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.
The Vapors were a well respected and well connected four piece from Guildford, managed by John Weller and Bruce Foxton of all people. The Vapors had that distinctive style that produced a contemporary new wave sound infused with the musical sensibilities of mod (sorry... went a bit Paul Morley for a moment there!).
I sometimes wonder whether, in the spirit of kinship, Bruce and lead singer/guitarist, Dave Fenton did each others hair.
02. Prisoners
03. Bunkers
04. Johnny's In Love Again
05. News At Ten
06. Cold War
07. Letter From Hiro
08. Galleries For Guns
09. Waiting For The Weekend
10. Sixty Second Interval
11. Spring Collection
12. Turning Japanese
13. Trains
14. America
15. Secret Noise
01. Waltz in Black
02. 5 Minutes
03. (Get A) Grip (on Yourself)
04. Spectre Of Love
05. Nice n Sleazy
06. Death & Night & Blood
07. Unbroken
08. Peaches
09. Always The Sun
10. Golden Brown
11. I Hate You
12. Lost Control
13. Summat Outanowt
14. Walk On By
01. Relentless
02. Threatened
03. Burning Up Time
04. All Day & All Of The Night
05. Thrown Away
06. Duchess
07. London Lady
08. Nuclear Device
09. Dagenham Dave
10. Hanging Around
11. No More Heroes
Here's one from the Aural Sculpture tour at the request of Paul D. This recording comes with a bit of a health warning in that it seems to run slow at times (tape stretch at the time of original transfer?). It is what it is. That it was recorded in Manchester is evidenced when Hugh informs the crowd that the Liverpool audience was better. You can imagine the reaction!
1. Intro
2. Something Better Change
3. Nuclear Device
4. Uptown
5. Dead Ringer
6. No Mercy
7. Nice"N"Sleazy
8. Thrown Away
9. Let Me Down Easy
10. Midnight Summer Dream
11. European Female
1. Ships That Pass In The Night
2. Golden Brown
3. Peaches
4. Death And Night And Blood
5. Threatened
6. Punch And Judy
7. Hanging Around
8. I Feel Like A Wog
9. Down In The Sewer
10. Nubiles (Cocktail Version)
11. Toiler On The Sea
Here's another from one of those freebie cover CDs. Hugh's appreciation of the work of Bob Dylan is well known and is documented in the track '24/7' on 2004's 'Beyond Elysian Fields' album.
'Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be ..... John Lennon'
Pete Shelley on 'Stars In Their Eyes' 1993
This morning, I was set to the task of sorting through piles of magazines that I have amassed over the past 18 months or so. I have a terrible habit of buying magazines only to give them a cursory flick through before casting them aside. One of my regular purchases is the 'NME' for the middle aged, that goes by the name of 'Mojo'. In this sorting process I also looked through 20 or so cover CDs (invariably still attached to the front cover of the magazine) and this track caught my attention.
On an album of covers in celebration of The Beatles 'Yellow Submarine' album, Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks fame has covered 'Think For Yourself' with the assistance of the current Buzzcocks line up minus Steve Diggle (i.e. Chris Remington on bass and Danny Farrant on drums).
By virtue of their pop sensibilities in the face of the late '70s punk snarl, Buzzcocks were on occasion referred to as 'the punk Beatles' or 'Manchester's Fab Four'. Listen to 'Singles Going Steady' and it kind of makes sense.
It would be unthinkable to have a list of 20 of the best live bands of 1980 in which Buzzcocks weren't represented. So here they are in America. Take a look at the set (a full set) and the whole spectrum of their material is here, from the first thrash of 'Time's Up' to later experimental songs such as 'Are Everything' and 'Strange Thing' (some of their best material was produced as heavy substances altered their ways of thinking!). In between these two extremes are multiple slices of brilliant pop punk that Buzzcocks crafted better than any other band of the day... and the competition was stiff indeed.
Back in May, as reported in these pages, this line up came back together for one final fling and the musical chemistry that the Manc Fab Four had was apparent for all to see and hear once more.
01. Why She's A Girl From The Chainstore
02. What Do I Get?
03. Fast Cars
04. Fiction Romance
05. Harmony In My Head
06. Are Everything
07. Lipstick
08. Ever Fallen In Love?
09. Something's Gone Wrong Again
10. Airwaves Dream
11. Strange Thing
12. Noise Annoys
13. What Do You Know?
14. I Believe
15. Love Battery
16. Love You More
17. Oh Shit!
18. Time's Up
19. Boredom
I knew I had this somewhere. Here's the review of Paul's first UK gig that appeared in Sounds the following week. It was written by a friend, Andy Peart, then on the paper's staff, who did ask for my opinion after the gig.... from memory I think it was me who mentioned an 'over the top' stage performance!
The track goes back many years. The track as originally recorded by Bishops Stortford band, The Epileptics, appeared on 'The Last Bus To Debden' EP. It was a live recording from a gig at the town's Triad Centre.
I think that the Subs did a great job on it, but as so often is the case with covers, the original is superior.
1. No More Heroes
2. Threatened
3. Sometimes
4. Never To Look Back
5. Someone Like You
6. Laughing At The Rain
7. Heaven Or Hell
8. Always The Sun
9. 96 Tears
10. Brainbox
11. I Feel Like A Wog
12. Uptown
13. Wet Afternoon
1. Mr Big
2. Hanging Around
3. Toiler On The Sea
4. Down In The Sewer
5. All Day And All Of The Night
6. Tank
7. London Lady
8. Duchess
This then is the definitive document of the two extraordinary gigs that the band played when HAC was detained at her Majesty's pleasure.
This is the full show in excellent quality, uniquely including JJ's 'Do The European'.
The last five tracks come from a session that the band did for The Tube in 1983, but included here as these tracks are also listed on the accompanying artwork.
The tale behind the gigs on the 3rd and 4th April is so well documented it doesn't warrant repeating here, however in ferreting around for additional material I stumbled across some pictures of Toyah with the band that were completely new to me.
JJ, Richard Jobson, Toyah Wilcox, Hazel O'Connor and Wilco Johnson
Photo credit and copyright Virginia Turbett Photography
JJ, Ian Dury, Toyah Wilcox, Hazel O'Connor and John Ellis
Photo credit and copyright Virginia Turbett Photography
34 years ago today saw the band play in London under their own name for the first time in many months. The bands struggle to get gigs as the furore over punk and especially The Stranglers spread across the nation and critically in to Town Halls and Council offices since the officials these buildings housed had a controlling hand over who was allowed to play in their towns and cities. In London, the Tory lead Greater London Council took up vehemently against the band (more details are to be found here).
But sense prevailed and permission was obtained for an afternoon in a South London park.
To mark the occasion here is the full gig from the day (thanks go to Dom P!)
01. Introduction
03. Grip
03. London Lady
04. Go Buddy Go
05. Peaches
06. Hanging Around
07. Bring On The Nubiles
08. Something Better Change
09. No More Heroes
10. Curfew
11. Do You Wanna?
12. Death & Night & Blood
13. Nice 'N' Sleazy
14. Toiler On The Sea
15. Five Minutes
16. Tank
Reaction to the gig was, perhaps unsurprisingly, mixed. Here's two contemporary reviews that appeared in the following week's music press.
‘Barefoot In The Park’ (aka ‘Bare Knockers In The Park’) Sounds 23rd September 1978
Stranglers/Peter Gabriel/Skids/Spizz Oil/The Edge
Who says festivals have to be soul destroying affairs? Perhaps I’ve been reading the papers too much… or was The Stranglers’ Battersea Park event really a very well organised gig? Being a suspicious chap by nature I chose not to make the pilgrimage to Blackbushe earlier this year, neither did I bike it on up to spend a miserable weekend tramping around like a three legged goat at Reading.
The reports I read dubiously noted lines of people stretching painfully for miles outside toilet and refreshment stands, not to mention the poor quality of music said people were forced to put up with.
So was this the truly pathetic lot of the avid festival goer, I asked myself? If so the Battersea Park Open Air Festival must have been a rather unique occasion.
A five minute stroll across pastures green beneath the hot and sunny blue sky and I’m through the entrance. In the distance I harken to the rapturous applause of an audience already well into the spirit of the afternoon following a reportedly encouraging set from The Edge who, sadly, I missed thanks to a faulty alarm clock.
A quick shifty on my part around the police patrolled area of greenery reveals that not only are there several clean and instantly accessible toilet facilities but – lo and behold – no problems in obtaining a drink and a hamburger or two. By the time Spizz Oil take to the stage the message is read and understood; there I was kitted out in my army fatigues, ready and willing to fight my way through the madding crowds en route to the Gents, only to discover that I was wasting my time. Dammit, this looked like it was going to be fun.
And fun it was too. Spizz Oil looked more than a little out of their depth perched up there in front of so many people. Even so they turned in an interesting enough set and were probably pleased enough with the reception they got.
Next on were The Skids who again didn’t really look at home on this big stage, but hell they worked plenty hard and earned themselves a lot of new fans via their uncompromising attitude. No way were they going to let the heckling hordes of impatient Stranglers fans get under their skin.
And then there was Peter Gabriel. Oh yeah, for me definitely the highlight of a splendid afternoon was our Peter. His band, decked out in regulation work shirts and overalls, sounded fresh and alive and very vital.
Moving swiftly through selections from his two solo albums I was greatly impressed with Gabriel’s theatrical cavorting. Looking like some hybrid of Terence Stamp crossed with Spider-Man, he athletically hopped around, covering every inch of the stage.
On one number, possibly ‘White Shadow’ (24 hours on I forget such details) there came a moment of totally hysterical madness where Gabriel was lost, still singing, in the crowd while the bass player played drums and the drummer, bass.
And too quickly Gabriel gave us ‘Solsbury Hill’, which reached epic proportions with a hefty sections of the crowd singing along with him, then a dynamic ‘Modern Love’, followed by a quick wave and – end of show. A great show from the man and his band, despite the dodgy sound.
For months now the word has been that the GLC have been pulling strings in order to make life very difficult for The Stranglers in London, not to mention their fans living in the city. A no gig situation has frustrated the band and fans alike for far too long. However, as this event proved, ultimately (in the band’s own words) the GLC is ‘pointless and powerless’.
With that thought in mind, The Stranglers played a lengthy set comprised of all their hit 45s plus a selection of numbers from the ‘Black And White’ set.
Personally I don’t think that they played all that brilliantly, but they did do well enough to send the majority of kids present home with smiles on their faces.
Definite highlight was Nice ‘N’ Sleazy where we got treated to a whole parade of nubile shedding clothes the way snakes shed skins. Sexist? No , it was luverly mate. Ask Hugh Fielder.
The climax came when they encored with ‘Five Minutes’ and ‘Tank’. Smoke bombs exploded into great thick black clouds and people were still bopping while I was reading the classified results.
Who says festivals have to be soul destroying affairs? Not me, not The Stranglers, not Peter Gabriel that’s for sure.
Mick Wall.
‘Stranglers Play It Small ‘N’ Orderly' New Musical Express 23rd September 1978
The Stranglers Battersea Park, London
The Stranglers’ much publicised battle with The Greater London Council came to an eventual compromise in Saturday’s garden party, at which a surprisingly small and orderly audience was to be found pegged out on the tarmac sunning themselves in the Costa Brava climate.
The four-quid entrance fee would have seemed justifiable if The Edge hadn’t been the only contenders out of five support acts to show any semblance of talent, drive and real imagination.
First on, with the midday shift, they featured two ex-Damned members – Lu on guitar, and drummer Jon Moss – and together with Glyn Halvardsson, bass, and Gavin Povey on keyboards, sounded a little like a Jam/Stranglers fusion. The Jam’s chopped chords and drone vocal harmonies, with the keyboards and live wire bass building up a far more expansive sound.
Between ‘The Edge Theme’ and ‘The End’, they packed in a string of adventurous songs of various changing rhythms, and all with instrumental sections in which Lu’s fragmented solos merged into the keyboard fills to great effect. All of it was eminently live music, especially ‘Winning Streak’, a number about greyhound racing that bears uncanny resemblance to Little Feat’s ‘Day At The Dog Races’. They showed that they at least could take the routine out of jamming, and play music that can actually take off.
A couple of loons called Spizz Oil followed, and played a few numbers so disastrous that, had they sacrificed the novelty of their one guitar/one vocal line-up for an entire band, their plastic crash helmets might well have been indispensable.
‘Better than Sonny and Cher any day’, claimed DJ Pete Drummond. That much I’ll go along with.
Next up were Scottish four-piece The Skids, who weren’t helped by their love of ham fisted rhythm changes and a bass/drum backing that carried none of the real weight they needed to get across.
Peter Gabriel’s talents as a performer/entertainer, or even songwriter, I still fail to recognise. He and his band, most of whom looked like Mafia hit-men, clambered up a ladder onto the stage in their day-glo road worker jackets, and launched into a set of little consistency and, apart from the more melodic ‘Flotsam And Jetsam’ and ‘Solsbury Hill’, even less musical strength.
It all diffused in too many directions, and was grievously damaged by his eighth-rate punk version of ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’.
As crowd reaction could only be swayed by his sorties out front with a radio mike, it couldn’t be called an event by any standards.
The stage was cleared for Johnny Rubbish, who risked body and soul, and his stringless guitar for a rendition of his McCartney-based anthem ‘Mud On My Tyre’. I don’t rate him as much as a comedian, but as a decoy to draw the flak from can-wielding cropheads, Rubbish could well become a permanent festival fixture.
After having to ditch their plans for dropping in with jet-packs strapped, The Stranglers decided instead to hire a Sherman tank to add a little weight to the proceedings, which made a few noises in Gabriel’s set and then sat around looking sadly redundant.
The feared foursome have always struck me as a band who can only give back as good as they’re getting, and without an audience actually imposing on them they had to work amazingly hard for a reaction.
If nothing else, their long-running fight for a London venue has added to the mystique of seeing them perform, a mystique that, judging from this far from massive turn-out, they seem to have slightly overrated. Not only was the volume distractingly low but their instrumental approach was so systematic as to preclude any variation of pace. They just stayed cranked up to a safe cruising speed, without accelerating to a climax.
In fact the nearest thing to a climax for the macho-men up-front was the ‘Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’ strip show, during which five sun-stroked nubiles tried for that ‘all-over tan’ with the aid of some slave-driving berks with whips. Another indication that the band’s sense of proportion seems to be on a downward slope.
It was a strange set – a lot of it great, a lot of it disappointing. ‘Peaches’ and ‘Hanging Around’ are still strong runners from the early days, and of the ‘Black And White’ collection, ‘Death And Night And Blood (Yukio)’ and ‘Toiler On The Sea’ with Cornwell and Burnel belting out the vocals with the same unnerving attack, carried them over patches of discordant blitz like ‘Do You Wanna’.
Seeing that the stage was stacked with brick wall back drops, and crawling with graffiti, I don’t doubt that The Stranglers would agree that they’re better suited to conditions of urban grime than sunny afternoons in Battersea Park.
Here is one put up especially for MeAnIe who leaped into action at my request to replace my frazzled Reading Hexagon recording. Cheers!
There is some debate about the date (and even perhaps the venue) for this one. I received it as 12th May, but the Burning Up Time Forum lists this gig as taking place on 12th June 1978. The latter date would seem to be more logical as they played L'Anciennes on the 13th. Can any of our French friends confirm?
A listenable boot (although nowhere near the standard of the Bataclan gig), this is from the time that the band were at their most brutal on stage.
1. Ugly
2. I Feel Like A Wog
3. Burning Up Time
4. Bring On The Nubiles
5. Hanging Around
6. London Lady
7. No More Heroes
8. Something Better Change
9. Curfew
10. Do You Wanna?
11. Death And Night And Blood
12. Nice "N" Sleazy
13. Threatened
14. Sweden
15. Tank
16. Five Minutes
17. Toiler On The Sea
Artwork (referencing 12th May date) is here: Front Back
Here's a short one that has been doing the rounds on-line for some time. I am not the biggest fan of this band, I have some of their stuff but not a great deal. Nevertheless, you have to admire their longevity and everlasting popularity. In recent years they have also put on some truely marathon shows covering their whole back catalogue... one of the greatest things that long lasting bands can do for their fanbase I think.
It was my intention to put up another '10' tour recording this morning, but that one will have to wait. Instead, having just returned from a business trip from Zagreb, I thought this one was appropriate. This show was recorded less than 12 months before war tour the region apart, ultimately resulting in the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Those who attended the gigs in both Belgrade and Zagreb reported that the tensions in the area were clearly rising at this time.
On the music front, the end is nigh.... as far as Hugh's tenure in the band was concerned. I loved the set that the band chose to play on that tour, the opening being stronger than any other that I had seen to date.
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. Strange Little Girl
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.Golden Brown
20. Nuclear Device
21. Duchess (Cut)
To my frustration, the disc deterioration that I mentioned some time ago is claiming more victims. I will continue to add recordings to the 'Recordings for replacement' hall of shame page on the right. Again, if anyone is able to provide a lossless replacement copy I would be a very happy man.
Here's one at the request of Christian, who was in attendance on the night. From the brief French mini-tour of France, promoting the brilliant 'Un Jour Parfait' here's the Lyon date. Not great sounding but a great gig!
1. Si J'Etais
2. Weekend
3. Tristeville Ce Soir
4. Un Jour Parfait
5. Via Dolorosa
6. Le Whiskey
7. She Drives Me Crazy
8. Garden Of Eden
9. Reves
10. Waltz
For more info on these rare dates take a look on the official site here.
Unfortunately, whilst I have seen this band on many occasions, I do not have many of their live recordings. And yet, as stalwarts of the 2-tone scene and the 'other ' band from Coventery 1980 was very much was the year of The Selecter!
Lead by the truely enigmatic Pauline Black they, like The Specials, mixed original material with 2-toned up covers of original Blue Beat records. I am happy to say that The Selecter are still delivering the same potent message of tolerance to their audience, an anti-racist message that still sadly needs to be heard... only for National Front and British Movement, read British National Party and English Defence League.
Their new(ish) album 'Made In Britain' comes highly recommended!
Following on from the first wave of the London punk scene, Killing Joke like many post-punk bands took the attitude and pace of punk, mixed it with all manner of other influences, and served it up as something completely new and for that reason exiting and dangerous once more!
The early singles were rather dub orientated, a reflection of the band's origins in the Ladbrook Grove area of West London. By the time their eponymous debut album was released, the band had created a tribal wall of sound of stunning intensity. Other bands of the day were also treading the tribal path (most notably the later Ants and Southern Death Cult), but all sounded tame in comparison with the noise being made by Jaz Coleman and his cohorts.
Here's a great quality early gig. Although short, this may be a full set recording given the number of band's playing and Killing Joke's positioning on the bill.
I suspect that the uptake of this gig may be high considering the great cross over fan appeal of Killing Joke and The Stranglers.
Just beyond an anniversary gig.... and here's Johnny!!
The Pistols got back to small gigs at this time (OK not that small but not aircraft hangers if you get my meaning). Personally I dislike this venue passionately, so I wasn't in the crowd on this occasion. The sound is a little distorted, but it's a nice to have if you were there.
1. Intro
2. Pretty Vacountry
3. Pretty Vacant
4. I'm A Lazy Sod
5. No Feelings
6. New York
7. Did You No Wrong
8. Liar
9. Holidays In The Sun
10. Baghdad Was A Blast
11. Submission
12. Steppin’ Stone
13. No Fun
14. Problems
15. Happy Birthday
16. God Save The Queen
17. EMI
1. Encore Break
2. Bodies
3. Anarchy In The UK
4. Encore Break
5. Silver Machine
6. Roadrunner
7. From The Heart
As mentioned the donation button has been removed from the site. I didn't want to ask, but on reflection felt that in the long run it was an OK thing to do, as indeed did some of you. In the time that the donation option was active I achieved 98% of the 2 year subscription which is fine by me.
So I would just like to extent my thanks once again in acknowledgement of those that parted with hard earned cash in these austere times that we find ourselves in..... you know who you are.
Please do keep supporting the site and I will continue to provide stuff that I hope floats your collective boat.
