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 December 2024

20 From '87 (7) Clwb Ifor Bach Cardiff 10th January 1987 - TV Smith's Cheap

 



Here they are again the brilliant and criminally overlooked Cheap, former Advert TV Smith's mid to late '80's band. Starting out of the blocks slowly, Cheap's set was based aroud a collection of demos that had built up in the absence of live work. Initially, there was never any looking backwards for Tim, no matter how good the back catalogue was. Certainly The Adverts material was for now out of the question. Contrast that to the situation today where he is able to play anything from his musical past without fear of critisism... even Cheap got a revamp a few years ago!

As I said, some old and not so old demos were dusted down for inclusion in the new band's set. The set was reinforced with a number of tracks that had appeared on 1983's solo effort, 'Channel Five', 'The Suit', 'Burning Rain' and 'A Token Of My Love', whilst a number of tracks appeared that would go onto be lynchpins of a Cheap gig, 'Leisure Time', 'Silicon Valley Holiday' and 'Luxury in Exile' amongst them.

Cheap never enjoyed the success that they so thoroughly deserved and the band split in 1991, seeing Tim play as a solo performer for a number of years. It took a further twenty years or so before Tim felt comfortable performing Adverts and Explorer's material with a full band. And, whilst it is always a pleasure to see him play solo, it is with a band behind him that the full force of the music that he has written over the past four decades comes across best.

Thanks to Peter for this great gig!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-A9BbpJ1XjS

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-GjDA7S2PkH


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