The Damned 'Night of a Thousand Vampires' The London Palladium 28th October 2019

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.

Tuesday 18 February 2020

The Damned 'Night of a Thousand Vampires' The London Palladium 28th October 2019

Keeping the vampire theme alive (or should that be undead), here for your listening pleasure is last year's 'Night of a Thousand Vampires', a gothic extravaganza that took place at London's prestigious Palladium Theatre on the West End of town. It featured 'The Circus of Horrors' and 'The Damned'. Billed to be something out of the ordinary, the whole band partook of the Halloween/vampire theme. Even Dave Vanian joined in!

Highlights of the night included 'Nasty', surely one of the greatest single releases from the band (and certainly the one with the best video accompaniment, courtesy of the BBC's 'The Young Ones' series), a cover of the Bauhaus classic 'Bela Lugosi' and a rendition of the new song, the aptly titled 'Black is the Night'.

I did once read back in the day that there existed some needle between Pete Murphy and Dave Vanian on account of the latter believing that the former had purloined his persona. Vampires eh?

Many thanks to the donor for sharing these files. Much appreciated!

MP3 (as received): https://we.tl/t-w2AZuStsdt

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

01. Wait for the Blackout
02. Plan 9 Channel 7
03. Grimly Fiendish
04. Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow
05. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
06. Shadow of Love
07. Absinthe
08. Under the Floor Again
09. Nasty
10. I Just Can't Be Happy Today
11. 13th Floor Vendetta
12. Eloise
13. Curtain Call
14. Tightrope Walk
15. The Dog
16. Neat Neat Neat/Bela Lugosi
17. New Rose
18. Love Song
19. People Are Strange
20. Smash It Up (Part 1 & 2)
21. Black Is the Night