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 26 January 2024

Act One Club Philadelphia 21st March 1978

 


OK folks, something to start the weekend off. Here is a brutal 1978 set, posted here in an MP3 form as it is far superior to the lossless version that I have (I think that this version has received the attentions of DomP).

MP3: https://we.tl/t-asn1J5EYR1

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-EqK2eXkV91



Sunday 14 January 2024

Motorhead Port Vale F.C. 1st August 1981 (TFTLTYTD #5)

 


'WE ARE THE ROAD CREW!' I was never really much in favour of Heavy Metal, to my way of thinking 'Bad News' wasn't as much a pararody, rather just the way it was. Unfortunately, at school there was little opportunity to get away from it or ignore it. On the coach to school (12 miles from home!), it was Kerrang rather than Sounds that got passed around at least in '80/'81. This coincided with the emergence of NWOBHM (or the New Wave of British Heavy Metal) meaning that bands like Saxon, Iron Maiden and Samson were receiving a lot of column inches (also in Sounds). The popularity of this new guard lead a lot of kids in search of the old guard, AC/DC, Black Sabbath and this lot, Motorhead.

For me Motorhead were somewhat apart from the metal tribe. They looked the part, and to an extent, sounded the part and shared stages with many of the established metal bands. And yet, they or at least Lemmy had a cowboy boot firmly imprinted in the London punk scene. Do a google search in images for 'Lemmy punk' and it will throw up pictures of Lem with The Damned, Lydon, Sid and Gay Advert. He understood punk and many punks took to his band.... 'Gimme Some Motorhead' indeed.

Most bands that can boast a certain longevity have an agreed 'classic line-up' and it was no different with Motorhead. As stated in an earlier post, this 'Too Fast Too Live Too Young To Die' is remembering the bands that have lost members too early. In the case of Motorhead, this includes all three members of the classic line up, guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke, Philthy 'Animal' Taylor and Lemmy Kilminster himself.


This gig captures the band at their peak, playing what was billed as a 'Heavy Metal Holocaust' at Port Vale Football Club. On this occasion, Motorhead shared the bill with metal pioneer, Ozzy Osbourne, who had been kicked out of Black Sabbath a couple of years earlier. In the notes that accompanied this Dime upload (thanks to the original uploader) it is stated that for this gig the biggest PA ever to be used in the UK was assembled. During 'Bomber' parachutists descended upon Vale Park with one unfortunate missing the ground altogether (Spinal Tap anyone?). The set could not be bettered, taking in as it does material from the classic trilogy of albums by that classic line up, 'Overkill', 'Bomber' and 'Ace of Spades'. You could throw in the live album 'No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith' for good measure if you want.

Enjoy this if you don't mind a bit of Motorhead in your punk collection.



01. Intro/Ace Of Spades
02. Stay Clean
03. Live To Win
04. Over The Top
05. No Class
06. The Hammer
07. Metropolis
08. Leaving Here
09. Jailbait
10. Iron Horse Born To Lose
11. Fire Fire
12. Too Late Too Late

01. Fast And Loose
02. Dead Men Tell No Tales
03. We Are The Road Crew
04. Capricorn
05. Train Kept A Rollin’
06. Bite The Bullet
07. The Chase Is Better Than The Catch
08. Overkill
09. White Line Fever
10. Bomber
11. Motorhead




Saturday 13 January 2024

Cardiff University 21st October 1986

 


To complement this morning's Xmal Deutschland post here's the headline act to complete the evening's entertainment!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-Z46vvokjMh

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-J7XqEd2czB

01. No More Heroes
02. Was It You?
03. Down In The Sewer
04. Nice In Nice
05. Punch & Judy
06. Souls
07. Always The Sun
08. La Folie
09. Strange Little Girl
10. Nice ‘N’ Sleazy
11. Who Wants The World?
12. Who Wants The World? (Cont)
13. Big In America
14. Bring On The Nubiles
15. Shakin’ Like A Leaf
16. Uptown
17. Toiler On The Sea
18. Spain
19. Peaches
20. Tank

Xmal Deutschland Cardiff University 21st October 1986

 

Here is one of those rare occasions where a taper goes the extra mile and records a support band for posterity. As you know, The Stranglers had this thing going for sometime in the 1980's where their support acts seemed to be selected solely on their potential to confound and more often than not rile the audience, but that stopped in 1986 (if you side step Keith Allen's Wembley slot when he appeared as Jerry Arkwright, the Northern Industrial Gay!) when serious support came in the form of Hamburg's Xmal Deutschland. Here's their set from Cardiff on the Dreamtour. 

The following is definitely from back in the day, courtesy of Chatts's 'Box of Tapes', cassette bootlegs acquired at great cost on Camden High Street, record fairs and the like. Cheers.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-zmigiwH64n

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-E7hsD33rjP


I was prompted to put this up when someone sent me a link concerning a planned album of new material from lead singer, Anja Huwe. I listened to a snippet and it sounded great!

'Invited by her long-time friend Mona Mur, Huwe reconsidered her decades-long hiatus from music and decided to join Mur in her studio in Berlin. Together, they worked for a year and a half, composing, performing and producing the tracks from scratch, which would eventually become the album 'Codes'.


As a footnote, The Stranglers did briefly decide to take a band on tour with them that most definitely belonged in the 'WTF' section of your local record shop.... 'Starbase 109' (2008?). Anyone capture one of their support slots?

O2 Guildhall Southampton 20th March 2017

 


Thanks to those that responded to my request for assistance with some dates from 2017's 'Classic Collection' tour. This turned up two more that I did not have previously. Thanks for the share of this recording from Southampton (not sure if you want to be named or not.... some people don't... but you know who you are!). And thanks to Meanie as always for the artwork which has been sitting on my hard drive with no place to go until now. Cheers!

Nice sounding recording with a strong set.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-QpCDbZfXWd

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-SrSkh0OsF2



Monday 1 January 2024

Ruts DC Der Hof Dusseldorf 15th November 2023

 


Gunta and I had the highest of hopes to get to this gig (or any of the European gigs for that matter, but this one in particular). We are fairly regular visitors to Cologne but have not paid a visit to Dusseldorf for quite a few years now, since Gunta's aunt Margot died and we had to sort out her 'estate' as well as funeral arrangements. A word of advice to all those people of my age and above... get a will sorted. On the occasion of her aunt's passing Gunta had to negotiate all of the necessary arrangements under German law which was a challenge and a half for a relative without a will! Here, all of these years on, we are still extremely grateful to a guy called Peter who also happens to be the person responsible for the sharing of this great record of the band's gig at Der Hof.

I have said it with every post I make on Ruts DC, but they are like a gigging machine and when they are not on stage they are preparing their next release in rehearsal or in the studio. It is an impressive work rate that this trio have going. It makes the UK Subs look like slackers!

A great career spanning set and I just love 'Despondency' being in the set.


FLAC: https://we.tl/t-8Xe5fTUBRx

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-aVndqOaqKO

Ruts DC in Dusseldorf
15th November 2023
(Photo: Ashley Greb)


Dreamtime - Critical Reception (November 1986)

 


It is fair to say that the views of the critics writing weekly in the music press were mixed. Here are just two. The first from Sounds Neil Perry is a positive 4/5 star review, but then again of the weeklies it was Sounds and Record Mirror who were always more likely to give the band a hearing. The second review is a slating from The Legend! writing for NME. The Legend! was a pen-name for Everett True or Jeremy Thackery. The NME had a long standing dislike of the band.


The Stranglers
Dreamtime (Epic)

I do sometimes wonder why people feel the urge to buy records like this. Do they find their lives are in some way enriched by the experience? Do they serve the same purpose as little fluffy dice and Winnie The Pooh T-shirts as status symbols? Do they also buy Julian Lennon records?

So what’s to know? ‘Dreamtime’ is the latest in a long, seemingly unstoppable, line of Stranglers albums and sounds precisely the same as the last half-dozen. Electropap. You’ve probably already heard the hit single and know how ridiculous it is; the album is full of earth symbolism, magik and BLAND BLAND music which induces nausea in everyone I’ve played it to. Oh, and one more thing; The Stranglers seem to’ve discovered politics and hence we now get pearls of wisdom along the lines of “The KGB and the CIA, was it you?/Democracy and freedom, was it you?/ I don’t really know what I can see but I can see I’m losing control.”

The two singles, Always The Sun’ and ‘Nice In Nice’ respectively start both sides, I would like to say that they are marginally more bearable than the rest, but they aren’t. DREADFUL!

The Legend!