Aural Sculpture

Genius. The Last Brilliant Stranglers Album.

     

This is a must-have Stranglers album. That is not to say it is perfect. There are two dogs on it that I always skip. You'll know them when you hear them. But the rest is MAGIC wonderful, a collection of terrific tracks. HOWEVER! There is something oddly missing in this rendition of the album. Where is the pompous 'Aural Sculpture Manifesto'?! What a ridiculous omission! Also sadly missing is the first of the 'Vladimir' stories, 'Vladimir and Olga'. You'll find both of them stuck at the tail end of the extended version of 'Feline'. [Let me take a moment to INSIST that you gather together ALL the Vladamir stories. They are hilarious absurdities following the strange misadventures of USSR comrade Vladimir. The best of them is 'Vladimir and the Beast', happily included with this version of Aural Sculpture.] This is an extended version of the album that includes eight (!) bonus tracks. Of the eight, my favorite is 'Hot Club'. It works perfectly as an intermission between Vladimir stories. Also nice is 'Place De Victoires', which is an instrumental of 'Let Me Down Easy'. Gone is the hard edge of The Stranglers. But what they created here is CLASSIC, easily one of my faves.