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, 20 December 2020

Killing Joke Lyceum London 30th November 1980


Now to one of the biggest hitters in punk, Killing Joke, and more specifically their eponymous first album, one of the most important, ground breaking albums in punk and certainly top dog in the post punk field.

I laugh now to think that this album was the grinding in the background for most of my mock 'O' Level revision back in 1984. I still wonder how anyone could possible revise and take stuff in with this in both ears. Somehow it worked and I did OK!

It is without doubt one of the most explosive debut albums that has ever been released, a manifesto setting out the Killing Joke's sonic intentions. Nothing at the time sounded remotely like this. If anything the bands that can be loosely labelled with a post punk tag were veering more towards jazz and the avant garde than this full on assault of grinding guitars, gut punching bass and horror film synths!

The artwork is of interest, it being a doctored image of The Troubles in Derry's Bogside.



Here too is a contemporary review of the album from Melody Maker.

Melody Maker 18th October 1980

So, here's a great sounding recording from the Lyceum in London on that first album tour.





01. Pssyche
02. Bloodsport
03. S.O.36
04. Tomorrow's World
05. Requiem
06. Change
07. Wardance
08. Primitive
09. The Wait
10. Tension
11. Complications

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