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 28 February 2016

Bristol Locano Review Sounds 28th February 1981


Here's a review of the Bristol Locano gig that I posted last week. The gig itself can be found here.

The Vibrators The New Regent Brighton 17th March 1978


Now here's a band that most certainly supported The Stranglers at their very first gig no less at the Hornsey Art College in North London in March 1976. Again they are another band still gigging, however as a rule the only original member is the drummer, although the original line up were apparently on stage last night in Islington to mark their 40th anniversary. Anyone on here go?

Here's the band from '78 recorded in Brighton.

FLAC: http://we.tl/6wQYTXSlxh

Artwork: http://we.tl/SCESn6r2AM

01. War Zone
02. Wrecked On You
03. Sweet Sweet Heart
04. 24 Hour People
05. Automatic Lover
06. London Girls
07. Flying Duck Theory
08. Public Enemy No. 1
09. Fall In Love
10. Baby Baby
11. Troops Of Tomorrow
12. Wake Up
13. Keep It Clean
14. Destroy
15. Bad Time
16. Pure Mania
17. Nazi Baby
18. She's Bringing You Down


Guaranteed Not To Fall Apart - Even In The Most Violent Situation!!

How's that for a dodgy looking rat. A £2 postal order and its yours. Ad from NME (11th March 1978).

The Members Warfield Theater San Fransisco 15th August 1980

The Members

Not sure whether the full band supported The Stranglers at any time, but frontman Nicky Tesco certainly helped out in April 1980 at the pair of gigs that the band played at The Rainbow, In Hugh's absence Nicky contributed vocals to Nice 'n' Sleazy.

Here's a great quality recording of the band stateside. Many thanks to the contributor!


01. Intro
02. Muzak Machine
03. Flying Again
04. Offshore Banking Business
05. Stand Up And Spit
06. Romance
07. Gang War
08. Don’t Push
09. Police Car
10. Sound Of The Suburbs
11. Soho A-Go-Go
12. Solitary Confinement
13. At A Chelsea Nightclub
14. G.L.C.

The Members are still active (in fact I saw them play a couple of weeks ago at the 100 Club) and they have a new album out.




Saturday 27 February 2016

Top Secret


Does anyone have a full set of this excellent fanzine that they would be able and willing to copy for me (with costs covered of course)? 'Top Secret' was a quality publication in the true spirit of punk cut and paste fanzines produced in the Littlehampton area in Sussex (Gary lived in Rustington if memory served me right). This was an essential pre-internet resource for Stranglers related news at a time when the production of 'Strangled' became rather unpredictable.

I have a few issues but not all.

Thanks,

Adrian.

Saturday 20 February 2016

A Fine Pair Of Bristols!

Hugh and Jet BBC West

Two venues, two albums, one year, one city. If you were lucky enough to have been in Bristol back in 1981 who could have had the opportunity to see the band in town twice in the space of 9 months. The band have long had a close relationship with Brisol, primarily through Hugh's connections I suppose. However it came about, it seems that Bristol also had a thing for The Stranglers. BBC West, filmed the band when they played at The Granary in November and the also filmed the Black Documentary with Hugh and Jet.

Thanks to the two who helped me out with these recordings. Cheers!

The Locarno Bristol 9th February 1981 (The Men In Black Tour)

The Locarno on Frogmore Street (now student flats)


01. Waltzinblack
02. Threatened
03. The Raven
04. Toiler On The Sea
05. Just Like Nothing On Earth
06. Thrown Away
07. Who Wants The World?
08. Don't Bring Harry
09. Waiting For The Meninblack
10. Meninblack
11. Four Horsemen
12. Second Coming
13. Hallow To Our Men
14. Nuclear Device
15. Genetix
16. (Break)
17. Duchess
18. Hanging Around
19. Down In The Sewer

The Granary 11th November 1981 (La Folie Tour)

The Granary on Welsh Back Street (now flats and a fish restaurant)

The venue featured in The Old Testament footage of the band from this gig. It looks like my kind of venue and now also sadly no more.

Looking for information for this post I stumbled on a TV piece on the venue that includes a clip of 'Duchess'.





01. Waltzinblack
02. Just Like Nothing On Earth
03. Who Wants The World?
04. I Feel Like A Wog
05. Tramp
06. Second Coming
07. Baroque Bordello
08. Golden Brown
09. Pin Up
10. Thrown Away
11. Tank
12. The Man They Love To Hate
13. Let Me Introduce You To The Family
14. Bring On The Nubile
15. Duchess
16. Nuclear Device
17. Genetix

Let's here it for the little grungy venues!

http://www.independentvenueweek.com/

RESTORED LINK: The Damned Bridgehouse Canning Town London 7th September 1979


Not the greatest quality, but just great all the same!

Restored link can be found here.

Saturday 6 February 2016

RESTORED LINK: The Fulham Transworld Sessions 1974/75 – The Start of Something Special


By request I have re-uploaded the Fulham Transworld Sessions from the '74-'75 period.

The restored link can be found here.

Manchester Apollo 6th February 1983


An anniversary gig from the Feline tour from the Manchester Apollo.

FLAC: http://we.tl/yKkim8FOmB

Artwork: included in the download folder

01. Nuclear Device
02. Toiler On The Sea
03. Ships That Pass In The Night
04. It's A Small World
05. Just Like Nothing on Earth
06. No More Heroes
07. Who Wants The World?
08. Never Say Goodbye
09. Baroque Bordello
10. Golden Brown

01. Princess Of The Street
02. Midnight Summer Dream
03. European Female
04. Tuning
05. Tramp
06. The Raven
07. Duchess
08. London Lady
09. Bring on The Nubiles (cocktail version)
10. Down In The Sewer