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.

Friday, 15 November 2019

Shepherds Bush Empire 15th November 2008

This night 11 years ago!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-BHi7f7XGL7

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-6iapsMQXEF

01. Intro
02. (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
03. Five Minutes
04. Peaches
05. Nice ‘N’ Sleazy
06. Spectre Of Love
07. Skin Deep
08. No Mercy
09. Always The Sun
10. Strange Little Girl
11. Golden Brown
12. The Raven
13. Thrown Away

01. Walk On By
02. Hanging Around
03. Straighten Out
04. Big Thing Coming
05. All Day And All Of The Night
06. Duchess
07. Tank
08. Nuclear Device
09. Something Better Change
10. No More Heroes

Wednesday, 13 November 2019

The Ruts - The Crack 40th Anniversary Weekender

Really gutted that I cannot be there this weekend. Have a blast folks!

The Damned The Odeon Edinburgh 13th November 1981

On this night in 1981, The Damned Friday the 13th EP was unleashed.... and what a fine slab of vinyl it was and still is, featuring as it does the wonderful tribute to the late Malcolm Owen, 'The Limit Club' with its intro so reminiscent of the 'World in Action' theme.... you have to be 50 plus to know that one!

Enjoy a slice of The Damned at their peak.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-yjwNvuTCVN

01. Intro
02. Lively Arts
03. Wait For The Blackout
04. Disco Man
05. Billy Bad Breaks
06. I Just Can't Be Happy Today
07. Plan 9 Channel 7
08. Dr.Jekyll & Mr.Hyde
09. Fan Club
10. Noise Noise Noise
11. The Limit Club
12. Love Song
13. Neat Neat Neat
14. Drum Solo
15. New Rose
16. Smash It Up 1 & 2
17. Citadel
18. Looking At You
19. Melody Lee
20. Love Song
21. Ballroom Blitz
22. Outside Gig

Keystone Berkeley California 13th November 1980

Nice sounding remaster of a partial gig from 'The Who Wants The World?' US tour.

Whilst the quality is good, some of the playing suffers, particularly Dave's as the band had all their gear nicked some weeks before in New York and so they were using unfamiliar hired equipment.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-iNUnpVxcF5

01. Toiler On The Sea
02. Duchess
03. Baroque Bordello
04. Hanging Around
05. Down In The Sewer
06. Who Wants The World?
07. Threatened
08. Just Like Nothing On Earth
09. Tank
10. Nuclear Device
11. Dead Loss Angeles
12. The Raven

Tuesday, 12 November 2019

Sex Pistols Brixton Academy London 10th November 2007

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-5HGda7oGys

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Ld53N5sIfs

Saturday, 9 November 2019

Sex Pistols Brixton Academy London 9th November 2007

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-RnjUzhFK5K

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-WdSs3X0Vuz

01. Intro
02. Pretty Vacant
03. Seventeen
04. No Feelings
05. New York
06. Did You No Wrong
07. Liar
08. Holidays In The Sun
09. Submission
10. Stepping Stone
11. No Fun
12. Problems
13. God Save The Queen
14. E.M.I.
15. Anarchy In The UK
16. Bodies

Sex Pistols Brixton Academy London 8th November 2007

Ah... Johnny. A character that truly divides opinion. Years ago, I viewed him as something akin to a national treasure, a man with a keen observational eye for the issues that we have in this country. With both of his bands he moved the boundaries (I have to admit here that I always preferred PiL to the Pistols). Two of my greatest gigs are PiL gigs (Brixton Academy in May 1986 and Heaven in April 2012), but the Sex Pistols were great too on the one occasion I did see them in Finsbury Park in 1996. On each of those occasions, there was something about him (and the musicians that he was playing with), but his most recent outings in front of cameras have been rather depressing..... his views on Trump and a very embarrassing showdown with Marky Ramone on a US broadcast in which a panel discussed punk.

This trio of gigs though were good ones with his first band on top form.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-D9b9CgexkR

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-uf77i3Fpr1

01. Intro
02. Pretty Vacant
03. Seventeen
04. No Feelings
05. New York
06. Did You No Wrong
07. Liar
08. Holidays In The Sun
09. Submission
10. Stepping Stone
11. No Fun
12. Problems
13. God Save The Queen
14. E.M.I.
15. Bodies
16. Anarchy In The UK
17. Baghdad Was A Gas

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.