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.


Saturday 16 March 2024

Ian Dury And The Blockheads Town And Country Club London 25th September 1990 (TFTLTYTD #6)

Thanks to Chatts for this one. As part of the TFTLTYTD thread, this one is for the former Blockheads drummer Charlie Charles to lost his fight with cancer not so long after this series of benefit gigs. However, the ring master of the Blockheads circus, Ian himself, lost his own fight with cancer five years later in 2000.

I was fortunate enough to see The Blockheads with Ian on three occasions. In 1994 Madness played Madstock II in Finsbury Park with Ian (a well acknowledged influence for the band) in support. At around the same time the band headlined at the Grand in Clapham, this time with The Nutty Boys (Lee and Chrissy Boy from Madness) doing the support honours. Lastly, I saw one of the band's last gigs at the Junction in Cambridge. That must have been in 1999, Ian was unwell by this stage but it was magical seeing such an icon in such a small venue. 

My first encounter with Ian and his Blockheads was when 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick' came out.... late 1978. I remember going to a schoolfriend's house specifically to record the single. This meant kneeling in front of his parent's radiogram with the small plastic microphone pointed at one speaker whilst trying to be as quiet as possible! The B-side, 'There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards' was wonderfully subversive in my 9 year old mind!

Dury was a fantastic lyricist whose wayward appearance and cockney delivery meant that he still found a receptive audience after punk swept the pub rock bands aside (of course not overlooking the fact that Kilburn & The High Roads were the inspiration for many of the young punks that dominated 1977).

By all accounts Ian wasn't the easiest of personalities, but that not withstanding his and The Blockheads legacy is second to none.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-dICXFvyWK2

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-sdbmYB3dUK



 





O2 Academy Birmingham 16th March 2013

 


As the Stranglers touring machine rolls into the West Midlands today for tonight's gig in Wolverhampton, here is a birthday gig from this day in 2013, Baz's 500th gig with the band.... I wonder what his tally is 11 years down the line? Thanks to MeAnIe for the artwork!

MP3 (as received): https://we.tl/t-9qVkudrOh0

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-9sXaco0xt8



Monday 11 March 2024

The Hummingbird Birmingham 11th March 1990

 


Here's an anniversary gig that was originally post on here back in 2012 and the link has long been dead. From an incredible 34 years ago then...

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-EJHJo4mWQH

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-XnqxSDLHLC

01. Intro
02. Shah Shah A Go Go
03. I Feel  Like A Wog
04. Straighten Out
05. Shakin’ Like A Leaf
06. 96 Tears
07. Someone Like You
08. Sweet Smell Of Success
09. Always The Sun
10. Ships That Pass In The Night
11. Peaches
12. Where I Live
13. School Mam
14. Let's Celebrate
15. Uptown
16. Tank
17. Was It You?
18. Down In The Sewer
19. All Day And All Of The Night
20. Punch And Judy

Sunday 10 March 2024

Tribute To Steve Shy (1955 - 2022) Gullivers Pub Manchester 25th February 2024

 


It was Day two on our mid week Mancunian trip and we were in the city's Northern Quarter. Gunta wanted some haberdashery and it was convenient for me that the shop was next to a pub. With a justification of 'I don't want to rush you so I'll have a quick pint' or some such nonsense, I disappeared through the swing door of Gullivers. As an aside, Mo informed me that the pub was one of Mark E. Smith's locals (I suspect that there were a fair few of those!) and The Fall's track 'The Mixer' was written about a guy who worked behind the bar in there. Any way, I digress. I could not help noticing this brilliant mosaic on the wall. It had not been on the wall when I last called into this pub. Since it was a Wednesday and just past opening at that, I was the sole customer, so I was able to occupy the booth opposite and study it well. It was a memorial piece to Steve Shy, original Manchester punk and creator of the fanzine 'Shytalk', one of the earlier cut, pasted and xeroxed DIY efforts that informed local kids about the new music both on a national level and local level. The piece is accompanied by a quite from Pete Shelley who described Shy as the 'Unsung hero of the early Manchester scene'.


From a Man United fan blog site, Steve recalls an encounter with an irate Hugh Cornwell: 

'One of the editions of Shy Talk had a piece in it which was slagging The Stranglers off. I had the mag on sale at the Electric Circus when they next played there in June 1977 and Stranglers lead singer, Hugh Cornwell, bought a copy off me. Half an hour later, he was all over the place looking for me and wanting a fight after reading what had been written. The following night, The Drones were supporting The Stranglers in Sheffield and Cornwell saw me and came walking over. I thought, “here we go”, but he just said “sorry about that last night. It annoyed me. I thought we were all supposed to be on the same side”. I said “maybe, but you’re not on the same side as the lad who wrote that fucking piece”'.

A Small Square of The Square.

 


This morning Gunta and I paid a visit to Harlow museum that also takes in the walled garden. The garden is a great secluded and peaceful space amidst the persistent traffic of Harlow (could it be that on the cusp of being closer to 60 than 50 I have become mellow... oh no!). The exhibition space traces the development of the area from from the Bronze Age, through the Roman period up to the modern day and Frederick Gibberd's new town vision.

For me the pinnacle of the town's development was The Square, simply the bestest, independent music venue that there ever was. Since moving to neighbouring Bishops Stortford 29 years ago The Square was the location of many brilliant nights.


Sadly and seemingly inexplicably (given what happened to the plot) the company that owned the land decided to end the lease so that this near legendary venue closed its doors finally in 2017. 

After closure, the venue stood derelict for several years before bulldozers levelled the building a couple of years ago. Why the decision was made to close the venue only for the land to be undeveloped for such a long time is a mystery to me. On the face of it Harlow and its residents were needlessly deprived of a brilliant entertainment hub for years.

So back to 2024 and the museum then. The original backdrop is an exhibit and boxed up sections of The Square's stage were available to buy... well I had to! Boxed as it is I was reminded of the presentation of posh cakes and pastries. However, open the box and I can assure you you would not put the contents anywhere near your mouth. It is a 10 x 10 cm slice of stage, the rubber surface of which is a rich infusion of gob, sweat and gaffer tape adhesive... in short all the flavours of rock 'n' roll condensed in a CD sized block. OK, so it is not a piece of Wardour Street Marquee, but nevertheless within it is a small part of my musical journey, but more importantly the history of the bands that put Harlow on the map and those bands that went on to much bigger things.


Also, whilst sifting through a mass of gig tickets and flyers I came across a Square beermat... could be worth a fortune!



The Undertones Sin of Pride Tour 1983

 


The box room from where I work for half of the week doubles up as a king of pastime space out of office hours. The space is small and usually looks like a radio station studio after a tropical storm has passed through. One problem is discs, CD's and DVDs. I have 100s that are half labelled or not labelled at all. I know that in this respect I am a little behind the times as such physical storage of data is on its way out but still.

Last weekend, I was trying to sort through some of these and bring a bit of order to the chaos. One had a post-it note on it that simply said 'Undertones 83'. I have listened to it and identified all of the tracks and I have to say I really like it. I am guilty of selectivity when it comes to The Undertones in that I haven't really ventured beyond the first two albums and the singles. I don't even own either 'Positive Touch' or 'The Sin Of Pride'. This recording is late career, coming from somewhere on 'The Sin of Pride' tour. A bit of on-line digging indicates that this would be one of the last gigs that the band played with Fergal since they played the live rarity 'I Ain't Got Nobody', a song by 'Sly and the Family Stone'. It is a full set recording for which I cannot pin down the date or the venue, so if anyone has any ideas...

The sound is rather changed from the new wave of The Undertones' and 'Hypnotised' The writing is more complex... there are still songs about girls but fewer on the subject of chocolate!

I have promised myself to give some listening time in the coming days to those last two Fergal period studio albums.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-kUxYNcDI4y

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-5Dq25r9zVe

01. When Saturday Comes
02. I Don't Know
03. The Love Parade
04. It's Going To Happen
05. Untouchable
06. Love Before Romance
07. Teenage Kicks
08. You Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It)
09. Julie Ocean
10. Bye Bye Baby Blue
11. Tearproof
12. Bittersweet
13. Beautiful Friend
14. Wednesday Week
15. Conscious
16. I Know A Girl
17. Get Over You
18. Let’s Talk About Girls
19. I Ain’t Got Nobody
20. Cher O’bowlies
21. Untouchable

Saturday 9 March 2024

Beach Ballroom Aberdeen 26th March 2015


To mark last night's kicking off of the 50th anniversary tour in Glasgow I thought I'd post a Scottish gig. Since all of my Baz era Glasgow gigs have already been posted to the site Aberdeen will serve as a good substitute. It was a great tour in bitter weather (see picture here). The set was great with 'Longships' preceding 'The Raven' and a vocal work out for our Dave in the form of 'Four Horsemen'. With the assistance of the Beach Ballroom' sprung floor, on this night the joint was indeed jumping!

To all in Scotland this weekend have a fine time indeed!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-2fvqarFSx5

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-RD1lZR3wyt

01. Intro
02. Longships
03. The Raven
04. Straighten Out
05. (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
06. I've Been Wild
07. Four Horsemen
08. Relentless
09. Baroque Bordello
10. Golden Brown
11. Always The Sun
12. 5 Minutes
13. Freedom Is Insane
14. Time To Die
15. Nice In Nice
16. Peaches
17. Walk On By
18. No More Heroes