The Guildhall Portsmouth 13th March 1990

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.

Friday 13 March 2020

The Guildhall Portsmouth 13th March 1990

Hugh, Dave and John Ellis

The Guildhall, Portsmouth 13th March 1990

DomP's done it again and polished up a gem. The best recording from the '10 Tour'. The only flaw is that 'Heroes' and 'Nuclear Device' are cut short, but it is a long set so there is plenty more to caress your ears.

In his own words:

'Recording of unknown origin, but it has either been taken from the desk’s front of house output, or it has been professionally mixed. All the effects and left / right panning you’d hear at the gig are present.

Medium generation tape, ripped and mastered at 24bit/96k. Finalized as 16 bit/44k FLACs'.

It really is sobering to think that this recording is now exactly 30 years old! I thought they played such great sets on this tour. To hear them play 'Straighten Out', always in my top 5, was magical! 'Shah Shah A Go Go' too and 'Sewer' with that exhausting run out (if you were at the front... which I was.

Given what these gigs were like I still struggle that not 6 months later the band turned in such a lackluster show at Ally Pally.... quite a landmark one it was too.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-mEMwjHe99x

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-YP7wfpsdqf

01. Intro (Meninblack)
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. Nuclear Device (part)
20. Duchess
21. No More Heroes (part)
22. (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
23. All Day And All of the Night
24. Punch and Judy

For those inclined to burn to CD, I would suggest splitting the discs after 'School Mam' as that is how the artwork was prepared.