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.


Sunday 20 January 2013

20 From '79 (13) Ultravox Whiskey A Go Go LA 15th March 1979

Knob-Twiddlers 'R' Us
John Foxx (Ultravox) discusses Moog specifications with Gary Numan in 1979

No apologies for another diversion from the punk rock dual carriageway with this, another example of how diverse the UK music scene had become in the aftermath of punk.

It is to be noted that Ultravox pre-dated punk by a couple of years, progressed through punk and came out the other side with a new sound that combined the guitar, drum and bass requirements of punk with synthesisers. In doing so, they lead the UK charge that took teenagers off on one of (there were many at this stage) the next musical directions.... electronica or futurism (remember the kids at school who called themselves 'Futurists'?..... I may have applied that label to myself at some point in time!). This electronica itself mutated and gave way to a much lighter-weight style of music that became 'new romantic'.... of which arguably a latter incarnation of Ultravox (in which singer John Foxx was replaced by musical chameleon, Midge Ure) formed a part.

So here are Ultravox, a great band with possibly the most pretentious lyrics in modern pop (it's a close run thing with Bauhaus!)


FLAC: https://we.tl/Ed8cpIJWOL

Artwork: https://we.tl/V35fkFVugA

6 comments:

  1. problems with rapidshare download again,file denied by uploader

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, this deserves a serious comment, both from the point of view of the music and also the memory. First up, cracker'un, Adrian, this recording had escaped the Ultravox archive started long ago by garychching at the late great asfm, and kept alive (in the comments too) here:

    http://skamanchackett.blogspot.com/2012/07/ultravox-unreleased-tracks-1976-1979.html

    Gary's been kind enough to give us recordings (some FM A+) of the ill-fated first '79 American tour before you know who (a certain Urino) forever changed the band away from raw dissident punk to smooth synth synthetics. PVC2 were great, but what he did to Ultravox ... nuff said.

    Young Savage was (is) up there with the top ten: Wanna Be Me, 1977, Paris Maquis, et al - a key early punk band with a difference - violin and synth and a machine mentality to boot. So coming across an early recording as yet unarchived ... waahohoho!

    The next time Ultravox played the Whiskey, it was the second '79 US tour, 30th Dec 1979 to be exact, and way way too late, Foxx was long gone ...

    Of this first '79 tour, the following dates were recorded:

    1979.02.23 Philadelphia Hot Club (A-)
    1979.02.25 Atlantis Club, Washington D.C
    1979.03.02 Paradise Theatre, Boston A+preFM
    1979.03.03 Paradise Theatre, Boston - 2nd night
    1979.03.04 Stage One, Buffalo
    and the last of Foxx -
    1979.03.08 Detroit Michigan

    The group played several unreleased songs, including the never-studio-recorded Radio Beach on the American tour. All full gigs available upon courteous request in the comments at the above-listed Ultravox megapost.

    So this one comes in real handy, last of that tour, a historic document - thanks Adrian! Cheers, Dave Sez.

    PS: And, god, weren't Bauhaus pretentious ...

    PPS: One of the earliest alter egos for the Human League was The Future ...

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  3. And, as Adrian pointed out, Ultravox pre-dated the main wave of punk by a bit, recording one glam-rockish single in 1975 under the name Tiger Lily. The B side Monkey Jive is a clear indication of where the band would go ... get it here, ripped from glorious scratched vinyl, thanks to garychching:

    http://www.mediafire.com/?dyryw2dmtyf

    Cheers, Dave Sez.
    .

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  4. Many thanks for sharing! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. The links here are dead now, but meanwhile the superb FLAC Philly gig and 1975 single are here:

    http://fightthissicknessfindacure.blogspot.com/2015/02/ultravox-23021979.html

    and some exciting news! Some of the top-quality soundboard recordings made in 1979-80 mostly in San Francisco by KALX FM engineer Terry Hammer are online, including an excellent uncirculated Ultravox gig:

    Ultravox - 1979.03.13 Old Waldorf SF, rec. Terry Hammer, mp3@320, 1 file

    Use Internet Explorer for the right-click, save target as feature ...

    http://pastdaily.com/2014/06/30/ultravox-live-old-waldorf-1979-nights-roundtable-concert-edition/

    Artwork (misdated): http://www.bootlegzone.com/album.php?name=BT534CD&section=338

    Other groups: http://pastdaily.com/?s=Terry+Hammer

    Terry's recordings, not all available: http://www.angelfire.com/oh/liveperformances/livetapes.html

    Go get, you won't regret! Cheers, Dave Sez.

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  6. any chance of re-uploading the ultravox-whiskey a go go 15-3-1979 as it's the only early one I have missin-Thanks-Podcarlisle

    ReplyDelete