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.
As much as I love Bowie, this is not the man at his best. I may be in a minority here, but 'Let's Dance', whilst being a massive commercial success was, for somebody with his track record, a creative low. It was the start of a near decade long decline that for me was only reversed by the brilliant 'Outside' album in 1995. This is not a great set from him either.... but then again for me, I would go for a 50:50 split of 'Rubber Band' era material and Berlin material!
Of note on these two nights when Bowie played Barcelona, The Stranglers were the 'Artista Invitado'.
David Bowie, some people hate him, but most, if not love him (and many do including myself) cannot but appreciate the catalytic influence he had over British (and American) music over an incredible five decades. Arguably, and to my mind it is a strong argument, the case can be made that without the existence of Bowie punk would never have happened. Aside from Bowie himself, two American 'punk pioneers' in the form of Lou Reed and especially Iggy Pop drew inspiration from the man.
The music of David Bowie is so diverse, more so than any other artist that comes to mind. It doesn't follow that diversity of styles is an inevitable consequence of a long career.... I mean, look at The Rolling Stones! But the Bowie back catalogue has something of everything from the whimsical Newley-esque ditties of the sixties to the impeccable glam of Ziggy in the seventies, through to American soul, the avant-guarde electronica of the Berlin era, new-romantisism..... and then into the '90's and he was even doing drum and bass stuff.
For me David Bowie's most interesting period, including some of, but not all of, his finest material was the time that he spent in Berlin. In the years, 1974-1976, the man declared himself to be the 'Thin White Duke'..... this in reality was a rather grand title for a man losing touch with reality with a helping hand from copious amounts of cocaine and other chemical friends. Cadaverous to the extreme in appearance and living with the paranoia that comes with serious drug misuse.... Bowie was in real danger of becoming Aladdin Sane!
So it was time to retreat and where better to do so than that place behind the Iron Curtain, the former inter-war decadence capital of Old Europe.... Berlin. What better place to get clean. So off David went to do just that with his mate Iggy Pop..... WHAT!!!!! Hiding away in an effort to get clean in the company of Iggy!!! Bloody hell the man must have been off his rocker!
'Iggy, did you write down the engine's number?'
Nevertheless, for both men, this East German sabbatical was to lead to the creation of music that then as indeed now is critically acclaimed.
For Bowie a trio of albums was the product of this intensely creative period:
Heroes (1977)
Low (1978)
Lodger (1979)
Of these three, the 1977 and 1978 offerings are masterpieces. I love 'Hunky Dory' no doubt about that, but 'Low' is just sublime. In this time Bowie was soaking up the atmosphere of Berlin and the wider Germany like a sponge. This was instrumental in bringing a distinctive European flavour into British music in the early 1980's. David wholeheartedly embraced this new European music that was the stock in trade of bands like Kraftwerk. Indeed, Kraftwerk were singled out for special attention on '77's 'Heroes' album which features the track 'V2-Schneider', a nod to Florian Schneider, one of the two founding members of Kraftwerk. Schneider was clearly listening as the Dusseldorf-based quartet returned the compliment that same year on their ground breaking 'Trans Europe Express' album, the title track of which name checks both Dave and Ig in the form of an encounter in the band's home town. And let's not forget the reference to David's own rail themed album of the previous year 'Station to Station'. What a bunch of trainspotters eh!
'From station to station, back to Dusseldorf City
Meet Iggy Pop and David Bowie....
Trans-Europe Express'
This documentary tells the story of this incredible period just a few years prior to Bowie's most successful album, '1983's 'Let's Dance'. A commercial high, yet creative low, but hey, that's just my opinion. Give me 'She's Got Medals' any day of the week!
Here's another anniversary gig (well almost) from the late, great David Bowie. This was taken from his 1990 'Sound & Vision' tour. If I recall correctly this was the tour where he came up with the idea of the fans voting for what songs appeared in the tour set. 'The Laughing Gnome' was the runaway winner, but this was too much for Dave and the song never made it into the set!
Without Bowie and his undoubted musical genius, 90% of the bands who appear on these pages just would not exist.
01. Intro
02. Space Oddity
03. Rebel Rebel
04. Ashes To Ashes
05. Fashion
06. Life On Mars
07. Blue Jean
08. Let's Dance
09. Stay
10. Ziggy Stardust
11. Station To Station
01. Station To Station (Continued)
02. Young Americans
03. China Girl
04. Suffragette City
05. Fame
06. Heroes
07. Jean Genie/Gloria
08. White Light/White Heat
09. Modern Love
I only saw Bowie once at the Phoenix Festival in July 1996. The Festival was a fiasco. At the time Gunta's parents lived in Coventry and we thought that we would be clever and beat the crowds..... stay over in Coventry for the night and then take a leisurely drive over to the airfield near Stratford. A journey that should have taken 30 minutes took an awful 8 hours! Organisation of any kind of traffic flow broke down and many people missed the day's headline acts. It was the end of the Phoenix Festival, it did not reappear in 1997.
For his part David Bowie was amazing, playing a great set with a total command of the stage, and playing material from the previous year's 'Outside' album, which in some respects brought to my mind a meeting of Ziggy Stardust and Killing Joke!
Well this month is unfolding to an absolute shocker for your average popular music fan. Lemmy, John Bradbury and then DAVID BOWIE. I posted something on social media this morning along the lines of Bowie being our generation's Elvis. I remember he day that Elvis died, my mum was in tears, I was eight and not particularly comprehending of the meaning of what happened. This morning it was our turn, David Bowie, the man without whom punk would not have happened or any alternative form of music for that matter, had gone days after his 69th birthday. Truely shocking. But perhaps it is not such a time to be so sad. David lived a life that even most rock stars would aspire to.... what a life it was..... of highs and lows, but mostly highs, at least as far as the music was concerned.
Nobody in the history of popular music has produced a body of work that has always been at the coal face, carving out new directions. Others could just follow in his wake. I have loved his material from his mod days (when he himself was drawing his own influences from the likes of Tony Newley),
'She's Got Medals'
1967
through the likes of 'Hunky Dory'. Just brilliant!
'Changes'
1971
After the glitter and sequins of 'Ziggy' and 'Aladdin Sane' etc, Bowie reincarnated as 'The Thin White Duke' and gave us 'Station to Station'..... a world away from what came before.
'Station to Station'
1976
Where to next David? Ah yes, why not the divided Berlin of the Cold War..... that'll produce something interesting. And didn't it just. My favourite Bowie period...... 'Heroes', 'Low' and 'Lodger'. Albums with atmosphere brimming over. Listen to 'Sense of Doubt', close your eyes and wait.... is that a Stasi agent on the street corner ahead? But there was humour too (of sorts). Those West German practical jokers Kraftwerk name checked David and his little mate Ig in their 'Trans-Europe Express'. Ever the gent Dave returned the compliment with 'V-2 Schneider' on his album 'Heroes' of the same year (1977).
The '80's dawned so Dave kinda created new romanticism with 'Ashes to Ashes'. Is there anything that this man couldn't do?
'Ashes to Ashes'
1980
But what came shortly afterwards was a big slump in form as far as I am concerned. But that's OK 'cos David agrees with me. 'Let's Dance' was massive, as a single and as an album, but it marked that start of a creative drought that it seems almost every artist that I like experienced in the 1980's.
Luckily David had some more tricks up his sleeve, some worthy of Paul Daniels (Tin Machine), but others worthy of Dynamo ('Outside').
'Hello Spaceboy'
1996
2013 and now retired from touring he gave us 'The Next Day' which proved he still was not prepared to stand still in this rock 'n' roll game.
'Valentine's Day'
2013
What a career, second to none, not Elvis, Lennon or Sinatra!
Today, shops in London, Brighton and a host of other towns and cities belted out Bowie tunes in celebration of the life of the original kook. A great mark of respect I think.
David, if it were not Dry January (!!!) I would raise a glass to you to thank you for all the years that you have entertained me, from first listening to a taped copy of 'The Best of Bowie' in '81-'82 (a K-Tel release!) on a alarm clock/cassette radio lodged under my pillow right through to today.
