Wire - 154: Classic or Dud?

Speed was cheaper then, of course.

I just bought a DVD of Wire doing a "154" show from German TV, 1979. They encore with "Pink Flag", though who cares? The stuff they play before that is one of the best shows I've ever seen by a band. Incredibly intense, slightly pretentious at points but still so super amazing. I was kinda dumbfounded after watching it.

There's a selection of 80's clips at the end of the DVD by Wire and their solo side incarnations, but except for the solo stuff it's just horribly dated. Except for "Ahead".

They've got it at Mondo Kim's here in NYC. Along with DVD's of old Factory videos, Blondie clips, Smiths at Versailles --- some great things that all seem to be the handiwork of someone with an awesome video collection who's just compiling onto DVD-R and selling through Kim's. Not entirely legal but -- hey, you know.

DVD sounds great; snarl.

Oh fuck, that's on Chairs Missing!

Why the Limp and Good Charlotte comparisons?

I just can't stand all the turgid bullshit on 154. Prog for punks, blech.

You should be slapped across the face with a sandpaper glove for that comment.

I was listening to 154 this morning and the lyrics are fantastic.

and yeah i love it

Hey Jess, why do ya think that Chairs Missing is better than Pink Flag?

That said Ned's post way back when is the only one of these that actually says why 154 is so damn loved. Can someone tell me what exactly I'm supposed to be enjoying on that thing (aside from the pre-Pixies prettiness of "the 15th" and "Map Ref" actually having a hook).

all that said, "map ref" is still probably in my top 10 favorite songs of all time.

Going to see these guys in March!

Toying with seeing them again. Current version of band were good live a few years back

they're not coming to SF this time :(

I listened to the entire album today and can't remember a single thing about it except one of them yelling OKLAHOMA really loud

They still play only new songs?
If so👎

I think I'd rather see them only play new songs. Not that I'm likely to go out of my way to see them.

I want to see them play material from Read & Burn 1-3 and Send

They mix it up live but tend to focus on the last few albums.

they're not coming to SF this time :(

Oh damnit, I was out of town last time they performed and it was at the closest venue to wear I live too.

Yeah, they've been reasonably normal about the old songs in recent years. You won't get dot dash, but.

opden gnash (imago) at 3:00 24 Jan 20

I want to see them play material from Read & Burn 1-3 and Send


saw em in that era and that's pretty much all they did!

it must have ruled!

Ha, tbh, I bought a ticket because they're basically playing next door but hadn't checked recent setlists. I just sort of assumed I'd get to see "Map Ref..."

I saw them on the tour for Change Becomes Us. Of course that album was largely reworked from Document and Eyewitness era. My notes say they did these:

Marooned
Drill
Doubles and Trebles (formerly “Ally in Exile”)
Adore Your Island
Re-Invent Your Second Wheel
Stealth of a Stork
B/W Silence
Magic Bullet
Love Bends (formerly “Keep Strumming Those Guitars”)
As We Go
Attractive Space
The Flying Dutchman
Blogging for Jesus
Map Ref.
Smash
Comet
Two People in a Room
Spent
Pink Flag

OK, looks like "Two People in a Room" is on recent setlists anyway.

makes sense, as it is...

ONE OF THE GREATEST SONGS OF ALL TIME

Yeah, they've been reasonably normal about the old songs in recent years. You won't get dot dash, but.

― Mark G, Friday, January 24, 2020 10:50 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

... But it seems you might get "Outdoor Miner"!!

Noted

Wire
Not About To Die
pinkflag
24 June 2022

http://images.roughtrade.com/product/images/files/000/237/028/hero/Screen_Shot_2022-02-18_at_1.39.28_PM.png?1645209764

Wire are pleased to announce the first ever official release of Not About To Dieout June 24th via pinkflag (pre-order). Along with the announcement they have shared track “Stepping Off Too Quick” and an accompanying video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4OKaijZUpA

The original Not About To Die was an illegal bootleg, released at some point in the early 80s by the dubiously named Amnesia Records. The album was made up of selections from demos recorded by the group for their second and third albums: Chairs Missing and 154. These demos had been recorded for EMI, with cassette copies circulated amongst record company employees. However, they were never intended for release.

A typically shoddy cash-in, the songs on Not About To Die were taken from a second or possibly third generation cassette, with the album housed in a grainy green and red photo-copied sleeve. Compared with the high standards of production and design Wire have always been known for, it was something of an insult to band and fans alike.

Now, in a classic act of Wire perversity, the group have decided to redress the balance and reclaim one of the shadier moments of its history, by giving Not About To Die its first official release. All the tracks have been properly remastered, with the relevant recording details in place. As for the sleeve artwork, whilst it strongly references the original, it is decidedly more artful in its execution.

Having received proper care and attention, Not About To Die emerges as a fascinating snapshot of Wire in transition. Herein are embryonic versions of classic songs such as "French Film (Blurred)," "Used To" and "Being Sucked In Again," that the group would develop considerably for their epochal 1978 album Chairs Missing. Later demos such as "Once Is Enough," "On Returning" and "Two People In A Room" would surface in radically altered form on 1979’s 154.

Some songs, such as ‘The Other Window," are virtually unrecognisable from their later iterations. But the biggest prizes here may well be the numerous tracks that were destined to be omitted from Wire's later studio albums... Highlights include "Motive," which, whilst obviously still in an embryonic state, has an undeniable power. Robert Grey’s drumming is crisp and minimal, and Graham Lewis’s bass runs are particularly ear-catching. Despite its distinctly un-Wire title, "Love Ain't Polite" is also something of a gem. Bruce Gilbert’s guitar is razor sharp and Colin Newman’s vocal is especially strong, with his delivery of the ‘bah-ba- bah-ba’s’ providing an irresistible energy and charm.

Meanwhile, the track which gives the album its title Not About To Die, officially known as “Stepping Off Too Quick” and shared online for the first time today, is alive with confident energy, and possesses what Newman half jokingly calls “The best intro to any song ever." The intro is so good in fact, that it takes up a third of the song’s entire time frame.

These properly mastered tracks have never been available on vinyl before, and they provide an opportunity to hear Wire at a point in their development when they were bursting with fresh ideas and a will to communicate them. This is post-punk at its very finest.

Aren't most of those tracks on "Behind the Curtain"?

Well yes, but why not just reissue Behind the Curtain, which was an EMI release even if it felt like a bootleg? Is the idea here to reissue the demos without the embarrassingly crude first third, like Mary is a Dyke and After Midnight?

Ah, "never before on vinyl"... got it.

According to Discogs:

Culture Vultures
French Film (Blurred)
Indirect Inquiries
Used To
Being Sucked In Again
I Should Have Known Better
The Other Window
On Returning

"...have never been officially released; the remaining tracks appear on the 1995 CD Behind The Curtain (Early Versions 1977 & 1978)."

Didn't all of these tracks come out with the 2018 3CD expanded editions?

Yes.

Anyway, my copy has just arrived, so..

A guy's gotta make a living. Colin Newman, that is.

the best fucking album ever made!!!!

yes. yes!!

I feel like all the criticisms of this album are like "oh it's so silly and OTT and comically doomy".

But that is what I love about it??

a touching display, you might conclude

You'd be very wrong if you did though.

My favorite album. (Thanks, Fischerspooner.)

Am I the only one who prefers Colin Newman's A - Z? I don't object to "silly and OTT and comically doomy" in general but the tracks led by Lewis and Gilbert just aren't as interesting melodically, harmonically, or vocally (though they are very interesting conceptually and lyrically).

(and texturally)

Ever tried "In Esse" ?

(Makes Metal Machine Music sound tuneful. I sort of like it, but)

I've heard all four Dome albums, and collectively they equal about one fine record plus a lot of mildly interesting experiments.