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.


Monday, 26 August 2019

The Gospel According to the Meninblack - Detailed Feature in Mojo Magazine October 2019


Jailbirds-in-waiting (nearly)
Inside the Nice Courthouse June 1980

This month's Mojo features a piece on 'The Gospel According to the Meninblack' album. To be honest for the well-versed fan there is not much that is new information in the content, but it is great that the band's most misunderstood and maligned album is getting some serious, critical recognition. 

What is also nice to see is that all of the key players in its creation i.e. Hugh, JJ, Jet and Dave, each contribute to the article. Even better is the unanimous consensus that they independently reach that it was the most accomplished album that the four of them put together. A commercial disaster yes, but an artistic and conceptual triumph no doubt.

I know that this album is very close to JJ's heart, despite, or maybe because of the psychological turmoil that surrounded its inception and recording.

What was new for me was the above photo take within the Nice courthouse.

Assuming that the band endure through to 2021 a live tour of this album would make a great swansong, not to everyone's taste and guaranteed to send the Britannia Music Club set to the nearest exit. It would however be totally in keeping with my band, a band that refused to conform to industry/label expectations. Leave a 2021 audience as bamboozled at the end of the gig as you did in 1976!

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