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.


Tuesday 21 August 2012

20 From '80 (2) Gary Numan State Theater Providence 21st February 1980



No Guilty pleasure here I assure you. I'll happily nail my flag to the post and declare that I was .... a 'Numanoid'!

Loathed by the serious music press, snubbed by the BBC and yet still capable of rising phoenix-like from the dampened embers of a career in decline.... that's Gary Numan. Sound familiar?

Love him or loathe him, Gary Numan was pretty much their from the outset of punk.Tubeway Army were a gigging outfit by late '77. Moreover, I recall reading that when pressed for his opinion on early punk, one John Lydon declared his respect for the music of X-Ray Spex, The Adverts and.... Tubeway Army. In addition, I was once told by someone close to the band that at one point Pete Shelley nearly jacked in Buzzcocks in an attempt to join Tubeway Army. In short, they had some form.

Whilst Gary Numan did not invent electronic music (there is a queue of candidates in front of him with a more legitimate claim to that honour (Ultravox, Roxy Music, Kraftwerk.... a host of Krautrock bands etc etc)) never before had a synthesiser been used with such power. With the 1979 breakthrough single 'Are Friends Electric?' it was immediately apparent that this was something very different that this pallid Londoner was offering.

To listen to 'Replicas' and 'The Pleasure Principle', the two consecutive 1979 number 1 albums from Tubeway Army and Gary Numan respectively, is to be propelled instantly back to the early '80s, so much so that I can smell the oil filled radiator that I had in my bedroom at that time!

Material from the above mentioned albums is unsurprisingly heavily represented in this set.

FLAC: https://rapidshare.com/files/4174783867/GaryNumanProvidence21stFeb1980FLAC.zip

MP3: https://rapidshare.com/files/2698265629/GaryNumanProvidence21stFeb1980MP3.zip

Artwork: https://rapidshare.com/files/1732132923/GaryNumanProvidence21stFeb1980AW.zip

1. INTRO
2. AIRLANE
3. ME I DISCONNECT FROM YOU
4. PRAYING TO THE ALIENS
5. ME
6. FILMS
7. WE ARE SO FRAGILE
8. ARE FRIENDS ELECTRIC
9. REMIND ME TO SMILE
10. CONVERSATION
11. METAL
12. REPLICAS
13. REMEMBER I WAS VAPOUR
14. TROIS GYMNOPEDIES
15. CARS
16. I DIE: YOU DIE
17. DOWN IN THE PARK
18. BOMBERS
19. TRACKS

Also on stage tonight were:

The Slits/Raincoats/This Heat   Electric Ballroom, London
The Selecter/The Bodysnatchers/Holly & The Italians   Tifanny's, Glasgow

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