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 24 January 2016

Recollections of The Stranglers From The Early '77 Period

The Stranglers return to Manchester
Electric Circus June 1977

I have been meaning to post this for months! To get feedback on the site generally is something of a rarity (not a moan really as I know that the steps involved in responding to posts on this platform can be a real disincentive), to get feedback by letter is rarer still! Nevertheless, back in June of last year, I received just such a letter from long time fan, Duncan Round, in response to my posting  the Glasgow gig at Queen Margaret's University in February 1977.

Thanks Duncan, I love the opportunity to post band related experiences of fans so that others can get an insight of what it meant/means to be a fan of The Stranglers over 40+ years.

Adrian,

Listening to Queen Margaret Union 12 February 1977.

I’m very aware of your Aural Sculptors site and the brilliant job you have been doing for yonks. Keep it up – be proud.

For some reason I chose to have a look at AS today and discovered that you had recently posted this gig. Well I have never heard this before and I wondered whether I ever would. It’s a brilliant live document. The quality is perfect considering how it would have bee originally taped and for how long ago it was. Not sure whether Mr P has been anywhere near this to clean it up.

I first saw the MiBs about 3 weeks later in Manchester as a 17 year old. Grip had just been released and the band were starting to gain a sizable following. Didn’t have any money as I was still at school and where I lived was about 35 miles away from Manchester. It was a big thing for us to go and see a group, let alone in the big city, let alone an edgy band like The Stranglers. The times were that Parents didn’t let you do stuff like that, not like footie which was in the mainstream. Today’s youngsters just don’t understand how relatively easier it is to do things in a more liberal society. For me though it changed my life and outlook at the same time on what I could do. The barriers were coming down.

The Glasgow Uni gig takes me back in time to that early 77 period. I can remember seeing and listening to the band. There is the Middlesbrough Rock Garden gig from a few weeks later and of course the Roundhouse one from April as Rattus came out which are good in different ways especially the Roundhouse, as it documents the rise and rise, even a first outing for NMH. The Paris Theatre recording was really exciting as the band had a national platform to shine from, but it was all too short & managed, not a real gig. Can you imagine though how good it felt though to turn on the trannie and hear the band strutting their stuff – mint. But this listening of Queen Margaret’s Union nails it for me as to how it was, raw and in your face.

It is a rougher but clearer recording of how it was. Let’s remember seeing the band at the time was no hi fidelity experience. It’s not just the tracks that were played but it’s the in between banter of Hugh and how Dave fills in. The end of Grip into Sometimes demonstrates that and in fact a sound to be heard for many years. Is there the end of Wog before Grip?

Those times were special in my life and thanks for taking me back there. Not that later on wasn’t  good because it was an ever running story with many a twist and turn and of course all roads lead to today.

Appreciated young man.

Duncan.

Emerald City Cherry Hill NJ 11th April 1981 - Two Versions


Here are two recordings of the same show in New Jersey. Recorded on the US 'Meninblack' tour, both of these versions appear to be radio broadcasts, both are of very good quality, although the first posted here is an upgrade (appeared this week on Dime - thanks to the original uploader), but is shorter than the second posted version. However, this 'new' version includes 'Baroque Bordello' which although incomplete, is missing from the other versions of this gig.

Enjoy!

Version 1

FLAC: http://we.tl/MLzIUKrEqR

01. Just Like Nothing On Earth
02. Thrown Away
03. Who Wants The World?
04. Baroque Bordello
05. Second Coming
06. Meninblack
07. Sha Sha A Go Go
08. Hallow To Our Men
09. Tank
10. Nuclear Device
11. Genetix

Version 2

FLAC: http://we.tl/xkwlgOHyEH

01. Intro
02. Threatened
03. The Raven
04. Toiler On The Sea
05. Just Like Nothing On Earth/Thrown Away
06. Who Wants The World?
07. Second Coming
08. Meninblack
09. Shah Shah A Go Go
10. Hallow To Our Men
11. Tank
12. Nuclear Device
13. Genetix


Mainichi Hall Osaka 14th February 1979


This last punk roar from The Stranglers is met by that bizarre reception that stunned so many Western bands who traveled to Japan, polite ripples of applause. What a sharp contrast to the concert halls of Britain at that time, Victorian amusement centres reduced to battle grounds as the tribes of the late '70's fought for supremacy.

This is pretty much a dream set from a band who by the end of the year sounded considerably different, softer and more measured in their music.

FLAC: http://we.tl/otVUvEGO0O

Artwork: http://we.tl/Dw44ZL8Hq7

01. Hanging Around
02. Burning Up Time
03. Straighten Out
04. Dead Ringer
05. Bring On The Nubiles
06. Dagenham Dave
07. No More Heroes
08. Outside Tokyo
09. Curfew
10. Tank
11. Threatened
12. Nice 'N' Sleazy
13. Do You Wanna?
14. Death And Night And Blood (Yukio)
15. London Lady
16. Down In The Sewer
17. 5 Minutes
18. Dead Loss Angeles
19. Toiler On The Sea

Flyer for the Osaka gig

Saturday 23 January 2016

Wetransfer Accounts Renewed for 2016!


I am happy to inform you all that both of the active Wetransfer accounts that support uploads to the Aural Sculptors site have now been renewed such that the available upload capacity will take us into early 2017.

Many thanks to those who have generously contributed towards these annual subscription fees and to all who continue to engage with the site.

All the best!

Adrian.

999 Bones Club Reading 18th October 1978


And now for another support related post. 999's relationship with the band goes way back. In fact it could be said that Nick Cash's knowledge of the band goes back even further to a time when the boot was on the other foot and The Stranglers supported the band that Nick, then known as Keith Lucas, was in as Ian Dury's guitarist in the Kilburns.

999 provided tour support on the European leg of the Black & White tour in the summer of '78. 999 are captured with the band on the tour bus in the 'New Wave in Vienna' footage, which also features Nick larking about at the airport.

Nick Cash entertains unsuspecting travellers

Through this door lies trouble!
Nick Cash in negotiation with Airport Police (June 1978)

The band also supported The Stranglers as part of a very eclectic (read that as 50% crap) line up at an open air gig at Fontwell Racecourse in 1993. Out of this gig came an interview with 999 for the pages of Strangled (at the suggestion of JJ). This interview took place a couple of weeks later in a room above The Swan pub in Fulham (where the band were playing that night). In the course of the discussion, the band talked of that particular tour, Vienna and also the riot gig that occurred at the Cascais Sports Stadium in Portugal.

I have the full transcript somewhere which I will look to post in the not too distant future.

This particular recording was made 3 months after that tour.

FLAC: http://we.tl/Vbgu15wVfN

Artwork: http://we.tl/48fRO6D8Mv

01. Chicane Destination
02. Don't Deny
03. Titanic Reaction
04. Nasty Nasty
05. My Street Stinks
06. Emergency
07. Nobody Knows
08. Nasty Nasty
09. I'm Alive


Strand Theater Redondo Beach California 9th July 1993


A gig from the tail end of the US 'In The Night' Tour recorded at The Strand Theater, Redondo Beach, California - with West Coast a wooping and a-hollerin'!!

Received in a trade (many thanks!)

MP3 (as received): http://we.tl/mMKl3xNj5y

01. Waltzinblack (1)
02. Waltzinblack (2)
03. Time To Die
04. Toiler On The Sea
05. Something Better Change
06. Five Minutes
07. Someone Like You
08. Never See
09. North Winds
10. I Feel Like A Wog
11. 96 Tears
12. This God Is Mine
13. Burning Up Time
14. English Towns
15. Ugly
16. Brainbox
17. London Lady
18. All Day And All Of The Night
19. Sugar Bullets
20. Tank
21. Always The Sun
22. Hanging Around
23. Duchess

Saturday 16 January 2016

O2 Academy Bristol 23rd March 2013


The 'Feel It Live' tour of 2013 and the band roll into Bristol. Artwork by MeAnIe (cheers!).

MP3 (as received): http://we.tl/nVbiQ554pg

Artwork: http://we.tl/wdxynln8jo

01. Intro/Toiler
02. Goodbye Toulouse
03. (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
04. Norfolk Coast
05. Time Was Once On My Side
06. Thrown Away
07. Freedom Is Insane
08. Mercury Rising
09. Peaches
10. Always The Sun
11. Relentless
12. Bring On The Nubiles
13. Duchess
14. Midnight Summer Dream/European Female
15. Genetix
16. Burning Up Time
17. Golden Brown
18. Skin Deep
19. Nice ‘N’ Sleazy
20. Who Wants The World?
21. Straighten Out
22. Something Better Change
23. No More Heroes
24. Tank

Friday 15 January 2016

The Damned 'Christmas On Earth' Queen's Hall Leeds 20th December 1981


Just received this from a contributor to the site, many thanks! This is a pretty good sounding recording of a great set from The Damned at quite a famous gig. I awful, freezing cold whether the majority of bands that formed what was to become known as the UK 82 punk scene gathered under the roof of the Queen's Hall in Leeds for an early punk all-dayer. True there were a few of the old hands there too, Chelsea, the UK Subs and The Damned of course and a handful of yanks in the form of Black Flag.



If you're a Damned fan, just take a look at this set.

Were any visitors of this page in the crowd that day? If so drop us a line.

Captain takes in the crowd
Queen's Hall Leeds on 20th December 1981

MP3 (as received): http://we.tl/LrTKULfVo9

Artwork: http://we.tl/iVEE6jZ0h7

01. Banter
02. Lively Arts
03. Wait For The Blackout
04. Disco Man
05. I Just Can’t Be Happy Today
06. Plan 9 Channel 7
07. Melody Lee
08. Gun Fury
09. Noise Noise Noise
10. Abuse
11. The Limit Club
12. Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
13. Love Song
14. Neat Neat Neat
15. Drum Solo
16. New Rose

Animal croons!
Anti-Nowhere League
Queen's Hall Leeds on 20th December 1981

FNAC St Etienne 14th February 1997


Here's a short in-store promotional set that saw the band in France a couple of weeks after the UK release of 'Written In Red'.

WAV: http://we.tl/rJmrCYJ7sp

01. Strange Little Girl
02. Valley Of The Birds
03. Daddy’s Riding The Range
04. You’ll Always Reap What You Sow
05. In Heaven She Walks


Tuesday 12 January 2016

A Last Word On David Bowie......


I nearly fell over when I first saw this a month or so ago!!

The Cortinas Fiesta Club Plymouth 22nd March 1977

The Cortinas From Bristol

Bristol's Cortina's had a very early dealings with The Stranglers that came about through Hugh's continued association with the fair city. The Stranglers made but one appearance at the fabled Roxy Club in Neal Street, Covent Garden in January 1977 and The Cortina's managed to get support in the following manner according to drummer Daniel Swann:

"A few months before, during the summer of 1976, Nick (the guitar player) had spotted Hugh Cornwall lounging in a park in Bristol.  Nick had just recently gone up to London and seen the Stranglers at the Roundhouse with the Ramones, so he recognized him right away.  Apparently, Hugh Cornwall had lived in Bristol a few years prior and regularly came back to visit old friends.  Nick went up to Hugh and chatted for a while.  He mentioned that he was in a punk band and asked if we could play a gig with the Stranglers.  Not long after, a postcard arrived from Hugh saying “come and open for us at the Roxy on the 22nd of January”".

 Flyer for a Roxy gig that didn't happen. The date would suggest February 1977, but this date saw the band play in Doncaster. On stage at The Roxy were The Damned, The Adverts and Chelsea.

The gig that they did play was on Saturday 22nd January 1977 and the evening was not without incident.

Al Hillier was in attendance and had this to say:

"I deffo went there with a few of the Finchley Boys in '77. I do remember bumping into Sid Vicious down there who was being a complete fucking arsehole. He pierced a Party Seven and sprayed it all over everyone including me and Finchley Boy hard man Dennis Marks who eventually followed old Sid to the khazi and gave him a few slaps. I was actually tripping at the time but I remember Sid emerging from the toilet with a big grin on his face covered in blood"

For the band, the night got worse as the Roxy management and the Strangler's roadies fell foul of a couple of con artists posing as members of the Met's Vice Squad. The upshot being that the band lost a total of £600, the proceeds of that night's gig as well as the money from the previous nights show at the RCA.



Bigger things were to come the way of The Cortinas when they supported the band again in the summer on 26th June. Incidentally, one of The Stranglers' sets from that day can be found here.


Here's a set from The Cortinas, caught between the date at The Roxy and the date at The Roundhouse.

Thanks for the trade!

MP3 (as recieved): http://we.tl/30aRd6xmRi

01. Defiant Pose
02. Tired Of Compromise
03. They
04. We're Gonna Play In The Subway Today
05. Further Education
06. Fascist Dictator
07. Tokyo Joe
08. Gloria
09. Gonna Get Mary In The Bus Shelter
10. Have It With You
11. Television Families
12. Have It With You
13. Slow Down

Dexter Dalwood of The Cortinas and JJ talk basses, Soo Catwoman looks bored!

David Bowie Phoenix Festival 1996


I only saw Bowie once at the Phoenix Festival in July 1996. The Festival was a fiasco. At the time Gunta's parents lived in Coventry and we thought that we would be clever and beat the crowds..... stay over in Coventry for the night and then take a leisurely drive over to the airfield near Stratford. A journey that should have taken 30 minutes took an awful 8 hours! Organisation of any kind of traffic flow broke down and many people missed the day's headline acts. It was the end of the Phoenix Festival, it did not reappear in 1997.

For his part David Bowie was amazing, playing a great set with a total command of the stage, and playing material from the previous year's 'Outside' album, which in some respects brought to my mind a meeting of Ziggy Stardust and Killing Joke!

FLAC: http://we.tl/r2G5Gk3CSf

Artwork: http://we.tl/WVS0ZBQpbm


Monday 11 January 2016

David Bowie 1947 - 2016


Well this month is unfolding to an absolute shocker for your average popular music fan. Lemmy, John Bradbury and then DAVID BOWIE. I posted something on social media this morning along the lines of Bowie being our generation's Elvis. I remember he day that Elvis died, my mum was in tears, I was eight and not particularly comprehending of the meaning of what happened. This morning it was our turn, David Bowie, the man without whom punk would not have happened or any alternative form of music for that matter, had gone days after his 69th birthday. Truely shocking. But perhaps it is not such a time to be so sad. David lived a life that even most rock stars would aspire to.... what a life it  was..... of highs and lows, but mostly highs, at least as far as the music was concerned.

Nobody in the history of popular music has produced a body of work that has always been at the coal face, carving out new directions. Others could just follow in his wake. I have loved his material from his mod days (when he himself was drawing his own influences from the likes of Tony Newley),

'She's Got Medals'
1967

through the likes of 'Hunky Dory'. Just brilliant!

'Changes'
1971

After the glitter and sequins of 'Ziggy' and 'Aladdin Sane' etc, Bowie reincarnated as 'The Thin White Duke' and gave us 'Station to Station'..... a world away from what came before.

'Station to Station'
1976

Where to next David? Ah yes, why not the divided Berlin of the Cold War..... that'll produce something interesting. And didn't it just. My favourite Bowie period...... 'Heroes', 'Low' and 'Lodger'. Albums with atmosphere brimming over. Listen to 'Sense of Doubt', close your eyes and wait.... is that a Stasi agent on the street corner ahead? But there was humour too (of sorts). Those West German practical jokers Kraftwerk name checked David and his little mate Ig in their 'Trans-Europe Express'. Ever the gent Dave returned the compliment with 'V-2 Schneider' on his album 'Heroes' of the same year (1977). 

The '80's dawned so Dave kinda created new romanticism with 'Ashes to Ashes'. Is there anything that this man couldn't do?

'Ashes to Ashes'
1980

But what came shortly afterwards was a big slump in form as far as I am concerned. But that's OK 'cos David agrees with me. 'Let's Dance' was massive, as a single and as an album, but it marked that start of a creative drought that it seems almost every artist that I like experienced in the 1980's.

Luckily David had some more tricks up his sleeve, some worthy of Paul Daniels (Tin Machine), but others worthy of Dynamo ('Outside'). 

'Hello Spaceboy'
1996

2013 and now retired from touring he gave us 'The Next Day' which proved he still was not prepared to stand still in this rock 'n' roll game.

'Valentine's Day'
2013

What a career, second to none, not Elvis, Lennon or Sinatra! 

Today, shops in London, Brighton and a host of other towns and cities belted out Bowie tunes in celebration of the life of the original kook. A great mark of respect I think.

David, if it were not Dry January (!!!) I would raise a glass to you to thank you for all the years that you have entertained me, from first listening to a taped copy of 'The Best of Bowie' in '81-'82 (a K-Tel release!) on a alarm clock/cassette radio lodged under my pillow right through to today.

'Look up here, I’m in heaven'

Sunday 10 January 2016

Horace Panter Interview On The Ready Steady Ska Website


Whilst on the subject of The Specials, I was alerted to the Ready Steady Ska website after receiving a request for permission to use the above photograph of Horace that I took at The Godiva Festival in Coventry some years back. It was for use in an interview with him about his music and playing.

The interview can be found HERE.

John 'Brad' Bradbury 1953 - 2015

John 'Brad' Bradbury
1953 - 2015
Lino print in black ink on white card (15cm x 20cm)

I wouldn't normally put artwork on here, but I, along with many others, was so gutted at the untimely death of Specials drummer Brad that I felt like doing something.

Xmal Deutschland Town And Country Club London 29th September 1986


And just to round of the Dreamtour support thing, here's a recording of Xmal Deutschland from the Town & Country Club in Kentish Town, London on 29th September 1986, a few weeks before going on the road with The Stranglers.

I'm sorry, but I do not have the set list for this. I think that I saw them play a couple of songs when they played at the Brighton Centre and then went back to the bar to try to get served again....... I was 17 but very small!

FLAC: http://we.tl/vFyhzg5RjA

Many thanks to the kind soul who provided  the following set list.

01. Intro
02. Polarlicht
03. Boomerang
04. Tag fur Tag
05. Der wind
06. Eisengrau
07. Mondlicht
08. Autumn
09. Reigen
10. Nachtschatten
11. Morning
12. Jahr um Jahr - cuts due to tape switch
13. Augen blick
14. Paho
15. Zu jung, zu alt
16. Polarlicht

RESTORED LINK - Wembley Arena 3rd November 1986



Whilst I am at it a new link for The Stranglers set at Wembley can be found here.


Jerry Arkwright Supports The Stranglers at Wembley Arena 1986

Keith Allen

The Stranglers had a habit in the early to mid '80's to shun the convention of touring with a lesser rock band for support. Instead they selected leftfield acts that they knew would challenge and/or infuriate their audiences. From music hall acts to puppeteers, ballerinas to bodybuilders they took them on the road.

At the prestigious London date of The Dreamtour at the cavernous Wembley Arena, they employed the services of Jerry Arkwright, a self-acclaimed Northern Industrial Gay. This was a typical Stranglers rouse to wind the predominantly male, and perhaps a tad macho, audience up as much as possible. Remember this was in late 1986 when Britons first became aware of the new dread disease, A.I.D.S.. This was also a time when Gay communities across the world were seeing what this devastating disease meant to them as thousands were diagnosed as H.I.V. positive. This was a very scary time for homosexuals and heterosexuals alike and the Government campaign at the time very much fueled that fear.

Jerry Arkwright was none other than comedian Keith Allen, one of The Comic Strip Presents.... team. Personally, this routine never did it for me, but as a band support here it is for you people.

WAV: http://we.tl/L3qZe64LwQ

Martian Dance John Peel Session Recorded 8th September 1980


Here's a John Peel Session from the short lived Martian Dance. As can be seen from the flyer above, the band provided a support slot along with Hazel O'Connor when the band played the Lyceum in the summer of 1980.

Martian Dance were signed to EMI, but I believe that they only released one single 'The Situation'. They are perhaps best known for providing tour support to Adam and the Ants on 1980's 'Ants Invasion Tour'.


FLAC: http://we.tl/bkU51MuIIp

01. Transformed
02. Two Sides One Story
03. The Situation
04. Stand Alone

Here's a comtemporary interview with vocalist Jerry Lamont from the fanzine 'No Class': http://www.noclass.co.uk/martiandance.html

RESTORED LINK - Fire And Water Outtakes 1983

A restored link to the Fire And Water Outtakes can be located here.


Friday 8 January 2016

Dornier Bomber Over Burgess Hill 18th August 1940



As I was listening to the radio in the car as the family returned from Cambridge a couple of days after Christmas I started listening to Jeremy Vine doing a programme of Radio 2 highlights across 2015. 2015 saw the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and in one of their long running shows 'Friday Night is Music Night' was given over to a commemoration of the Battle and of 'The Few' who stopped the Luftwaffe from gaining air superiority over the skies of England, which ultimately forced Mr Hitler to rethink his invasion plans.

Here then is a story set to music of actions and experiences of 18th August 1940, known as 'The Hardest Day' of the Battle of Britain. This post is a little self indulgent in that it mentions my home town of Burgess Hill and this recalled the story that I have not heard for many years.

MP3: http://we.tl/nnzo8RaUCv

18 August 1940

RAF airfields were targeted today, including Kenley and Biggin Hill. Part of the German plan was to send bombers across the Channel at very low level to beat the British defences, but the Observer Corps post on Beachy Head gave an early warning of what was happening.

Among a series of spectacular photographs of the low level formation taken by a German official photographer flying in a Dornier was one of people running for cover in Burgess Hill, Sussex, as the force crossed the town.

People can be seen running for cover in Cyprus Road, Burgess Hill as a German dornier straffs the street.
(German observation photograph taken on 18th August 1940).

Burgess Hill was a turning point for the nine dornier aircraft, from where they picked up the line of the Brighton to London railway which took then in the direction of the target airfields. My Grandparents also related this incident on numerous occasions.

Both sides suffered heavy casualties in intense fighting. It was claimed that the Dornier that crash landed at Leaves Green near Biggin Hill had been brought down by fire from the Home Guard, but the evidence, including that of the pilot, Oberleutnant Lamberty, indicates that the Kenley ground defences and RAF fighters deserve the credit.

The Stukas suffered. Another memorable photograph, taken from the ground, shows one tumbling to destruction on the outskirts of Chichester.

Among the RAF pilots lost was Sergeant Peter Walley of No 615 Squadron, whose Hurricane crashed at Morden. Witnesses suggested that he had stayed with the stricken aircraft to steer it away from houses. Others described another piece of heroism; Flight Lieutenant “Conny” Connors of No 111 Squadron still firing at a German bomber from his burning Hurricane, moments before it crashed. The aircraft had been hit by anti-aircraft fire over Kenley.

RESTORED LINK - The Roundhouse 26th June 1977

Restored links to this brilliant recording can be found here.


The Cliffs Pavilion Southend 20th March 1990

Sorry, I had an email recently from someone but have mislaid it. It concerned the offer of an audience recording from the '10 Tour' of the band at The Cliffs Pavilion in sunny Southend. Well, I can tell you that I already have a good quality version of this which runs to 23 tracks. I can upload it this weekend, as I understand that your version is not currently digitised.

Adrian.

Sunday 3 January 2016

Rainbow Theatre London 7th March 1981


And whilst I do not have Modern Eon's set from the Rainbow gig I go have the headliner's set, or at least some of it.

FLAC: http://we.tl/NC9Fm71e6Z

Artwork: http://we.tl/zjroiDAv8e

01. Intro/Threatened
02. The Raven
03. Toiler On The Sea
04. Just Like Nothing On Earth
05. Thrown Away
06. Who Wants The World?
07. Baroque Bordello
08. Second Coming
09. Tank
10. Nuclear Device
11. Genetix
12. Duchess
13. Hanging Around

Modern Eon Royal Court Liverpool 21st February 1981


Modern Eon were a Liverpool band of the post-punk era. There studio output ran to an album, 1981's 'Fiction Tales' and five 7" singles. They also appeared on a number of compilation albums at the time.  This gig from Liverpool's Royal Court was a BBC radio recording of a gig that occurred two weeks before their support slot with The Stranglers that took place on 7th March 1981.

FLAC: http://we.tl/56Zb97Cdg8

01. Second Still
02. Watching The Dancers
03. Waiting For The Cavalry
04. Mechanic
05. Choreography
06. Euthenics
07. Real Hymn

More information on Modern Eon can be found on their website here.

Saturday 2 January 2016

The Skids Dundee University 3rd December 1980


OK in the first support act related post, here's a short set (a radio broadcast) of The Skids playing at Dundee University in late 1980.

The band's association with The Stranglers however predates this show by a few years when they supported the band at Clouds Disco in Edinburgh in early February 1978, after which they also appeared on the bill on the Black & White tour and perhaps most notably at the Battersea Park event on 16th September of the same year.



Richard Jobson, the band's flamboyant, twinkle-toed frontman also lent a hand at the Rainbow gigs of 3rd and 4th April 1980 when Hugh was incarcerated at Her Majesties pleasure in Pentonville nick.



FLAC: http://we.tl/WxTI9p9jK1

01. Charles
02. Masquerade
03. Hurry On Boys
04. Of One Skin
05. A Woman In Winter
06. Yankee Dollar
07. Animation
08. Out Of Town (Cuts)


And In Support....... TBC

In another themed series of postings, I want to bring you good people some recordings of bands who have provided gig and/or tour support to The Stranglers over the last 41 years. Obviously, some of those bands are better represented on Planet Bootleg than others, but some I may well struggle with... The Tea Set for example.... and do any recordings of Nick Malham exist out there? It may be that I turn it on it's head and offer a band for whom the Stranglers were in support.

I'll see how I get on.

Where possible, I will try to make the recording as contemporary as possible to the support date.