WIRE - Album by Album

Yeah, at least here in the UK there was a lawsuit and Wire won (even if it's a less blatant copy than Lana del Rey's "Creep", they stole the MOST DISTINCTIVE PART!!

 

It was the Tubes. Wire has been quoted saying that both the Tubes and their crew were supportive and interested in what they were doing. Sadly, the tour they did with Roxy Music less than a year and a half later was a different story.

 

Said the poster who told everyone what IS punk.

 

Thanks guys, and please keep it up. Your contributions are great assets to a thread like this.

Roger, I remember your posts in the Steely Dan Album-By-Album thread. Glad to see you here.

 

Amen to "and still are." The 21st century stuff is not chopped liver!

 

Right on! I saw them on the Change Becomes Us tour and they were great on stage, and friendly afterward as they lugged their own gear to their bus. Rock on, gentlemen.

 

Wire is UK Punk. Television is US Punk. Television built the stage at CBGB.

Like you, my mother assumed that Punk is defined by a narrow musical vocabulary and a sartorial uniform. It is not.

Next.

 

That was the first time I remember CBGB clearing the house for early and late shows. There were usually three bands on the bill and everyone played twice... six or seven hours of music. Great nights.

I took my then 17-year old brother to see Wire at CBGB. We didn't have the cash for the second set and hid in the back of the club, to the right of the stairs down to the basement bathroom suite. We were huddled in a mop bucket in a little closet niche when Lisa Kristal made the final rounds to clear any stragglers. When she saw us, we giggled, she rolled her eyes, shook her head and went out front to start letting people in. I was a good customer.

Yes, the Sophomore Slump Syndrome definitely did not affect WIRE. Chairs Missing did not disappoint.

 

I have to admit, I always thought that the lawsuit was mean-spirited. Elastica had three girls in the band; they tipped their hats to Wire by using a two-note intro riff from a song titled Three Girl Rhumba.

: sigh :

 

Thought you had left?

 

What a ridiculous post. Please don't tell me what you assume I assume. Maybe should have read my posts more carefully? By the way: Who cares about your mother? Next. Indeed.

 

It was a joke, at your expense.

 

Haha.... and I thought you were trying to tell us what punk is

Any. Way. "Pink Flag" is an outstanding album.

 

Getting back to the album. Three quarters of the band had supposedly been playing their respective instruments for little over a year, everyone but Colin Newman, who didn't even play an instrument llive. I say supposedly because I'm not sure it's true in Graham Lewis' case.

 

What is currently the last essential Wire album?

 

I think 2015's Wire is pretty close to perfect, but the last couple have had a pretty good percentage. Silver/Lead is a little mono-tempo but has some fantastic songs.

 

Mick Jones from Foreigner has just turned up, he wants to know what punk is, and wants you to show him...

 

I guess beginning with "Send" all their albums are worth checking out.

 

I agree with this. Send compiles songs from the Read and Burn EPs from a year earlier and adds new songs. IMO, these constitute Wire's comeback after the electronic dance music they were into for a while.
Everything from 2002 on is worthwhile to own, or if you are me, essential.
It's some of their best music, IMO.

 

The most recent, but aren't we getting ahead of ourselves here?
Wire Released Another Masterpiece (Driving Us Hysterical With Pretension)

 

i like them all after "send", but essential i would say are "change becomes us" and "red barked trees".

 

I've been a member of this forum for a long time and I've read posts from both of you that I've learned from and appreciated.

Truce, alright?

Wire didn't look like most other British groups labeled as punk that I saw photos of and by their second album they made it crystal clear they weren't going to play this game like you had expected or possibly even wanted. I believe this occurred as a result of certain factors: a genuine desire for experimentation, an instinctive distrust for what was popular at the moment, and the mischievous joy of being unpredictable.

 

Alright!

 

I'm loath to continue along this path but most punk bands didn't 'look like punk bands' in '76 and '77, the look became standardized later on. Wire looked as much like a punk band as the Buzzcocks or Subway Sect for instance.

 

In my opinion, the 2015 self-titled album. It's quite good and super consistent. To my ears, it's their best release since they reunited in the early 00s.