Wire - the greatest band of the late 70s

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Tangledupinblue, Oct 10, 2011.

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  1. Tangledupinblue

    Tangledupinblue Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    London, UK
    OK, now that I've got your attention ;) (I could also say they were the greatest ever punk/post-punk band, but their style really defies categorization) I'd like to post my thoughts about a band that seem to be a bit overlooked on SH, especially as there hasn't been much of a thread about them since 2005. Of course, you are all free to add your contributions even if you don't think they were the greatest band of their era, as I'd like this thread to be one where you can discuss their artistic merits, how you got into them, how much of their music you've heard, whether you've seen them live, post video clips of your favourite Wire songs etc.

    I will start off by discussing their first three albums as that's all I'm familar with for now (but of course you can talk about their later music if you wish), which needless to say are masterpieces (I've heard that Colin Newman's A-Z that just succeeded 154 is also well worth a listen, but I haven't got round to checking it out) with 154 my clear favourite. Their debut and best known album Pink Flag announces their initial style with explosive impact as a sort of smart-alec "alternative" punk band, and whilst the album could be seen as basically one early Clash/Sex Pistols piss-take, there are already plenty of artsy elements, with stream-of-consciousness lyrics and influences from the Velvet Underground, Stooges to traces of Krautrock that have been absorbed into their signature style and would become fully integrated by their sophomore release, Chairs Missing. From then on they would become more ethereal-sounding with fewer short songs, their next two albums interspersing introspective numbers with still a fair share of powerful rockers that kept them in touch with their punk roots - in the slower songs one can very well see how much they influenced Joy Division.

    But there was more to their later development - whereas amid all this clever punk deconstruction Pink Flag wasn't too hot in the melodies department (Fragile and Mannequin apart) the ability to deliver both great melodies and killer hooks against all these unconventional structures and sounds and gain greater emotional depth was where they truly matured. In relation to this, in a genre of music where singing is rarely seen as its strongest point, I must add that Colin Newman is particularly underappreciated. You get more of an idea of his range on the later two albums - whereas the first album shows clear John Lydon influences (albeit more as a hilarious parody than a respectful tribute) with some powerfully expressive deliveries in songs like Reuters and the title track, by Marooned which in itself exemplies the band's significant change in direction, his voice becomes unexpectedly tender and sincere, with a kind of almost Ray Davies-like warmth, from then on ranging from a barely audible whisper in Heartbeat to a full-throttle roar in Mercy, with a more cheerfully laddish tone in the poppy numbers Outdoor Miner and I am the Fly. His gentler vocals are a bit similar in tone to Ian Curtis, only better IMHO.

    154 then is the culmination of what made the last two albums great and more; beautiful semi-ambient soundscapes with that icily austere post-punk sound (already far more so than Joy Division's contemporaneous Unknown Pleasures), superbly catchy tunes like "The 15th" and "Map Ref 41°N 93°W", at least one angry, energetic number in Indirect Enquiries that is as punkishly powerful as any in Pink Flag and Chairs Missing, with a richer use of guitars, synthesizers, other instruments and backing vocals. There literally isn't a weak track on this and I would definitely rate it as my favourite of 1979.

    Live: I saw them open for The Sonics as part of the Ray Davis Meltdown Festival at the Festival Hall in June. Whilst I was disappointed that they did very little stuff from 154 and their newer material wasn't all that inspired they put on a pretty damn show otherwise, finishing off with an amazing 20-minute freak-out version of Pink Flag.

    And finally, here are some clips of three of my favourite Wire songs which best sum up their ever varying style to hopefully whet your appetite for those who are unfamiliar with this great band:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwJCUn0ndwA
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmTJ9fS61QA
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ2RvSHK_B8
     
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  2. boyfromnowhere

    boyfromnowhere Senior Member

    Location:
    missouri, usa
    I'm a a big fan of Pink Flag (one of my favorite albums ever) and Chairs Missing. Never really got into anything else, but I should give it another listen.
     
  3. Holy Diver

    Holy Diver Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
  4. HiFi Guy 008

    HiFi Guy 008 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    You've intersected my train of thought.

    Those first 3 albums are indelible classics for me. Right up there with early Bauhaus and Joy Division. I was told to start exploring 80's music with those 3 bands, and it's led to a rewarding, and otherwise unknowable experience.

    I strongly recommend you check out Colin Newman's solo's A-Z, Not To and Provisionally Entitled the Singing Fish.

    And while I generally avoid any "cover band" albums, the comp "Whore" is mostly so good, I prefer some of the cover versions to the originals - esp. Outdoor Miner.

    It would be interesting to see a Wire tree - all of the offshoots and solo releases. Bruce Gilbert and Dome alone could fill a few pages.
     
  5. OnTheRoad

    OnTheRoad Not of this world

    I first got into this band through a random discovery.

    I was working at Discount Records in Nashville, got 154 in as a promo...with NO copies for sale. I looked at the cover and was curious so I opened it and put it on the turntable. Fortunately my manager was away cause he forbid us to play anything we didn't have saleable copies of.

    I was STUNNED ! I first thought they sounded Crimsonish and LOVED their heavy dark sound. Even the 'prettier' sounds captivated me. I put on the record the next day while the manager WAS in and he told me to take it off after asking if we'd gotten any copies for sale. I told him no and after he realized what it was he let me take home the promo. We never did get any saleable copies in. He didn't like it and didn't see/hear any commercial potential or publicity in trade mags so it was forgotten....in our store anyway.

    I then went back and acquired their first two that I liked, but I really thought 154 was light years ahead of Pink Flag or Chairs Missing.

    I also like their 1986 album, The Ideal Copy and Colin Newman's 1988 "It Seems". The Wire albums after those didn't do that much for me though...

    Last year there was a thread I mentioned 3 albums in a row that showed incredible progress for a band and I listed Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154. They really leaped ahead within that trio !
     
  6. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    You say this quite often.
     
  7. mrt2

    mrt2 Active Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI, USA
    154 was a favorite of mine in my later college years, the '86 and '87 especially. Somebody made me a cassette from the lp, but it got lost sometime in the 90s. I hadn't listened to it in years until last year when I bought the cd. It is back among my personal favorites.
     
  8. westcott

    westcott Member

    Location:
    Canada
    Also love the first 3 by this band, coincidentally on my shelf next to the Wipers, two doors down from the Who.
     
  9. silversurfer

    silversurfer Well-Known Member

    154 is my favorite too;it has attitude AND melody!
    And despite being part of the punk movement they were ARTY, not just spitting at the audience.
    They were on a more intellectual level like Gang of Four or This Heat.
     
  10. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    You would love them. Kind of like Dokken but better.
     
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  11. galaxie500

    galaxie500 Forum Resident

    Location:
    denmark
    i doubt this thread will get much response... we've just as well create another Pink Floyd thread:(

    Amazing band, love the first three as well, and the first Colin Newman lp. Also got some of their newer stuff up until recently, but never listened to it much.
    The lp 'a bell is a cup until it's struck' is also worth mentioning.
     
  12. Tangledupinblue

    Tangledupinblue Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    London, UK
    Well here's hoping...the one in 2005 drew 25 responses which was pretty good back then for a band formed after 1975 ;)
     
  13. dlemaudit

    dlemaudit Forum Resident

    Location:
    France, Paris area
    Really really fond of the classic first LP but had trouble getting in the next 2 albums
     
  14. Roger Thornhill

    Roger Thornhill Senior Member

    Location:
    Ilford, Essex, UK
    Definitely agree with the OP! Wire and Magazine were my late 70s listening.

    I went to see The Tubes at the back end of 1977 at Hammersmith Odeon and Wire were opening - I was hooked and never bothered with The Tubes again after that. When my brother asked me what I wanted as a Christmas Present it was a fairly obvious answer - "Pink Flag please".

    What startles me looking back now is the rapid development from PF to 154 within the space of 2 years - interesting that wikipedia calls it "steady development"!

    Of the early albums 154 is my favourite - The 15th and Map Ref of course but songs like The Other Window and Two People In A Room are great too - love the way Newman's "My God they're so gifted" goes to "My God THEY'RE SO GIFTED!"

    Have to admit that I haven't played the later albums so much which probably indicates their drop in quality but Red Barked Tree was a real return to form I thought.
     
  15. galaxie500

    galaxie500 Forum Resident

    Location:
    denmark
    that's the most recent one - red barked tree, right??
    i bought the one before that, Object 47 which did not do anything for me.
     
  16. Edgard Varese

    Edgard Varese Royale with Cheese

    Location:
    Te Wai Pounamu
    I discovered them though a compilation album, the cut being "1 2 X U" which was terrific, and beautifully short. But actually laying hands on one of their albums was almost impossible in Boston back in 1985, so I searched in vain for the longest time. Then finally one day it was there, Pink Flag in all its glory, ten bucks (a lot of money for a used rekkid in those days), I must have scooped it up and flown out of the shop.

    I never did get around to the rest of their albums in their original incarnation, though my roommate had a copy of Chairs Missing with "Fly in the Ointment" on it. But Pink Flag was just about perfect.
     
  17. Music Geek

    Music Geek Confusion will be my epitaph

    Location:
    Italy
    All post-punk music is "a bit overlooked" here...

    I love Wire's early production but I lost them at some point... however IMO the title of best post-punk band goes to Magazine, another band that is "a bit overlooked"....
     
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  18. Paul K

    Paul K Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Brilliant!
     
  19. ciderglider

    ciderglider Forum Resident

    Just to keep a Floyd theme going here, there's a palpable Piper At The Gates Of Dawn influence on Chairs Missing.

    I was never that taken by Newman's Beggars Banquet albums, they seem like Wire that's had the lumps smoothed out. But the two albums he did on Crammed in the late 80s (Commercial Suicide and It Seems) are worth hearing, and a long way away from Wire.

    The stuff Wire recorded for Mute is good, and Wire certainly weren't resting on their laurels at that point. I'm not convinced by their ouput since then, however.
     
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  20. gohill

    gohill Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow, UK
    Yeah i was listening to Pink Flag in the car this morning and it really takes me back to the glory days of Dokken in the 80's.:laugh:

    Seriously, Wire along with Magazine and The Fall are the epitome of the great UK post punk bands that sprang up in the 70's. The first 3 are essential records.

    Despite losing Bruce Gilbert they are still brilliant. I am going to see them again next month. 3rd time in a year! I really like their last 3 records Send, Object 47 and Red Barked Tree too. Send is incendiary in its furious intensity.

    Their 80's album A Bell Is A Cup is a great pop record too.
     
  21. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    With The Fall, they were certainly one of the most original late 70s band but I wouldn't give them the "best" label. I saw them live at that time and they were worse than dull. I quite liked some of "Pink Flag" though.
     
  22. coffeecupman

    coffeecupman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Caterham, UK
    Tangled, you just gave me one of life's greatest gifts

    A new band that I love that I had no idea about.

    You rock!

    ccm
     
  23. coffeecupman

    coffeecupman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Caterham, UK
    I'm loving the samples from A-Z too.

    Which is the CD release to get for the best sound? the 1993 or the 1998?

    Any other Wire masterings advice will come in handy, as I'm gonna be making these my Autumn mission.

    ccm
     
  24. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    I can't think of another band that periodically reconvenes with such artistic success.

    Their first phase is going to get the most props here, but they probably sold more records in their second late-80's/early-90's period. I missed a couple of their singles and skipped The First Letter after disliking Manscape. But A Bell Is A Cup is among my favorite Wire albums. Earlier this year I finally tracked-down the Eardrum Buzz, In Vivo and Silk Skin Paws singles as well as the live/remix album IBTABA... all good stuff. I'm even warming a bit to the less-tuneful Manscape and WIR albums.

    The Read And Burn EP's and Send album were a brilliant recasting of their sound. Sonically, that's the most aggressive period of their career. And their current incarnation without BC Gilbert has been fruitful - Red Barked Tree is among the best albums of the year. That's saying something for a band in their fourth decade.

    Wire is one of my favorite bands and I love their career as a whole.
     
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  25. Tristero

    Tristero In possession of the future tense

    Location:
    MI
    I'm always struck by how quickly Wire evolved from the stark minimalism of Pink Flag to the occasionally bombastic experimentalism of 154. While I imagine early fans might have felt betrayed (a track like A Mutual Friend practically borders on prog--heresy!), this is part of what makes Wire so fascinating. For me, Chairs Missing strikes the best balance, offering a more subtle, varied sound while maintaining the scathing potency of the debut. They had several peers among the post-punk crowd (including Joy Division, Magazine, the Stranglers and maybe even This Heat), but Wire was one of the best.
     
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