Jet and Hugh KROQ Radio Interview 5th May 1981

Here's an unusual, non-confrontational interview with Jet and Hugh broadcast by KROQ in Los Angeles on 5th May 1981 prior to their appearance at Perkins Palace in Pasedena. Here they plug the 'Gospel' album.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-wYJz2kNJ9O

‘The Final UK Tour’ - A Reaction

‘The Final UK Tour’…. Well it had to come and thankfully it was a long time in coming, but how does it leave us feeling. I wasn’t there in ’77…. It’s not cool but the first Stranglers record that I purchased was ‘Golden Brown’ (along with OMD’s ‘Architecture & Morality’!) prior to Christmas 1981. Admittedly much water had already flowed under the Stranglers’ bridge by that point, but on the other hand it is still a long time ago, 38 something years. I am in the same boat as many long term fans in that much of my social life has revolved around the band. It is a fact that through wearing ‘the colours’ and in that I mean a painted leather jacket or a band T-shirt, I have met people wherever I have lived over the years and formed friendships that have endured for years.

The Stranglers were instrumental in bringing Gunta and I together at the Marquee in Wardour Street, the occasion being an S.I.S. party with The Purple Helmets headlining.

And some people just had to show off!

Of course the news today has at least for me dominated my Facebook newsfeed to a ridiculous extent. But here I am reminded of another occasion, albeit in a far less technologically connected world...... August 1990. News broke then that Hugh Cornwell was leaving The Stranglers after 16 years. My world imploded for several months. At a time when the fastest possible means of communication was a telephone landline, I abused my very junior position at the British Gas Research Centre to discuss, at some considerable length, with Steve Tyas, the future prospects for our band. And lo and behold, they continued through good times and bad for another astounding 30 years!

Of course this time is different. JJ and Dave are both significantly past pensionable age and touring is tough for a young band, so I would imagine that for those guys touring worldwide, as has been the case recently, is a super feat of endurance. At 50 I struggle with a string of three nights on the bounce, but then again I guess the band are these days doing it on more sleep and less alcohol than we do!

So what do we want of this tour and beyond. Well, for my part, I would like to see consideration of the average punter cast aside. This one should be for the faithful, with plenty of surprises in the set. For us it is a big event, the end of an era, whereas for many it will just be another gig.... that just happens to be a farewell tour. There I have said it. 'Fools Rush Out' please.

And what of the future, if this is the final 'full' UK tour. I guess that this indicates that festivals may be the order of the day. If that is the case, then I am not so keen. Festivals (with the exception of events like Rebellion) rarely represent good value for money with shortened sets of greatest hits, crowd pleasing/appeasing material. If that is the future of the band, to be honest my preference would be to go out with a bang on a formal final tour. If on the other hand they followed the 2007 Rattus gigs, three major cities over a long weekend, visiting obscure material or doing other album specific sets, that would be great. Let's see what pans out. What is important to me is that they do not fizzle out on a series of unremarkable, poorly rehearsed festival sets. Their legacy is far too precious (no pun intended) for that to happen.

When all is said and done, The Stranglers owe me nothing and whatever is ahead I wish them well and thank them for being a huge part of the soundtrack of my life, quite literally as man and boy.

Cheers to all who played a part.

Orion Rome 1st December 2019

Here's a nice recording on the band last month in Rome. Many thanks to the kind contributor who sent me the file!

MP3 (as received): https://we.tl/t-tTIBK4VbJ6

01. Intro
02. Norfolk Coast
03. I've Been Wild
04. (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
05. Midnight Summer Dream
06. Time To Die
07. Nice 'N' Sleazy
08. The Raven
09. 5 Minutes
10. Unbroken
11. Golden Brown
12. Always The Sun
13. Don't Bring Harry
14. Nuclear Device
15. Peaches
16. Toiler On The Sea
17. Freedom Is Insane
18. Walk On By
19. Something Better Change
20. Relentless
21. Hanging Around
22. Tank
23. No More Heroes

999 Haus Der Jugend Dusseldorf 4th November 1994

I have been looking for a 999 recording from the mid '90's for some time now and thanks to a friend in Germany I now have one. So what's the thing about 999 in the mid-90's then you may ask. Well, amongst other things I had stopped following The Stranglers at that point as patience had been stretched too far. 999 were on the doorstep and filled that Stranglers-shaped hole! But it wasn't just that, 1994 saw the release of their first new material since 1985's 'Face to Face' album. The new offering 'You Us It' was a return to the rawer sound of the first '999' album and far more aligned with their live set.

At the time, the band were playing regular sets at The Swan pub in Fulham (apparently Pablo's local) and some great nights were to be had down there. This excellent recording from Dusseldorf's Haus Der Jugend features no less that five tracks from the new album.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-rIAhUxNAf0

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-CXu2zotmvk

01. Black Flowers For The Bride
02. Inside Out
03. Hit Me
04. Feeling Alright With The Crew
05. (There Is No Glory In) Mary's Story
06. Titanic Reaction
07. Crazy Crazy Crazy
08. Boys In The Gang
09. White Light
10. Lil' Red Riding Hood
11. Chicane Destination
12. Don't You Know I Need You?
13. Let's Face It
14. Biggest  Prize In Sport
15. Absolution
16. Homicide (Cut)
17. My Street Stinks
18. I'm Alive
19. English Wipeout
20. Boiler

The Top Rank Suite Brighton 25th January 1982

Here's a birthday gig from the 'La Folie' tour. Thanks to Phil Coxon for the original recording and to Dom P for his nerdy noodlings to polish up the sound.

I have uploaded it here in high quality MP3 and in 24 bit FLAC format.

MP3: https://we.tl/t-GP1SK7QkzB

24 bit FLAC: https://we.tl/t-U4ACIGuChx

Artwork: PDFs are included in the MP3 folder

01. Intro (Waltzinblack)
02. Down In The Sewer
03. Just Like Nothing On Earth
04. Second Coming
05. Non Stop
06. The Man They Love To Hate
07. Who Wants The World?
08. Baroque Bordello
09. Golden Brown
10. How To Find True Love and Happiness in the Present Day
11. Thrown Away
12. Tank
13. Let Me Introduce You to the Family
14. Tramp
15. The Raven
16. Encore break
17. Announcement
18. Nuclear Device
19. Genetix

The Stranglers at The Top Rank in Brighton

25th January 1982

The Cramps The Stone San Francisco 13th May 1980

Now here's a band that I have just noticed have never appeared to date on the Aural Sculptors site in over eight years. And what a strange sound they did sculpt! They are also a band that I never got around to seeing live, they were around but I never got beyond.... oh, I must get a ticket.

Here is a really great early soundboard recording from San Francisco in 1980. Many thanks to the original sharer on Dime!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-uWoGXDhmtw

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-cmzuI4tL6a

01. Intro

02. Human Fly

03. Domino

04. Caveman

05. Goo Goo Muck

06. The Way I Walk

07. Zombie Dance

08. What's Behind The Mask?

09. Strychnine

10. Garbage Man

11. I Was A Teenage Werewolf

12. Sunglasses After Dark

13. I'm Cramped

14. Mystery Plane

15. TV Set

16. Tear It Up

TV Smith - Over and Out

So there you have it. In a dozen posts or so, a contemporary look at the early career of TV Smith.... and what a rocky road it proved to be! I find it very hard to accept that a band who willingly acknowledged their own musical limitations ('One Chord Wonders' anyone?) and stressed the irrelevance of musical virtuosity in numerous interviews managed to get slated on such a regular basis for not being masters of their own instruments. Between side swipes at the band's playing and '70's era comments about the sultriness/sullenness (depending upon the personal preference of the male journalist) of Gaye, the real stand out element of The Adverts canon, i.e. Tim's lyrical contribution was largely overlooked.

It is without doubt that the 18 month interval between the release of the two studio albums did the band untold harm. If anything remained of the '60's in music it was the expectation of a prolific output.... unless you went by the name of Emerson, Lake and Palmer or Yes, a work rate of one and perhaps even two albums per year was not unusual even into the mid-seventies. For a band struggling contract-wise to get backing for a second album there was no worse time than 1978/1979, arguably the greatest 24 months in British musical history. Such was the quality of material in this period that a music fan had so much to latch on to that any band lagging behind, without product out there was easily and quickly forgotten.

That 'Cast of Thousands' was so poorly received is also something of a mystery to me. By the time that it hit the high street record racks, punk of the type that  'Crossing the Red Sea' represented  had imploded and/or exploded into a myriad of styles.... post-punk, two tone, electronica, power pop, Oi!..... In their musical diversity they shared one common musical thread that ran back to 1976 and the first wave of punk rock. So why did the 'Cast of Thousands' fall foul with the critics as it did..... it had keyboards (a studio pre-requisite in 1979) as did Buzzcocks, The Stranglers (OK they always had 'em) and even The Damned! What did the hacks want... 'Crossing The Red Sea... in the opposite direction')? Interestingly, at some point in the 2000's, in Mojo magazine I think that it was, 'Cast of Thousands' featured in it's regular 'lost treasures' feature..... how tastes can change with time!

And so The Adverts went off air, only for Tim to re-emerge just six months later, like a spindly phoenix rising from the ashes, with his new outfit, The Explorers. Moving on in the direction in which The Adverts would have continued had they not split. It may well indeed be the case that in subsequent releases The Explorers failed to fulfill the promise that the debut 'Tomahawk Cruise' offered, but they were good, both on record and on stage, as the Paisley and London recordings testify.

After a brief solo stint that delivered the 'Channel 5' album, which as an aside is infinitely superior to the actual UK 'Channel 5' that routinely pumps untold dross into British homes! TV was ready for yet another crack of the whip. However, wouldn't ya just know it... history was abut to repeat itself and this time with added interest.

TV Smith's Cheap formed in the '90's side of the mid '80's. Once again they were a tight and solid band of very able musicians, driven by good tunes that carried Tim's biting lyrics admirably. So what went wrong? From my experience of seeing them at this time, be it at The Devonshire Arms in Camden or The Bull and Gate in Kentish Town, early signs were always promising with a respectable turn out early doors in the back room of the pub. The support band would go on to play and folk leapt about as they do. Support act would duly finish, pack up their gear and make an exit from the venue.....taking the majority of the audience with them! Only a handful of punters ever remained, and one of them was preoccupied with flogging fanzines! I guess if Tim had stretched the set to include a couple of Adverts' songs, things could have panned out differently... but this was the '80's/early '90's and punk nostalgia was a no no! It was not for many years that he could embrace and celebrate the past.

Cheap (with an audience of one.... me!)

Tim has subsequently had a long and successful solo career, but to my mind it is when he performs with a band, be it these days, The Valentines or The Bored Teenagers that the material really has the impact that it deserves.