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.


Wednesday, 6 July 2011

Guildford University Surrey UK 19th October 1978


This is a gem of a recording, short but with a great pedigree. Filmed as part of the BBC’s ‘Rock Goes To College’ series, which unsurprisingly featured name UK bands playing various UK academic institutions, it was in their home town of Guildford that the Stranglers committed TV suicide and crossed swords with the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Seriously pissed off that their request that 50% of the ticket allocation be made available for non-students had not been honoured, the band laid into their predominantly student audience with relish. The gig culminated after Hanging Around with the Hugh Cornwell line ‘Guilford University never represented Guildford. We hate playing to elitist audiences, so fuck off.’

  1. Ugly
  2. I Feel Like A Wog
  3. Bring On The Nubiles
  4. Burning Up Time
  5. Hanging Around

A censored clip of ‘Hanging Around’ later featured on the BBC’s ‘Sounds of the 70’s’ series, whilst more recently, footage of ‘Ugly’ has surfaced on YouTube. I hope it is not long before the full version of this short gig makes it into general circulation as it really does capture the band at their punk height.

'Ugly' Rock Goes To College October 1978


In the wake of the aborted TV gig, the music press were quick to pillory the band in print as exampled in this article from the 21st October issue of UK music weekly Sounds:


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