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 28 September 2024

1987 A Return

 

The Great Storm'  15th -16th October 1987

It was 10 years ago that I posted a '10 From '87' thread, so I thought I'd have another crack at it but this time be a little more ambitious in aiming for 20 uploads from the year. Here I have to cast my net a bit wider as for me, even at the tender age of 18, I felt that music in the UK was on a downhill slide. There were good bands out there of course, it's just that perhaps my ears weren't particularly open to them.

Back in 2014 I posted what I was upto in 1987 and you can find that if you so wish. However, one new recollection of the year came to me. What became of the 'Great Storm' when the counties of Kent and Sussex experienced a hurricane. My then home town of Burrgess Hill was particularly battered by the elements. Of the night I remember little... I had spent the earlier part of the evening in the pub. I remember opening my eyes briefly at 4.10 am (the approximate point when the storm was at its most violent) but that is all. The next day was amazing, a scene of absolute devastation at every turn. Very few people worked, for quite some time people were trapped in their roads by fallen trees so couldn't go anywhere other than on foot. For a good few weeks the air vibrated to the sound of chainsaws as millions of tons of fallen trees were cleared. It was eleven days after the storm before we had the electricity restored to our house. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to spend every evening in town in the pub for warmth and light. This was something of a problem as I was due to retake my A Levels the coming January... I didn't do much better at the second attempt either!

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