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 22 September 2018

Loopallu Festival Ullapool 22nd September 2006


Here's an anniversary gig from north of the border when the band played the Loopallu Festival in Ullapool which was then in its second year.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-cNX4KXN1lY

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-hwmh7WBJDq

01. 5 Minutes
02. Norfolk Coast
03. Spectre of Love
04. Nice n Sleazy
05. Death & Night & Blood
06. Peaches
07. Always the Sun
08. Golden Brown
09. I Hate You
10. Walk On By
11. Relentless
12. Threatened
13. Never to Look Back
14. All Day & All of the Night
15. Thrown Away
16. Duchess
17. London Lady
18. No More Heroes

Thursday 13 September 2018

'Well I’ll Be Strangled!'


Big Jet meets Lil’ Jet by Ramona Andrews.
Sculpture in clay and paint.

20 From '86 (14) La Louviere Eurorock Festival 13th September 1986



Another from 1986.... and on it's birthday too! Thanks as ever to Eric and The Rat Zone for this one!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-rxZjfpwyGh




Killing Joke Shibuya Duo Music Exchange Tokyo 12th September 2008


And here's the following night's performance.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-9sXZvpadzv

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-HrGeG8VlCA

01. Intro
02. Communion
03. Change
04. We Have Joy
05. Sun Goes Down
06. Whiteout
07. Exorcism
08. Kings And Queens

01. Millenium
02. Black Moon
03. Labyrinth
04. Turn To Red
05. Are You Receiving
06. Mathematics Of The Flesh
07. Money Is Not Our God
08. Asteroid
09. Pandemonium
10. Pssyche
11. Wardance

Tuesday 11 September 2018

Killing Joke Shibuya Duo Music Exchange Tokyo 11th September 2008


Tonight I am posting Killing Joke's album themed gig at the Shibuya Duo Music Exchange in Tokyo for this is a tenth anniversary gig, the first of two nights at the venue (the following night will be duly posted tomorrow evening). It is also a gleeful acknowledgement of Gunta's declaration that it is about time that she challenged herself and came to a Killing Joke with me. Admittedly she was full of wine and bravado, but nevertheless it is now out there in the public domain.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-ub9MRGvPhG

Artwork (big box format): https://we.tl/t-HrGeG8VlCA

01. Intro
02. Requiem
03. Wardance
04. Tomorrow’s World
05. Bloodsport
06. Complications
07. S.O.36
08. Primitive
09. The Fall Of Because

01. Tension
02. Unspeakable
03. Who Told You How ?
04. Butcher
05. Madness
06. Exit
07. Follow The Leaders
08. The Wait
09. Pssyche
10. Change
11. Love Like Blood

Saturday 8 September 2018

Wednesday 5 September 2018

Jet Black hits 80!


No-one can have missed that last week saw a mile stone in any person's life. It was Jet Black's 80th birthday no less. Mo was thrilled to receive a commission from Ava to do something for the man so she molded and pummeled his features in clay to create a little Jet.

Happy birthday Jet!

Sunday 2 September 2018

20 From '86 (13) The Damned Hammersmith Odeon 12th November 1986


Here's another from the year 1986 with The Damned recorded at London's Hammersmith Odeon. Interestingly, last night I have my first viewing of The Damned's documentary 'Don't You Wish That We Were Dead'. In it a rather bitter Rat Scabies gave some insight into the feelings within the band at this time. For a band who had by necessity to survive on its wits for the 10 years of its existence, after the success of the 'Phantasmagoria' album and the massive hit they had had with 'Eloise' the band were riding the crest of a wave commercially. This allowed them for the first time to record in huge, plush studios using state of the art equipment and the best gear that money could buy. According to Rat however, creatively the band were running on empty having entered the studio without much new material at all. As such the resulting album 'Anything' is not viewed with great affection by those that recorded it. Personally I feel that it has some good material on it but it comes no where near the aforementioned 'Phantasmagoria' in terms of quality and in being a consistent body of work. However, looking at the entry for the 'Anything' album on Wikipedia I had to smile when I read the following! "The Vancouver Sun also praised the album, stating that the Damned "have made the switch to mood music quite well, almost rising to the level of the mighty Stranglers"".

Many thanks for sharing this gig!

MP3 (as received): https://we.tl/t-6M8gVOl3cP

01. Sanctum Sanctorum
02. Wait For The Blackout
03. Psychomania
04. Anything
05. Shadow Of Love
06. In Dulce Decorum
07. Lovely Money/Is It A Dream?
08. The Girl Goes Down
09. Restless
10. LA Woman
11. Smash It Up
12. Eloise
13. Street Of Dreams
14. Plan 9 Channel 7
15. Neat Neat Neat
16. Love Song
17. Born To Kill
18. We Love You


LINK RESTORED - Sex Pistols Hammersmith Apollo, London 2nd September 2008


NEW LINK to this gig on its 10th Anniversary can be found (with artwork) here.

Saturday 1 September 2018

The Paradiso Amsterdam 2nd September 1977


An astounding 41 years ago tomorrow, this raucous gig from Amsterdam's Paradiso.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-Fe61TDFg5J

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-0RvxChwHJ2

01. Grip
02. Ugly
03. Straighten Out
04. Bring On The Nubiles
05. Peaches
06. I Feel Like A Wog
07. Dagenham Dave
08. Hanging Around
09. Dead Ringer
10. No More Heroes
11. Something Better Change
12. Burning Up Time
13. London Lady
14. Down In The Sewer
15. 5 Minutes


Guard Dog On A Missile Base No.1 by Colin Self

After a very difficult August, yesterday, Gunta, Mo and I took the time to visit Tate Britain in Pimlico to catch the Aftermath exhibition before it closed. Wandering around some of the free galleries beforehand I spied this familiar piece of art.