AURAL SCULPTURE

I won't go into any detail on this release by The Stranglers, it's simply one of their best releases of the mid 80's and in my view, their career with Hugh. This reissue is definitely worth the price. The remastering is far more detailed and nuanced than the 2001 reissues. I hear things coming out of the mix that I never noticed before, confirmed when I did a direct comparison between this release and the previous. I have all of The Stranglers albums released in this series as well as the Midnight Oil ones and can't recommend them enough. This release comes in a very sturdy cardboard sleeve with a paper sleeve replicating the original vinyl release. The description of the disc itself above doesn't really do it justice, it's very impressive with incredible attention to detail.

One of my all time favorite albums, in the best sonic quality available in any format. These album replica releases are fantastic remasters, and are affordable to boot.

Brilliant exact replica of Vinyl,recorded in 24bit audio.

Ein absoluter Feger aus dem signifikanten Jahr 1984. Eine Scheibe für "richtige Männer"😊😊. Kein einzig schwacher Titel. Klang der von mir bestellten "Culture Factory"-Pressung unübertrefflich. Preis sehr akzeptabel (09,52 €). Maximalwertung. Mehr als empfehlenswert. Kaufen. Hören. Abheben

Why choose this version of the album? Others in the reviews have talked about the different mastering mixes etc but for me, most importantly it's the only CD of this album I've found with the FULL LENGTH version of Souls (all other versions seem to edit out the second verse for unknown reasons) this version has the full length of the track unedited.

The Fourth version of "Aural Sculpture" I've owned on CD, this is undoubtedly the best version yet in audiophile terms. Never an album I've been massively fond for various reasons I'll detail below, this disc is still a must-buy for any serious fan in black. Audibly more spacious and punchy than any previous version - which is good, as this has always seemed a very boxy and overcooked record to me - and probably the worst-produced album in the bands Cornwell era apart from (arguably) "la Folie" and "10" - there are some details on this 24bit version that were quite buried in the mix before. The tubular-bell like cadences on the keys in the background of 'North Winds' (for example) are far clearer than on any other version. I've played this CD on a sony bluray fed though a home cinema kit, reviewing it in a fake 5.1 surround setting, which I find brings out detail missing otherwise except on headphones. Interestingly, played this way, the album is less impressive than the 24bit "Feline". The mixes of 'Skin Deep' and 'No Mercy' have always been a bit wavery with slight panning, which doesn't work always due to the overproduction of the album - for me, the 12" vinyl extended version of 'Skin Deep' has always been my reference version (I consider this the definitive recording of the song rather than a pointless extended cut) and though the tremolo pedal on the guitar sounds fab on this 24bit, some of that keyboard panning still sounds poorly threaded through the mix - this is a where a full 5.1 version would render the album into a much better form. Ironically, some of my least favourite cuts on the album sound better here than ever before - I haven't enjoyed 'Uptown' this much in years (it sounds a lot 'liver' than on previous issues, with Hugh's voice and cutting guitar seeming present in the room) and the brass on 'Punch and Judy' is punchy and sharp. It's still a dull, dreadful song though, sadly prescient of Hugh's awful "character" songs that have bedevilled his solo career. 'No Mercy' sounds as twinky as ever and the backing vocals on the otherwise lovely 'Let Me Down Easy' by London Beat only make one ask the question again -why did they get voices from outside the band in? I wanted to hear Dave and JJ song backing to Hugh, not some cheesy soul boys. The bass drum (electronic of course) is enjoyably pulsy on this album, but not as punchy as on the 24 bit of "Feline". Highlights are 'North Winds' - which sounds excellent, more detailed, spacious and complex than ever before, while the keyboard sounds on 'Spain' are disappointing, sounding more subdued than I expected other than on the organ solo, which is where the main problem I've always had with this record comes in: it's too busy. The horn section, the uncharacteristic vocal harmonies, the over-digitization common to electronic instruments of the era, all of these have always affected 'Aural' badly in my view. The guitar often seems buried in the mix - Hugh is a wisely sparse player,always knowing when to lay out and let the other instruments dominate, like a great jazzman, but on this album he's too often subdued by the mix. 'Laughing' sounds good, but I doubt if many of us really rated Marvin Gaye enough to care about the song, despite Hugh's lovely voice and Dave's fake-string synth lines. Audiophiles shouldn't be put off by my misgivings: the 24bit sounds great, but this is an album that could have been much better - the live version of 'Souls' from one of the b sides shows a better use of horns than we hear in the studio here and boy, if I could erase London Beat, I would. If only the great b sides of this era had been used on the record instead of aberrations like 'Mad Hatter' and 'Punch and Judy'. Still, I couldn't live without the high points - 'Souls' (which sounds achingly gorgeous here, raising the hairs on my arms), 'North Winds', 'Ice Queen'. One of these days, I'm going to burn a 'fantasy' version of this album onto a CD, dropping the naffer cuts and replacing them with the b sides and 12" versions of the singles.

I looked for years to find this as a CD after my original tape was damaged. At last, I have it back in my music collection!