Wire - 154: Classic or Dud?

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.