― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 10 July 2006 15:35 (seventeen years ago) link
lyrically/vocally I see it as something to work through, beyond (kill this buddha, the road leads on)love "Blessed State" though - an all time fave:"loved in the flesh, but butchered in the mind"
sonically awesome - production masterpiece + terrific hooks and sounds. much Cocteau Twins seems a worthy continuation of parts of 154 - e.g. intro to "A Touching Display"
one review at the time (Rolling Stone?) read: Wire, Get Out Of Marienbad (!!!)
― Paul (scifisoul), Monday, 10 July 2006 16:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― Paul (scifisoul), Monday, 10 July 2006 16:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― SQUARECOATS (plsmith), Monday, 10 July 2006 16:30 (seventeen years ago) link
best album evah
are the PF/CM/154 remasters worth getting?
― jabba hands, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:00 (sixteen years ago) link
Still interminable.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:02 (sixteen years ago) link
I'd take Pink Flag over Young & The Hopeless now, but it's close. I'd take Good Morning Revival over 154 by a mile though.
― da croupier, Friday, 1 June 2007 05:20 (sixteen years ago) link
I think I will call 154 the Sgt. Pepper's of punk(/postpunk), though. The Sgt. Pepper's of punk(/postpunk) SCREWED & CHOPPED.
― da croupier, Friday, 1 June 2007 05:28 (sixteen years ago) link
Or maybe The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway of punk(/postpunk)
― da croupier, Friday, 1 June 2007 05:32 (sixteen years ago) link
-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, June 1, 2007 3:02 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link
kind of redundant
― s1ocki, Friday, 1 June 2007 05:41 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm coming towards the end of my first ever listen to this record. Feeling pretty chuffed tbh.
― restraint and blindness (Just got offed), Tuesday, 28 October 2008 12:54 (fifteen years ago) link
Dome next then Louis?
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:02 (fifteen years ago) link
Also upthread: enthusiastic British poster of my own current age gushing untempered praise, seen here before inevitable transformation into laconic cynical antiamerican who makes improper jokes about gun control
Dome? Is that Wire's 4th album?
― restraint and blindness (Just got offed), Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Dome was a Graham Lewis side project.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:10 (fifteen years ago) link
Lewis and Gilbert's side project and generally well worth your attention.
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:11 (fifteen years ago) link
But don't expect it to be anything like Wire
― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:13 (fifteen years ago) link
I don't mind things that don't sound like other things.
― restraint and blindness (Just got offed), Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:16 (fifteen years ago) link
Then you will do well...
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:18 (fifteen years ago) link
who's this pre-ilm-makeover british poster you refer to?
― baaderonixx, Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:19 (fifteen years ago) link
Some say his name is...MP4xA
but I am loathe to believe them
― restraint and blindness (Just got offed), Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:20 (fifteen years ago) link
*loath
― restraint and blindness (Just got offed), Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:21 (fifteen years ago) link
grr
what happened to sundar?
― baaderonixx, Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:27 (fifteen years ago) link
Still shows up now and again
― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:32 (fifteen years ago) link
Did you like "Map Reference..." JGO? It's my favourite Wire song.
― Neil S, Tuesday, 28 October 2008 18:54 (fifteen years ago) link
the 15th is one of my fav songs ever recorded
― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 28 October 2008 19:05 (fifteen years ago) link
That's great too!
― Neil S, Tuesday, 28 October 2008 19:15 (fifteen years ago) link
ya map reference is rly gd but then so is the whole album
shouldn't rly pick a favourite but maybe "i should have known better" is edging it atm
― restraint and blindness (Just got offed), Sunday, 9 November 2008 21:06 (fifteen years ago) link
"the 15th" is timeless brilliance, mind
― restraint and blindness (Just got offed), Sunday, 9 November 2008 21:23 (fifteen years ago) link
i'm rly falling for the tuneful ones like those two and "a mutual friend", sheesh, i feel like i'm cheating or something
but "a touching display" is mega-awes along with the vast majority of the rest so that's probably ok
― restraint and blindness (Just got offed), Sunday, 9 November 2008 21:44 (fifteen years ago) link
Two People in a Room is fantastic.
― z "R" s (Z S), Sunday, 9 November 2008 21:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Music to gnash teeth and rip seams to
― z "R" s (Z S), Sunday, 9 November 2008 21:47 (fifteen years ago) link
It's a great bit of musical panic, superbly sequenced between the showstopping opener and the gorgeous, relaxing 3rd. 15th. Whatever. It's a great complacency-destroying song.
― restraint and blindness (Just got offed), Sunday, 9 November 2008 21:50 (fifteen years ago) link
Your instincts are correct, I assure you.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 9 November 2008 22:02 (fifteen years ago) link
"I Should Have Known Better" is probably one of my 5 to 10 favourite songs ever...I cannot overemphasise its perfection
― alien vs the smiths (country matters), Saturday, 19 September 2009 18:10 (fourteen years ago) link
I sometimes think the versions of "Touching Display" and "Map Ref 41 N93 W" on "Behind the Curtain" are better than the album versions.
― lacipetersonskid, Saturday, 19 September 2009 21:09 (fourteen years ago) link
"Blessed State" oh, what a pearl.
― nerve_pylon, Saturday, 19 September 2009 21:36 (fourteen years ago) link
most/all of the Rockpalast (1979 German TV) performances are on YouTube, just search Wire Rockpalast (or individual 154 titles). features much/most of the album live(?) - oddly enough sounds reasonably close sonically/arrangements to the album versions (unlike the dry demos). worth checking just to see it sung! (and that music coming from 4 guys...)
― Paul, Sunday, 20 September 2009 00:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah they put that out on DVD too. Wire on the Box. There are some Chairs Missing songs in the set, and a really nice "Pink Flag" right at the end.
― Trip Maker, Sunday, 20 September 2009 00:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Is there anyone who really doesn't think this is a total classic? Even if you prefer the previous albums (which on some days I do).
The "Behind The Curtains" versions are amazing, though, in that neither-here-nor-there midground they straddle between punk and post-punk.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 20 September 2009 01:53 (fourteen years ago) link
i think it's really good but not a total classic; a few songs that just bore me. "a touching display", "map ref", and the first three tracks are definitely classic.
― skeletor, Sunday, 20 September 2009 02:12 (fourteen years ago) link
kinda in the mood for this album, all of a sudden
xp a few songs that just bore me
Glad to see the love for this. Seems like it was often unfairly derided as a dip in quality. Poppycock. It's #24 on my all-time list. It would be higher, except there was a lot of competition from that era, like Television, Buzzcocks, Feelies, Gang of Four, Raincoats, P.i.L.
Wire On The Box: 1979 is available on Netflix!
― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 16:59 (fourteen years ago) link
rah!
― Mark G, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 23:27 (fourteen years ago) link
ProvidingDeciding
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 26 January 2012 15:21 (twelve years ago) link
It was soon there
― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 26 January 2012 15:43 (twelve years ago) link
so fucking classic, this is the first post-punk album that blew my mind
― ♈ᘮﬡᕮ-Ꭹᗩᖇᗪᔕ - ᗯ ᖺ ᗢ Ḱ ᓰ ᒪ ᒪ (diamonddave85), Thursday, 26 January 2012 16:08 (twelve years ago) link
It really redefined the meaning of vendetta for me.
― Clarke B., Thursday, 26 January 2012 16:20 (twelve years ago) link
It was soon there― kornrulez6969, Thursday, January 26, 2012 3:43 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark so fucking classic, this is the first post-punk album that blew my mind― ♈ᘮﬡᕮ-Ꭹᗩᖇᗪᔕ - ᗯ ᖺ ᗢ Ḱ ᓰ ᒪ ᒪ (diamonddave85), Thursday, January 26, 2012 4:08 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark
― kornrulez6969, Thursday, January 26, 2012 3:43 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark
― ♈ᘮﬡᕮ-Ꭹᗩᖇᗪᔕ - ᗯ ᖺ ᗢ Ḱ ᓰ ᒪ ᒪ (diamonddave85), Thursday, January 26, 2012 4:08 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark
69 + 85 = 154 Huh? HUH???!!
― John Nestle Harding (loves laboured breathing), Sunday, 18 March 2012 01:19 (twelve years ago) link