In my list of top 10 gigs of 2025 I did sing the praises of Tom Robinson and here's a good example of just why. The man is a natural raconteur and he has many stories to tell and that's aside from his back catalogue. This recording finds TRB running through their two classic albums, 'Power In The Darkness' (1979) and TRB Two (1979). Thanks to the original Dime uploader (tempusfugit) and the taper (Sallygr).
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-gITBJGu5V9
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Yf0CM5Qrog
Crikely, this was a long way to go to deliver a four song set. I hope that the organisers had deep pockets. The Vapors appearance in another US retro festival, one with quite an eclectic line up! Thanks to the original uploader (loughney). Obviously, I have no knowledge how this 'Lost 80's Live' Festival was set up, but wouldn't it make sense to have each band in the line up play one new song... just as an indicator that the bands playing on the day were in actual fact still creating new music? Just a thought.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-2DrsS8KMAd
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-M7IMP97lKu
From last year's 'Cruel World' Festival in California, here's the Reid brothers and The Jesus And Mary Chain a band from East Kilbride that guess what? .... passed me by. I remember that they were all the rage in my weekly copy of Sounds at the time of their 'Psychcandy' debut album, that live they had a bit of a reputation for chaos and that Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie served briefly within their ranks.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-JbhnDi8upx
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-dMnmhz1ttA
With Baz playing a couple of solo gigs in the past few days this seems to be an apposite post and an excuse to step away from The Stranglers for a moment. We are on the cusp of an anniversary of this gig from the short tour from the Wingmen at the beginning of 2023. I am not around to post on Tuesday so this is an almost birthday post. The album has some great material and some wry observations on the character of a proportion of our fellow countrymen... Oh! What a Carry On indeed!
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-cZrL7P0wjI
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-vHsJ3bArp1
Something I have meaning to do for a long time now. If Christmas is good for one thing it is sorting and updating. I have recently spend a good few hours updating the pages on this site that list all that I have in terms of unofficial Stranglers related material. The pages are as follows:
Listings appearing in green have been posted on the site and should all be available. Please contact me is you come accross any broken links. There are a few in there still that predate the switch to WeTransfer (the Christmas break does not go so far as to allow me to trawl through all 2200+ posts to check all the links).
Listings appearing in white have yet to be posted.
Cheers,
Adrian.
This one passed me by until it happened, but I am passing this information on to Aural Sculptor site visitors now. The good news is that the changes that were made effective on 16th December 2024 have no bearing on how you interact with the site.
Each year for a number of years I pay a subscription fee (remember the collection plate posts that appear each September-ish!) in order that WeTransfer continue to host the many files that I have uploaded over time. Upon processing an upload associated with a post on 17th December I noticed that the option to remove an expiration date was no longer available. Users uploading files using the subscription-free version of WeTransfer have their files removed after 7 days whereas subscribers to the 'Premium' subscription package could remove the expiry data, meaning that files would be available for as long as the subscription was maintained or until the upload limit was reached. The latter was very unlikely to be an issue as I have used approvimately 660GB of a 5TB limit to date! I contacted the support centre about this and was informed that a 12 month maximum upload duration had been applied for reasons of enhanced security.
So what does this all mean for the site?
All new uploads will be given the new maximum expiry date of 12 months from upload. In order not to lose them and leave the site with hundreds of dead links, I am noting upload dates for all files and I will endeavour to ensure that around the first anniversary of each new upload I will reupload and add a new link to the relevant post, thus extending the expiry for another year. This I can do repeatedly in order to keep links live indefinately (or until WeTransfer introduce further additional account restrictions).
For files allocated 'no expiration' i.e. uploads prior to 16th December 2024, I have been informed by WeTransfer, that the links will remain live until further notice, which I take to mean no changes for the foreseeable future, but who knows what may be decided along the road. I really hope that no similar surprises are in the pipeline as replacing all of the historic links would be a massive task indeed.
I hope that this a managable solution that will keep this material available.
To be fair to WeTransfer as a service provider, they have been pretty good (as one should expect with a €228/year subscription fee I guess). Having been burned in the early days of the site with megaupload and rapidshare, WeTransfer has been stable and reliable for many years now.
Here are The Damned doing justice to the Holy Trinity of 'Machine Gun Etiquette', 'The Black Album' and 'Strawberries'. If you weren't there first time around (and I wasn't) this is as close as you're gonna get to The Damned A.D. 1982 and its very, very good.
Thanks to the original Dime uploader (rbose1) for the share.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-dyBZ5ZzQF9
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Ad1CwjWosx
Lady Luck has not looked down on the family kindly this year, if indeed at all... that is with one exception. Earlier in the year I booked a couple of tickets to see The Damned. It was just as the first night at the Roundhouse was selling out and a second night was announced. Momentarily I was in a quandary, do I go for the packed sold out first night or go for the second night which may or may not be so rammed. Decision made, I opted for the first night as I knew other mates would be there on the Wednesday. On the night, it was painfully clear that the Captain was suffereing from the lurgy, his voice was shot and he was going through a box of man-sized at a rate of knots! Early evening the following day came an announcement from the band to say that upon the advice of the Dr Jekyll (presumably) the second gig should be pulled. It seems to be the case that the venue and the various ticket vendors are offering refunds so no rescheduled date... hard to manage I guess for the last date of UK tour. My plans to see the band elsewhere, earlier in the year were also sunk by illness on my part so Wednesday was my last chance to see my classic line up of the band. Thank you Lady Luck!
We entered the auditorium as the the intro tape gave way to Paul Gray's first bass salvo as the band launched into 'Love Song'. We manoeuvered over to the left to the side of the stage, it being a little more spacious, but more importantly it offered a good view of the 'new boy' occupying the drum stool. Another taste of 'Machine Gun Etiquette' was delivered in the form of 'Second Time Around' and the band were in full swing. There then followed a brilliant 'Black Album' trio of 'Wait For The Blackout'. 'Lively Arts' and 'History Of The World', three songs that are so much a part of me as a teenage music fan. This was the time when I was really getting into The Damned. I have no idea what the bands rehearsal schedule was, but they were tight tonight and Rat didn't get a beat out of place.
The highlight of the show came early for me and looking at a posted photo of the set list it looked like it was a change that may have been made specifically for London. 'Are The Ruts in tonight, this one's for Malcolm' said Captain by way of introduction of 'Limit Club', the band's ageless tribute to Malcolm Owen. 'Gun Fury (Of Riot Forces)', a great song in itself, could not have been replaced by a better song!
A great version of 'Eloise' took Sensible's strained vocal chords to the limit, but you've gotta love the drama of that song, even Barry Ryan conceeds that The Damned's version is in a class of its own.
It was very clear from the set that this was a celebration of The Damned's golden period of '79 to '82, with 'The Damned as MC5' represented by 'Neat Neat Neat' and 'New Rose' alone. After all, the punk thrash version of the band had been revived once more with Brian in 2022. The Damned tonight were less raucous, less chaotic (in truth they have not been chaotic for the longest time now!), tonight was a case of allowing the music to speak for itself . This was also the closest that I was ever going to get to the Strawberries tour, but I loved it. Seven minutes of 'Curtain Call' too, marvellous.
The only critisism that I would have would be concerning the drum solo.... always hated them... but it was Rat so I let it go :)! Oh, and with the prolonged 'Ignite', they have denied the set of an additional song (I feel the same way about 'Walk On By'!). In my opinion 'Ignite' is far superior when played as it was recorded. But these are trifles in what was a brilliant night.
A speedy recovery for the good Captain and I look forward to doing it all over again (with a few more dates managed by me) next year.
Many thanks as ever to Chatts for the recording. Cheers!
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-YQJbpK108U
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-vNySAm9eTB
So with the The Damned on the road right now it is no surprise that my social media feed, such as it is, is rather Damned heavy in content. I wasn't however expecting to wake up this morning to be confronted with our daughter''s beaming face in the company of the individual members of the band!
I love the idea that the waring factions with the band had it within themselves to bury the hatchet (and not into each other!) so that we could enjoy that amazing on stage chemistry for perhaps the last time... who knows. In anticipation of the Roundhouse gigs here's one that they made earlier in Liverpool, a mere 42 years ago. The Strawberries tour. I wasn't there but for me at least, this was their live zenith. That is not to say that the band necessarily declined on the live front after '82, it's just that this was the period of greatest musical change for the band as they challenged the widely held preconceptions of what a punk band shouldsound like and how!
This recording is really rather good, setwise it is impeccable, and sound-wise, it is good for its age.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-bA80wmX9ix
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-vxY9wAhVxs
It did make me smile to read a comment that with the recent posts on Hugh, this site is starting to resemble the Burning Up Times Forum. That is not the direction that I am heading in. That said, as a card carrying Cornwell fan, somewhat entrenched in the Mk I era of the band, I make no apologies for crowing occasionally about what Hugh is doing.
I have said on here in the past that I used to enjoy those occasions on which The Stranglers fucked up, as bands do from time to time. These days, so polished is a Stranglers' performance that such errors are few and far between. That happens when you have a tried and tested crew behind you. That is not the case with Hugh, that is not to say that he is prone to regular fuck ups, but the performances are more raw and the bum notes more audible. I like that!
Hugh's London show was opened once again by a hit heavy set from EXTC... and that band did undeniably have some great tunes.
With his band on stage, Hugh appeared to spend the first five minutes tuning his guitar as the instrumental 'Duce Coochie Man' announced their presence. Two numbers from the 'Moments of Madness' album opened the set, 'Coming Out of The Wildeness', a great platform for that signature Cornwell growl that was lost to The Stranglers all those years ago, and 'Too Much Trash', the latter being a disposable (no pun intended), protest against the proliferation of litter, as subject that has been on Hugh's mind since his time in The Stranglers. With its adoption of American terminology and heavy reliance on a rhyming dictionary, this song would not sound out of place on Sesame Street! Not a favourite of mine it is fair to say!
'Sleazy' was his first foray into Stranglers's territory and it sounded pretty good to me. A surprise in the set was 'Dead Loss Angeles' a song described by Hugh as underated. I would agree, but it is a shame that the band did not resort to the two bass arrangement for the song. Mid set was graced with 'Moments of Madness' and for me the strongest track on the new album 'When I Was A Young Man'.
'Monster', my favourite post Stranglers album, was only lightly represented in the set, but they played a good version of 'Mr Leather', a clever lesson in writing as is is so evocative of Lou Reed's style and the sound of The Velvet Underground. 'Nuclear Device' and 'Down in the Sewer' were very enjoyable, but the best, and the reason why I dragged myself into London on a cold, Thursday evening, was yet to come... most of side two of 'Nosferatu'. Gunta describes this material as 'Killing Jokey' and I guess she has a point. The album is intentionally, discordant, claustrophobic in a way that makes for uneasy listening in parts.... it's exact appeal in my books. The set closed with 'Wrong Way Round', a song I never believed I would get to hear live. And, the bass player filled the shoes of the fairground barker, the late, great Duncan Poundcake, with aplomb.
Sorry for the crap photographs. Must do better!
A huge thanks to the Historical Field Recording Unit for this recent recording from Hugh! We didn't have any tickets for these dates and it was only when Mo, after seeing him in Leeds last week, suggested that I may particularly enjoy the Nosferatu element of the set (well Mo, it is the best solo Strangler album by a country mile!!).
Take a look at the set, great to see a bit of variety in The Stranglers' selections, 'Dead Loss Angeles', 'Tank' and 'Sewer' back. And let's not forget that encore to die for! The upshot being that Gunta and I are going to the Electric Ballroom on Thursday.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-y7gwcIJ0np
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Tep8AMnu91
NOTE: It has been pointed out that this is not the original file as recorded and checking on the Dime info file this would appear to be the case 'The only thing I've done to this fine recording is Amplify the Right Channel +3db to balance the audio...'. As a consequence of 40 years in close proximity to Burnel's bass stack my hearing in my right ear is slightly impared... so any imbalance is rather lost on me.
I have said quite a bit about the Sex Pistols over the last few days, so I have little more to say other than you should give this a listen. Cook. Jones and Matlock are guaranteed to make a magnificent racket on the day. Thanks to the original Dime poster (Hotpoint).
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-JFFRA9lfTG
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-IfnoqjSOld
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-8ID7Abf0fa
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Y35KTg0D93
Buzzcocks were for me about a close as it was possible to get to perfect pop music, they really were 'Manchester's Fab Four'. In 2024, the politics of gender are a hot topic and here Pete Shelley was ahead of the curve more than 45 years ago. None of his bitter sweet love songs were gender non-specific, a fact that I don't think many people realised until years later Shelley explained aspects of his songwriting. Like many I felt his loss very badly a few years ago at the age of just 63. But, I count myself lucky that I was at his last gig in Belfast. As for the Post-Pete Buzzcocks, to be honest I cannot get to grips with it. Funny given that I follow a band with only one original member remaining but that's just the way that it is in my head (not so harmonious).
Thanks to the original Dime poster (paprick).
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-xF5q5h0P7A
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-UxEKIEMvpV
Next up, The Skids! A band that I never really explored beyond the handful of singles that I had. On getting back together they had something of a stuttering restart but in the last few years have been touring heavily and just as importantly producing new music. Their most recent album, Destination Dusseldorf, being released in 2023.
Shy and retiring frontman, Richard Jobson, has always been something of a raconteur and he brings his ability to talk to the stage to the extent that these days a Skids show is part gig, part stand up routine, but he does it very, very well indeed. That's not to take anything away from the music. I think that perhaps the Skids music was a little underated. Maybe critics struggled to see beyond a sometimes outragiously coiffured, cricket whites wearing singer who loved to cut the rug at every opportunity!
They will go down a storm!
Thanks to malcolm769 for the upload to Dime.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-HFr9xeB9my
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-9K6aTNb7LS