Wire

John

I'm listening to Pink Flag for the first time in aaaaaaaaaages. I'd forgotten how fiery Wire were (I've mainly been listening to 154). I know they went "heavy" with Send but Pink Flag is much more vibrant and makes me want to jump around.

Anyone else a fan?

Rich_Why

Yeah man Wire are sweet! I fell in love with them a few years back, soon after I got into Joy Division and Gang of Four. There's no even point in comparing "Send" with "Pink Flag", same band yes, but there's a 26 year gap between those two albums! Thats a ****ing long time my friend .......Viva la Wire!

John

I was more saying that Send is one kind of heavy but that even with Pink Flag being so much older, it's still got more of a punch to it.

Has anyone got those new reissues of the first three albums? They seem kind of pointless, the sound on the older reissues was fine and they had loads of extra tracks and, most importantly, were half the price. I wanted to get Chairs Missing (ironically missing from my collection) but all I can find now is the new reissue.

odhran

Which Wire album would you recommend as an introduction to the band? I've been meaning to listen to them for ages...

John

Pink Flag, especially if you can find the €10 version in the jewel case with the bonus tracks.

DerekD Goldfish

Absolutly fantastic band another great from the golden era of music I saw Colin Newman with his new band Githead play the suger club they were pretty good I recomend other wire fans to check them out
Chairs Missing is my favorite Wire album

John

DerekD Goldfish wrote:

Absolutly fantastic band another great from the golden era of music I saw Colin Newman with his new band Githead play the suger club they were pretty good I recomend other wire fans to check them out
Chairs Missing is my favorite Wire album

I was at that Githead show, it was a nice little gig I must say. Far less serious than I was expecting (despite the name, the CDs are fairly earnest). Robin Rimbaud gave me a cool little "Git-" badge

Lunar Junkie

Yeah, amazing band.. I'd personally recommend starting with 154 or Chairs Missing first (they're a bit more new-wave and melodic whereas Pink Flag is more harsh and punky).. they have some less well known 80s albums too which are supposed to be very good but I haven't got around to investigating those yet... There's also a fantastic DVD of the band playing live on the German 'Rockpalast' show in 1979 that I got last Christmas, definately check that out if you like the albums.

nlgbbbblth

John2 wrote:

Has anyone got those new reissues of the first three albums? They seem kind of pointless, the sound on the older reissues was fine and they had loads of extra tracks and, most importantly, were half the price. I wanted to get Chairs Missing (ironically missing from my collection) but all I can find now is the new reissue.

Nah,
I already have them on LP and CD 1994 remasters - which sound great.
Don't fancy forking out again - although they have a five disc box with two more live albums as well as the three re-re-remasters in it which sounds nice.

The On The Box: 1979 and Scottish Play: 2004 DVD + CD combinations are excellent too.

The first Wire album I bought was The Ideal Copy in the Virgin Megastore in 1987. The sleeve grabbed me. It was the first LP of their second coming and is quite different to what went before. The following year I went backwards to Pink Flag and worked my way from there. Pink Flag is a great album but Chairs Missing and 154 are even better. Document and Eyewitness from 1980 is initially difficult to get into but repeated listens make sense.

The third coming: Read and Burn 01 was a revelation. Saw them in HQ around the time of release. Never got my hands on Read and Burn 02 but most of the tracks are on Send - which incidentally needs to heard on both LP and CD - slight differences.

There's a couple of decent Wire compilations out there.

On Returning 1977 - 1979 is worth picking up. 31 songs from the first three years. Not remastered (came out in 1989 when Pink Flag / Chairs Missing and 154 first emerged on CD)

The A List 1985 - 1990 = covers the second coming with a fans poll of the best 16 songs. Ahead is first.

Wire Play Pop. This one is short and sweet. Seven tracks on one LP. See it occasionally second hand. Lowdown / Dot Dash / Mannequin / Map Reference 41N 93W / Outdoor Miner / I Am The Fly / 12XU

John

nlgbbbblth wrote:

although they have a five disc box with two more live albums as well as the three re-re-remasters in it which sounds nice.

As far as I know, those two live albums will be getting a separate release from the box in case you don't want to fork out for the box.

Dudess

Despite being, presumably, very much my kind of thing, they're a band I never investigated - until today. Bought myself a copy of It's Beginning to and Back Again or IBTABA (1989). Wanted something earlier but that's all I could find. Any opinions on said LP?

nlgbbbblth

Dudess wrote:

Despite being, presumably, very much my kind of thing, they're a band I never investigated - until today. Bought myself a copy of It's Beginning to and Back Again or IBTABA (1989). Wanted something earlier but that's all I could find. Any opinions on said LP?

It's good.

A live album which has taken the performances back into the studio with overdubs and reworkings. And no crowd noise. Sums up their second phase quite well with a good selection of tracks. Eardrum Buzz and In Vivo were the singles released around the same time.

Dudess

Cheers. Although I'm put off by the fact that it's a live album. Think I might bring it back tbh.

John

Why? What's wrong with live albums?

Dudess

Knew someone would ask me that! I don't know. When it's a band I know, it's cool, but when I'm just discovering them, I'd prefer to hear the studio version. That said, live versions can often be better. I think the studio version of Everything Counts by Depeche Mode is pretty lame but the live version on 101 and their singles collection is fantabulous!