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 16 April 2022

20 From '81 (1) The Jam The Ritz New York 26th May 1981

 


Kicking proceedings of then in a revisit to 1981 are The Jam with a full set radio broadcast of their gig at the Ritz in New York on 26th May 1981. At this time Weller & Co were at the top of their game being one of the biggest bands in the UK, perhaps The Police could have pipped them to that particular accolade but not by far. In the UK music press Paul Weller was viewed as musician/politician rolled into one.... A Minister of Yoof you could say. Sting never acquired that status. The Police on the other hand conquered the world which was something The Jam never achieved. Weller alludes to the problem in this recording in the introduction to 'Strange Town'..... 'Right, this is our bid for US success... this one's called 'Strange Zipcode'. Perhaps it was the accent, perhaps the fact that Selsey Bill or Bracklesham Bay were just too far removed from Time's Square or Sunset Strip. It seems that to break America you have to play by their rules and the music has to be palatable to US taste. The Police and certainly The Clash understood this, but Paul Weller refused to join in with that game. It's not that The Jam avoided American culture, they were very adept an making great American soul tunes their own but a gritty Britishness pervaded all of their albums and they were a better band for that.

So, with all that in mind, take a listen to this 'Sound Affects' period recording.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-ryv9G32vpv

Artwork: In download file.

01. But I'm Different Now
02. Boy About Town 
03. To Be Someone 
04. Monday 
05. Man In The Corner Shop 
06. Funeral Pyre 
07. Pretty Green 
08. Private Hell 
09. The Butterfly Collector 
10. Set The House Ablaze 
11. David Watts 
12. Scrape Away 
13. Start 
14. Dreams Of Children (cut at end) 
15. When You're Young (cut at start) 
16. Little Boy Soldiers 
17. The Modern World 
18. Strange Town 
19. Heatwave 
20. Eton Rifles 
21. 'A' Bomb In Wardour Street 

1 comment:

  1. Sting and the police had the career weller wanted up to 1983 now weller since 1992 has had the career sting wanted.

    Any chance you could reup the police london paris theatre 1979, thanks if you can.

    ReplyDelete