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.
Okay then, here an incomplete recording of the band playing in the French city of Angers on the European leg of the 'Giants' tour. It's a shame that this is both 1) incomplete and 2) a bit bizarrely edited as the sound is quite good. The editing is either an indication that this was a broadcast or that the taper was not a fan of any new material, this being a gig played in 2012 featuring no material recorded after 1986!
The return of Iggy Pop to these shores in September 1977 was an eagerly awaited event. On his earlier visit in the year (March) promoting 'The Idiot' he had his mate David Bowie backing him up from the wings on keyboards which was something of a spectacle. At that time the punk was known to the few in the 'in-crowds in the UK's largest towns and cities, people were only just in the process of ripping up their school blazers, but by September the new music was firmly established and Iggy was welcomed back as the 'Godfather of Punk'.
This time around he was promoting the 'Lust For Life' album supported by The Adverts.
Sounds (13th August 1977)
Sounds (20th August 1977)
Bowie was replaced on this tour by sometime Stooge, Scott Thurston.
Footage from this appearance at Manchester's Apollo was really my first introduction to Iggy Pop, not back in '77, but when material from Granada's 'So It Goes' was repeated to mark the 10th anniversary of punk. 'Oh look, there's a man with a horses tail on stage'... business as usual for Iggy Pop!
'Lust For Life'/Interview/'The Passenger'
So It Goes, Granada TV September 1977
Here is the full audio of that landmark gig. From 101Guitars. Cheers!
The gig itself was reviewed in the 1st October issue of Record Mirror.
Record Mirror (1st October 1977)
This review was written by Steve Morris. I was initially wondering whether the writer was Stephen Morris from Joy Division/New Order, who did some freelance work for Record Mirror back in the '70's. However, digging a bit deeper online, I stumbled across a 'Morrissey in the Press' web site and it would appear that this review was penned by him.
