts), but it is a reliable platform that does meet the needs of the site. Having been bitten hard on the arse before in years gone by with disastrous reliance on both megaupload and Rapidshare, I am reluctant to move away from the current arrangements to a cheaper option.

Since the site was launched (the catharsis of the birth perhaps) in July 2011, the site has featured 900+ posts (most with associated music files) of which over 450 have been directly associated with The Stranglers, in keeping with the whole rationale of the site.

Those of us of a certain vintage will recall the day when bootlegs recordings were difficult to come by and a tape with a poorly photocopied pastel paper cover would set you back a fiver (the equivalent of 6 or so pints in the mid 80’s!). Now however, it is a doddle for people to obtain a good quality recording of a gig, perhaps the first one that they saw by a given band, I dunno. The point is that it is free, shared in good faith by fans for fans.

Aural Sculptors, with its 800,000+ hits to date is not a massive site but it has a reasonable presence in the hierarchy of Stranglers related websites and that is enough for me to keep it going.

Therefore, I would kindly point out that it is possible to make a small contribution towards the running costs of the site. A donation button is located on the right hand panel of the site. In return I will continue in my efforts to keep the site relevant and interesting to likeminded people such as the regular visitors to the site. Additionally, I will do my best to continue to accommodate requests for specific recordings and/or updates of dead links (as best as I can in the time available to me).

It just remains for me to say, again, a big thank to you for your continued support, to those who have donated, commented or shared with me something that you think will be of interest to others.

Best Wishes for 2017.

Adrian.