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, 22 December 2024

The Nashville West Kensington - A Review (Sounds 3rd July 1976)

 


With reference to the previous post, here's a great example of the type of early press coverage that I am talking about. In this review of the band's 14th June 1976 performance at The Nashville in West Kensington, that appeared in the 3rd July issue of Sounds, Chas De Whalley hits the nail on the head. Chas, an early protagonist of The Stranglers seemed to have an inate understanding of what made the band tick and where they were coming from musically from the moment the press picked up on them. Pitching them somewhere between  Eddie & The Hot Rods and the Pistols is not a bad assessment of where the band were at musically in the Summer of 1976.

In his assessment of the music, it is clear that this was something different (and yet familiar from an earlier time.... isn't that true for all music though?). In the words of De Whalley 'Thus their music can be seen to strike an uneasy pose between the naively structured pop songs of the era and the heady raucous excesses of acid-rock'. 

From what I have read, review-wise, relating to the band in this period, it is very evident that they intregued and discusted the music writers in equal measure, but generally, even those that were critical wrote in such a way that the reader could make at least a partially informed decision on whether to be parted from 75 pence or so to go and see the band live or not (this being prior to the signing of any recording contract).



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