Wire - the greatest band of the late 70s

You can also find "Dot Dash" and "Options R" on a 1978 Harvest sampler called The Rare Stuff. Lots of other killer tracks on there, too.

A1 The Saints - River Deep Mountain High
A2 Wire - Dot Dash
A3 The Banned - Him or Me
A4 The Flys - E.C.4
A5 Rich Kids - Only Arsenic
A6 The Flys - Love and a Molotov Cocktail
A7 The Banned - You Dirty Rat
A8 The Saints - One Way Street
B1 The Saints - Lipstick on Your Collar
B2 The Saints - Demolition Girl
B3 Wire - Options R
B4 The Flys - Can I Crash Here?
B5 The Flys - Civilization
B6 The Banned - C.P.G.J's
B7 The Banned - Little Girl
B8 The Shirts - Cyrinda

 

Wrong answer but thanks for playing.


The correct answer is either Raw Power era Stooges or early Ramones.

 

What was the question?

ccm

 

Those are answers to a completely different question - or two different questions even.

 

I think he is referring to "greatest band of the late 70s" as per thread title.

 

And answering it wrong...
The Raw Power era Stooges broke up in 1974. How does that classify as an even slightly accurate pisstake?

 

Please don't consider writing like that article if you're contemplating taking up music journalism. That's an awful piece, verging on gibberish at times. Hell, even Wire weren't that pseudo-intellectual about their own music, and they went to art school.

 

I bought '154' when it came out, complete with 45. Still have both, but it took me a long time to get into it.

Now, I think it's a classic. Anyone else like the Fischerspooner version of 'The 15th'?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgRzYCsBsjw

 

I could not even make it to the end of that verbose drivel. An onanistic vacous vessel sounding off to self congratulatory and incredibly tedious effect. As Wire memorably and forcefully reminded us a few years back; it's all in the art of stopping!

 

Thanks for the reassurance. As you said, Wire would have laughed in that writer's face to see their music being dissected and over-analyzed like that. It's just music man!

Seriously, are all Stylus' articles as humourless and stuffed-shirt as that? The only other one I've read was a more recent one on In Rainbows which was at least semi-readable.

 

Re: Chairs Missing

I've compared the orig Harvest cd to the later digipack remaster, and other than some more warmth, I don't hear a lot of difference. Anyone else care to offer their pre- and post-remastered cd opinions?

Regarding Ideal Copy and A Bell is a Cup: if there are any two cd's in Wire's catalog that could use a good remastering, it's those two. IBTABA also is a great recording, but the sound of my US Enigma cd is awful. Unlistenable on ruthless speakers.

 

More warmth in which one? The harvest or the remaster? And which remaster was it? 1994 or 2006?

ccm

 

Wire certainly has a legit claim on the title fwiw. As for sound, I'm not ready at the moment to declare a champ. The Restless have good dynamic range but are glassy and hissy. I'd bet good money the are from tape dubs, and I'm not a betting man. The 90s EMI are a bit compressed and the Pink Flag issues quite compressed, but both sound as if they had masters. I initially dismissed the latter but at this point, I have no real preference--all are flawed.

 

Re: Chairs Missing - Actually, I compared the '94 remaster (was this an actual remaster and different from the earlier EMI?) to the 2006 digipack.

The 2006 was warmer, and perhaps smoother. Will listen again tonight.

I have Restless Retro US cd's of Pink Flag and 154. Yes they are not ideal copies but good, perhaps 2006 are better? IBTABA on Enigma/Mute has truly awful sound.

My vinyl copy of 154 has a Harvest catalog #, inner sleeve w/ lyrics printed on card w/ rounded corners. Yet, there's no country of origin printed anywhere on this! Cat # SHSP 4105, matrix: SHVL - crossed out SHSP

Where is this from??

 

According to Discogs, Cat # SHSP 4105 is from the UK.

 

I bought my 154 cd in the 80s and it's on Harvest.

It says on the disc,

CD HAR 3

Made in Japan
BIEM/JASRAC


It has the original 13 tracks plus 4 bonus tracks. I also have the 2006 remaster by Denis Blackham at Skye Matering. Unfortunately I don't have the original booklet for more info on that Harvest issue.

I can give my opinion tomorrow and post a WAV file or two if you'd like.

 

_
I can name about 4-5 other bands, who are just as good or better. Your opinion of course. I have one of their CD's,they're not as great as you make them out to be. Of course, that's MY opinion. Posts like this are pointless IMO. If you want people to check them out? Just say so.

 

Saw them live in February, in a tiny club in Cologne.

Go see them live--Wire still got it.

 

It was a strange tune for REM to cover--they really should've chosen the song after that on Pink Flag, "Fragile", which would have suited them perfectly.

 

FWIW I bought the first CD issues of the 3 Harvest albums in the late 80s, and 2 of the 3 discs skip at one point.

 

The title was purely intended as an attention grabber, I wasn't trying to force my opinion on anyone or expect everyone reading this thread to agree with me, and OK maybe I should have phrased it differently if it riled you and others. But out of all the acts I've heard from 1976-79 (and I've heard quite a few) I sincerely believe Wire was the most seriously impressive, innovative, diverse and consistent although they're up amongst some pretty stiff competition and I understand there are several other bands like Ramones, Talking Heads, The Clash and Rainbow (with Dio) that others might justifiably regard as the greatest of this era.

As for wanting people to check the band out, wasn't that the purpose of my opening wall of text + video clips (which does seem to have done the trick going by the 90+ posts that have ensued)? Is that what you were referring to as "pointless"? No offence and I don't want to get into an argument, but your post added nothing constructive to the discussion.

 

Well, I got your point with posing it that way--somehow 'The Wire Appreciation Thread' doesn't spark quite as much interest. I'm just glad to see so much love for this excellent, sometimes overlooked band here and it inspired me to go back to their music this week. Mission accomplished.

 

Pointless to the effect that EVERYONE seems to think a certain band is "the greatest ever",and that's solely by opinion,which you've stated as a sort of fact? That's YOUR opinion they're the best of the late 70's, not fact. My post was right on. Van Halen was every bit as good in the late 70's, as were: KISS/LED ZEPPELIN/AC/DC, just off the top of my head. YOU stated your opinion, not fact& it seemed as if you're siding w/ the writer? Don't, he/she is way off base.

 

If the thread's pointless, why are you wasting your time adding to it?

 

One of the things teachers tell students constantly is that the reader assumes that the reader assumes that the writer is stating his opinion. The greatest band is inherently subjective and the OP's thread title is unambiguously a matter of opinion. It is also clear to me that it is a form of rhetorical style known as hyperbole, which is one of the ways writers create a sense of emphasis.

DJ Phoenix, your post was not right on, but could be duplicated in different forms ad infinitum, pointlessly, in response to most of the posts on this or any other forum, completely wasting everyone's time.