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Underground > Radio & Music >

Wire

18:45 / 08.07.02

According to this Pitchfork article, Wire are touring again. They've also got a new EP ("Read & Burn") on the racks as well. Seems as good as time as any to talk about their music. I've read many a good thing about their debut "Pink Flag" and plan on picking it up one day (wasn't it SPIN's #1 Punk album of all time or something?--notthat that means anything). If for no other reason than I want to hear the origional version of "12XU" (so far I've only heard the Minor Threat cover). But the rest of Wire/Wir's discography looks a bit spotty. So, what's good, what's shit & did they really deserve the nickname Punk Floyd?

19:21 / 08.07.02

"Pink Flag" is on the list of my favourite records ever .. one of those things which, in it's own way, is complete perfection. "The Ramones with A-Levels" would be the best lazy-journo way of putting it, and I'm all for 40 second songs about meta-physics..

The follow-up "Chairs Missing" is a massive development on their sound, dispatching the punk almost completely and going for a more dark, 'progressive', new wave feel. Some excellent songs, and a pretty unique sound, but to be honest I haven't got 'round to listening to it as much as I should. I still miss the bouncy-ness of Pink Flag. But it's one of those records that, given time, I know I'm going to grow to really like..

Until recently I was under the impression that Wire disappeared after their third album (it's named after a number isn't it? 173 or something..), but I keep seeing other stuff by them in shops, so I guess they continued throughout the '80s.. I bought a 12" EP in a charity shop, "SnakeDrill", from 1985 I think .. it's really good.

And if the track I heard on the radio recently is anything to go by, the new EP's frrkin' brilliant..

Matthew Fluxington

19:55 / 08.07.02

I will cut to the chase: Chairs Missing is one of my favorite post-punk records. It's also one of my favorite records ever, of any genre. I think it's Wire's finest record, though 154 and Pink Flag are also very memorable records.

I think that most anyone who is a big fan of Fugazi (especially post-Steady Diet Of Nothing Fugazi) would really enjoy Chairs Missing and 154, the appeal and dynamics in both bands are very similar. You'll notice it in the approach to guitars, ensemble playing, the lyrics, the vocal deliverary.

If you're going to buy some Wire records, I would recommend getting the first three LPs first - it might be best to get them all in one go, I know that there exists a specially priced box set of the first three records. This way you can hear their accelerated evolution from the simple punk of Pink Flag (12XU, Ex-Lion Tamer, Three Girl Rhumba, Lowdown) to the darker, more polished Chairs Missing material (I Am The Fly, French Film Blurred, Outdoor Miner, Men 2nd) and then the complicated, layered, keyboard-heavy music on 154 (The 15th, Map Ref 41 N 93 W, Blessed State). I think that a lot of people who get Pink Flag first and don't listen to the subsequent records for a bit often get a little confused when Wire gets more polished and arty...

After 154, Wire continues to move on in a very keyboard-y, art pop sort of direction. There are plenty of very good songs from this era, though I don't think it's hard to understand why this is the least popular era of the band's existence.

I don't know An Ideal Copy very well, but I do recommend A Bell Is A Cup Until It Is Struck, especially if you like the 154 LP. The big highlight on this record is the lovely, blissful "Kidney Bingos", which might be the best song the band has produced, though fans of Pink Flag's raw punk sound might find it to be a bit too slick and mellow. Fuck them. It's beautiful. It should've been a huge hit.

After this, there's a few records and a lot of solo records which I haven't heard. I've been told that Colin Newman's solo work is pretty good, but I just haven't gotten around to any of this stuff yet. I've heard a bit of the Drill record, and I don't remember liking it very much. I haven't heard any of the newest stuff, either.

20:29 / 08.07.02

I wore out a taped copy of "Pink Flag" in 1985 or so. Then, a couple years later, bought an Enigma Records sampler mainly because it had new Wire songs on it, from the Snakedrill album I think.
I took it home, listened to it, and was really glad there were two Mojo Nixon songs on there because Wire had somehow turned into a synthpop band.

In the mid 90s, a friend of mine made a mixtape with "A Bell Is A Cup..." on it, and it was pretty good - but it still wasn't "Liontamer". Or "Reuters". Which will grind you down and kick you into punk rock heaven.

10:47 / 09.07.02

Re: An Ideal Copy

There is one fantastic tune on that one: Ahead. Sounds like... well, imagine if New Order weren't boring smug tosspots and they had a sense of joy about them and a bit of musical ambition, and their singer sounded nasal rather than droney and flat, and didn't deserve to have his teeth kicked in.

If you get the CD release which includes the Snakedrill EP, then you'll got two additional very good tracks: Drill and Advantage in Height.

Re: Related stuff
Colin Newman contributed to A C Marias who produced a single lovely album back in '89 (One of Our Girls Has Gone Missing). Nearest comparison I can make is Cocteau Twins with a dollop of Solex.

11:39 / 10.07.02

This thread’s made me go back to the first three albums and reconsider my opinion of them. Originally, Pink Flag was by far and away my favourite, a proto-new wave record with the punky atmosphere married to abstract lyrics and sharp, discordant instrumentation. Chairs Missing and Wire 154 I didn’t really care for, considering the embellishments to the sound and the less immediately catchy nature of the songs a mistake.

That’s changed over the last couple of days, though. Pink Flag is still awesome, for the reasons mentioned above, but Chairs Missing has been on permanent rotation since then. There’s a range of styles that Pink Flag was missing, a willingness to experiment with production styles and song structure that’s controlled enough that it doesn’t overwhelm the flow of the record. The opening four tracks sound exactly like they could have been recorded by the earlier incarnations of The Fall (Another The Letter and Men 2nd especially, the former with its weird synthy bits, the latter with its rockabilly punk rhythm and recognisable middle eight). Sand In My Joints goes back to the Ramones stylings, Outdoor Miner proves that the total pop of Mannequin was no accident and Used To appears to be the template on which The Beta Band based all of Hot Shots Part Deux.

Still don’t like Wire 154, though. I can see where the ‘prog’ accusation comes from. Most tracks just plod along, in the worst cases almost becoming a dirge. It's overproduced, self-consciously arty (where the others were effortless) and I don't gain a particulalry huge amount of enjoyment from it. Worst offenders are The Other Window and A Touching Display. It's a shame, because The 15th shows that they were still capable of writing the pop-influenced stuff. That said, it does contain the best Wire track ever, Map Ref. 41N 93W.