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.


Wednesday, 21 October 2020

Original Damned Line Up for 2021

 


Well, I can honestly say that today was the day that my Facebook feed was properly Damned. I struggled through the Roundhouse press conference that was dogged with IT issues, rather an inevitability for a stream with 1000+ keen listeners. However, I do not share the disbelief of many that were tapping out in messages of surprise prior to the 1pm gathering.

I said as soon as Pinch departed that Rat would be back on the drum stool not long after it was cold. OK, Captain and Rat have had some kind of spat over the past few years but by the same token, in the same period Rat has been in a band with Brian, Rat has been in a band with Paul, Paul has been in a band with Captain and Captain and Paul have been in a band with Dave.... it's not as if they have really been keeping out of each others way in any meaningful way!

All members of the band are in their sixties, the end is nigh-ish (retirement I mean, not death). Some of them have a liking for the big one off shows (RAH, Night of a 1000 Vampires), Dave in particular I believe, so this makes sense. A last hurrah with these original agents of chaos!


Good luck to 'em. For my part, as much as I love this band, £75 for a London ticket is a bit steep and I did see this line up play a few times in the late '80's and again in '91 (?) in a double headliner with the Ramones.

No offence to Brian but whilst 'Damned Damned Damned' is an undoubted classic of the punk genre, even in latter gigs without Brian, the band have thrashed the arse out of that album. Don't get me wrong, it had some great tracks, but the Stooges angle on much of the album never really floated my boat. Strangely enough, overall I think that 'Music For Pleasure' has more tracks that interest me than 'DDD' but Sensible is never gonna go near that one again.

Hopefully, provided that old animosities can be held in check amidst these feisty pensioners, Rat may stick around and do some dates with Paul in the band... that would be my Manna from Heaven.

But as I say.... all the best to the cantankerous old bastards!


 

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