It was on 4th March 1985 that I saw The Stranglers for the first time (don't mention the Feline tour - missing that is still a painful recollection 42 years after the event!). The Aural Sculpture gig was rescheduled from 7th February and I was 16 days shy of my 16th birthday. In honour of the occasion, my parents gave me my birthday present early... a biker jacket.
I think I have mentioned it on here before, but as you can imagine, recollections are a bit hazy. One thing always stuck in my mind and that was that someone threw a shoe at JJ, prompting him to declare 'I don't want your fucking shoe!'
On this first occasion, I was not familiar with all of the back catalogue, my age and the cost of vinyl meant that as the time I was familiar with most of the singles, 'Feline' and 'Aural Sculpture', older album tracks were new to me. That was a double edged sword I guess. Coming away from that gig I was keenly aware that I had 7 or 8 years worth of the band's back catalogue to discover which in some respects is great but in another sense it means that you do not grow with the band. I missed out very much on that exitement and anticipation of a new release (and even in some cases the disappointment that came with it). I did not have to struggle with getting my head around 'The Gospel' or get to grips with the idea that the band 'had gone soft' with 'Feline' and I never knew The Stranglers Punk Band Without Compare. I did experience that anticipation between 1985 and 1990, but I would be deluded to think that first listen of anything from that period carried the same impact as hearing a '5 Minutes' or a 'Duchess' for the first time... 'Sweet Smell Of Success' anyone?
And of course with Aural Sculpture' came the brass, which whilst I understand was an integral part of the new material, however, working the brass into the old material in order to keep the boys with the brass angaged on stage didn't sit comfortably with me, then or now.
It is strange to think, looking back over a distance of 40 years that in early 1985, the band at that time were less than 10 years old and in fact had only been in the public eye for 8 years or so i.e. from today back to 2017. It's true, time plays tricks on you as you get older!
Notwithstanding the fact that I was not there at The Red Cow or the 100 Club, the time that I have had with the band has been a constant (almost) for 44 years, bringing with it long standing friendships, not to mention matrimony! My affiliation with the band has dictated how I have spent my money and where I have chosen to spend a significant portion of my annual leave. It has even had more than a little say in determining my wardrobe over the years, none of which I have regretted (and you can't often say that of fashion... especially if your teenage years spanned the 1980's).*
The Brighton gig recording can be found here.
To mark all things 'Aural Sculpture' I put together a DVD recently that was essentially an attempt to consolidate the video material that I had accumulated over the years. Of this the quality was highly variable... multiple generational copies from VHS machine to VHS machine, so I searched what was available on line. Thanks to all of those who take the time to put stuff online.
If 1984 was a year taken in recouperation, 1985 was a full on media assault. It is perhaps the best visually documented year in the career of the band, certainly for Mk. I. It seems that they had a pretty strict routine for the promtional work that they did with 'No Mercy', 'Uptown' and 'Let Me Down Easy' doing much of the legwork when it came to plugging the new album.
Anyway, I hope that it offers upgrades for some of the stuff that you have sitting in your own collections.
* Postscript: I did regret wearing deck shoes (Hugh c. 1987)... they really made my feet stink over one particularly hot summer!
DVD Image: https://we.tl/t-5tKjgbWmde
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-BrfTdfnftV
No comments:
Post a Comment