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.
Many thanks to Saz Chapman for allowing me to take the audio from her video clips and also to Jez Bottley who's recording of 'Nice 'n' Sleazy' meant that songwise this is a reflection of the full set from this most important of gigs. Many thanks to you both!
This was the near culmination of a very emotional day... tired and emotional for many, myself included. A friend's tribute in a place that Dave knew so well.
It is hard for me to get my head around the fact that it is now over two years since we grappled with the terrible news that Dave Greenfield, our maestro of the keys, had succumbed to COVID-19. He has been in my mind, if not daily, weekly ever since. Of course Dave had a funeral but like thousands of others it was limited due to COVID restrictions. Many people had been denied the opportunity of being able say goodbye until now.
When an online announcement appeared (perhaps a little prematurely!) that a charity gig was taking place in Dave's memory, I was quick off the mark to get tickets for what was effectively Dave's wake. This was my first visit to Somersham, Dave's adopted home village. I had intended to see Dave and Baz play some years previously but as I recall work travel requirements got in the way. I bitterly regret that now.
The line up looked great, a mix of collaborators and recent tour supports. On the day, sadly Ruts DC were not with us. They had to pull out due to personal circumstances, but no matter, as disappointing as it was, today was about Dave and the gathering of friends brought together by Dave and the music of The Stranglers.
The first band that I ventured into the hall for was Department S or more accurately their guitarist Phil Thompson. An all round nice guy, Phil also plays with The Rezillos and deps for The Vapors. As such he is steeped in that New Wave UK thing. He played a great set that took in 'Turning Japanese', Do Anything You Wanna Do', a bit of 'Psychokiller' and of course 'Is Vic There?'. A good start to the days proceedings.
My time was split between the activities on stage and the makeshift box office in the bar. This was not a problem as the box office table was commandeered by Owen, Jacquie, Nick and Elayne, so the conversation was good and the near proximity of the bar meant that the beers (and cider) flowed.
Gunta holding the box office fort.
I missed the Countess of Fife (who has a lovely hound by the way) but did see the acoustic Rezillos. In this respect the running order posted on the wall was rather misleading, suggesting as it did that the set would run to 40 minutes. In the event, the set ran to 3 songs, but that was OK, it was fun and presented Rocky with a new challenge... quieter drumming!
'I Can't Stand My Baby'
At this point the need for food intervened. The fact that I was drinking Stella Artois, a strong beer and never one that I would choose normally.... I did it all for Dave... meant that some manner of food related interlude was the best idea.
Early evening saw the worst excesses of this mad July weather abate to a degree.... or a few degrees... and we could sit outside.
Enter Baz Warne.
At 9.30 if the running order had any meaning at this point in the day.... I certainly wasn't keeping track of the time at the point that we filed in for Baz's set, we came to the most poignant part of the events of the day.
Throughout, performers had spoken fondly of Dave and their personal recollections of this remarkably talented and enigmatic musician. However, Baz's take on things was always going take things up to a higher emotional level.
Baz opened the set with a declaration that he was going to play a selection of songs that meant a lot to Dave. I was thrilled that he opened with Johnny Cash's 'The Man Comes Around', my album of the year back in 2002 when it was released. To hear a Strangler perform a non-Stranglers' song that means so much to me was wonderful. With it's visions of Armageddon it could have been a 'Gospel' era B-side!
Photo courtesy of Saz.
The set that followed was career spanning but what came across strongly from the stage was just how supportive the quiet man on the keyboards had been of the new boy in the band. more so it seems than another band member that had significantly less Stranglering time under his belt than Dave, Jet or JJ!
The penultimate song, 'And If You Should See Dave' was clearly the most poignant point of the day. I think that the decision to close the set with 'Always the Sun' thus ending his contribution was a good call on Baz's part as it lifted the crowd after the reflective solemnity of 'Dave'. I was pleased to hear my vocals on the recording!
Dave was a part of my life for 41 years, initially from a distance of the rock star/fan but in later years rather closer. On one of the last times I spoke to him in France there were just four of us and the four members of the band drinking beer in the dressing room and I was able to talk to Dave about his early years in Brighton (my neck of the woods as well).
So thanks Dave Greenfield for serving up the soundtrack of my life all the way from a teenager to a middle aged grump! It meant a lot!
Take a few minutes to read Sheila Prophet's review of the band's first appearance at the legendary Paradiso venue in Amsterdam. I was intrigued at the mention of 'Dead Loss Angeles'.... 'a sort of 'Peaches' revisited, with added cynicism - a damnation of the lifestyle on America's West Coast, an area Hugh hates'.
There is no denying that Prophet is describing that song.... but in September 1977!! Was it in the soundcheck? It does not appear in the bootleg that I have of the gig that can be found here.
I mentioned in the last post my fondness for 'Biggest Prize In Sport' era gigs and here is a great one from Canadian radio. It features a few tracks that I don't think that we will ever hear live again.
Well, it was a long time coming but 999's 'Glorious Return To The Roots' finally took root at the weekend when the band headlined two nights at the iconic Hope & Anchor pub. Located in Islington's Upper Street, for those that don't know (and there can't be many of those in the UK at least) this Victorian edifice occupies a hallowed space within the history of the London punk scene and The Stranglers.
In the mid-1970's, a chap called Fred Grainger (he who is name checked in 'Bitching' an autobiographical track that looked back on the formative years of the band, then struggling to get bookings.... 'Why can't you all be like a Grainger man?') and Dave Robinson (who along with Jake Riviera founded the ground breaking Stiff Records label) put on rock bands in the basement. The bands in favour coalesced around the so-called 'Pub Rock' scene, a London centric marriage of several of the city's breweries and their tied pubs which created a circuit that could keep bands active in the capital seven nights a week.
Throughout November and December 1977 the Hope hosted the 'Front Row Festival', an event that was something of a watershed for the UK music scene. It was a musical changing of the guard as the older pub rockers made way for a younger (in most cases!) breed of musician. The seminal double live album of the same name, capturing highlights of the festival gigs, features acts such as The Tyla Gang, Roogalator and The Pirates along side The Stranglers, X-Ray Spex , XTC and 999, all in the ascendant by the end of that incredible year.
The tiny basement continued to play host to a multitude of bands as their careers transitioned from the club circuit to the ballrooms of Britain.
This gig would have been quite special I think to Nick, Guy and Arturo. In the bar Guy told me that they had last played the venue in 1977. I cannot verify that but I do know that 999 received regular billing there that year. Nick's history with the venue would go back a few years still as Kilburn and the High Roads were regular visitors pre-1976.
It must evoke a strange sensation to return to a space that you last played in 40 years or more years ago. OK, so the basement has been knocked about a bit since then. The stage for one thing is at a different end of the room. But the space dictates the atmosphere and of space it can be reasonably stated that there is not a great deal of it! One positive change since the last time I was there has been the installation of air conditioning, not a small consideration in the week in which the UK recorded its highest ever temperatures!
Up first were the irrepressible Splodge. We missed most of their set as we were still in the bar discussing the merits of Radio 4 with one of their comedy writers who had travelled down from Edinburgh for the gig. Not very punk I know! We did catch 'Mongols on the Streets of London' and '2 Pints of Lager....' that closed the set.
As has been the case for many years now, 999 opened the set with 'Black Flowers For The Bride' from the sublime 'You, Us, It' album. Never seen to be standing still, next on the agenda was 'Shoot' taken from their 11th studio album 'Bish, Bash, Bosh' from 2020. From the outset and as usual the pace of the gig did not flag as one high energy favourite collided with the next. This is no meagre feat for a band with as many years of gigging as 999 have racked up. As mentioned earlier, Nick Cash's live career goes back into the early 1970's. Nick's frantic vocal is perfectly complemented by Guy's highly accomplished playing and Arturo's punching bass lines, not forgetting Stuart's solid drums.
For me, highlights of a 999 set tend to be those tracks lifted from the two early '80's albums 'The Biggest Prize In Sport' and 'Concrete', a period when the band enjoyed some significant success (through sheer hard graft) in the US. Songs like 'Inside Out', 'Boys In The Gang' and 'Don't You Know I Need You' do it for me as much as the punk classics such as 'I'm Alive', 'Emergency' and of course 'Homicide'. An hour's reverie concluded with the first single 'I'm Alive', and what a place to declare it almost 46 years after the band formed!
Unfortunately, we were unable to attend the following night's gig due to other commitments in deepest, darkest Cambridgeshire, but I look forward to seeing 999 again in the coming months.
Here's one recently picked up from Dime. Many thanks to the original taper. The band take on the support slot for Germany's biggest punk band, Die Toten Hosen, in Dusseldorf. Asked whether playing to such a vast audience was intimidating Baz retorted, 'Not at all, it’s a challenge. It's great seeing those faces...trying to be indifferent and waiting for the main band to come on...feigning boredom…and gradually they start to smile and by the end you have them... They couldn't have given a fuck when we started and we got an ovation at the end... Satisfying'.
Satisfying I am sure it was. What a way to wind down a near 50 year career. I cannot say what goes through the bass players mind but I am sure there must be times that he wonders how it came full circle after the doldrums of the 1990's.
This is a great one for fans of 'About Time' era Stranglers. This is a radio broadcast of the band's appearance on the major French radio station Europe 1, promoting the release of the aforementioned album. The quality of the recording is great to boot.
