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 adrianandrews@myyahoo.com.


Saturday 16 July 2011

Amnesty Festival of Youth Milton Keynes Bowl 18th June 1988

The name of the festival is indeed a bit of a misnomer. The Stranglers, The Damned, Aswad, BAD, Joe Strummer etc. It was however a fantastic line up for a young punk as I then considered myself to be.

A group of four of us set out from Sussex in a mates clapped out banger. We had doubts whether it has the 100 or so mile journey in it and those doubts proved to be reasonable. The car broke down and a parent had to pick us up only to drop us off back at our local for moans and beers. The journey was reattempted next day, this time by the marginally more reliable British Rail and we eventually made it to the Milton Keynes Bowl in blazing sunshine.

Endured Aswad and good God.... Howard Jones before Strummer and The Stranglers. A good sounding set with the exciting inclusion of the B-side 'Vietmanerica' and a rare opportunity for Dave Greenfield to express his vocal talents on 'Peasant in the Big Shitty'.

So, here's the Stranglers doing their bit for Charidy mate. Do enjoy!


FLAC: https://we.tl/t-egKV6wfxWE

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Spm80QJtDn

01. Intro
02. Always the Sun
03. Spain
04. Uptown
05. Peasant in the Big Shitty
06. Toiler on the Sea
07. Northwinds
08. Vietnamerica
09. Strange Little Girl
10. The Raven
11. All Day And All Of the Night
12. Shakin' like a Leaf
13. Big in America
14. Tank
15. Was It You?
16. Down in the Sewer
17. Nuclear Device
18. Punch and Judy



Here's the full artwork:
Front
Back

6 comments:

  1. i went on the sunday, just passed my test had a great day , a fantastic sunny sunday , i rember watching jules doin her poetry , and big audio dynamite being a great set. was it really so long ago ???

    ReplyDelete
  2. Went up by train for the weekend had a great time with a fantastic line up. The travelers played shit music all night back at the campsite.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was there on the Sunday. I was 13 and this was a pivotal moment for me with music. Before that day I liked pop music that had pretentions towards jazz and classical. The raw power of some of the punk bands on the bill totally changed my tastes. Still listen to E=mc² today as a 45 year old dad

    ReplyDelete
  4. Went up by train great weekend. The stranglers Damned Joe strummer and BAD. We're all excellent. The travellers played crap music all night and nicked my stereo.
    Does anyone remember if Brian James and captain sensible were playing with the Damned. As I seem the remember sensible being there?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sensible was there. The damned went through all line ups of the band from start to present I seem to remember and I think Sensible was on bass for a number or two at the beginning.

    ReplyDelete