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I like Chris’ idea of appropriating the Ten Of The Best feature, and I seem to be the first one ready, partly because I thought of doing a post on Wire’s more recent material a while back anyway. I also thought Margaret’s idea of calling it Ten Tracks was a good one as some people were a bit iffy about “best” lists. As said last week the idea is that anyone can contribute a “ten” ( hopefully it’ll happen weekly) and it can be artist , genre, record label…whatever you fancy doing.
There’s been plenty written about Wire – the 21 track classic art school punk LP Pink Flag, I Am The Fly accidentally influencing Britpop ,etc. After their initial run of 3 influential 70s albums , they had a second wind in the 80s veering between avant garde (The Drill) and pop near hits (Kidney Bingos, Eardrum Buzz etc). They disbanded in the early 90s but reformed in 2000. Never keen on nostalgia they have released 7 new albums this century , and have focused on new material live. So this is ten of the best from Wire’s more recent output that you might not be familiar with, and I think quite a varied selection as well
COMET (2002) Despite their dislike of nostalgia, when Wire reconvened in 2000 they did the most un-Wirish thing possible, and toured a retro set dominated by the Pink Flag album. This inspired them to return to writing faster, spikier material again, but updated with techniques and influences from dance, avant-garde and noise rock that various members had dabbled in. This track, featured on the Read & Burn EP and the Send album was the poppiest of the new material , and finds Wire raising an arched eyebrow at the prospect of global destruction. Even the prospect of mass extinction doesn’t stop Wire being meta: “And the chorus goes – Bang…then a whimper”
I DON’T UNDERSTAND (2002) A lot the Read & Burn/Send material had an abrasive, industrial sound. Nowhere did they sound more abrasive than on this track from the first Read & Burn EP. It’s the sound of pent up frustration and anger being vented- or is it? “It’s so macho, in a stupid way” said Colin Newman. Apparently it was used in a Victoria’s Secret ad as well. Interesting(ish) fact about Wire’s recordings at this time – drummer Robert Grey (aka Gotobed) did not take part in these recording sessions , but it is his drumming , sampled from earlier Wire records.
ONE OF US (2008) Wire were back, and back on form – what could go wrong? How about Bruce Gilbert suddenly leaving? Wire’s next album Object 47 was recorded as a three-piece. In my view it was one of their more disappointing albums, albeit with the odd good track, such as Mekon Headman and best of all this lyrically ambiguous but near perfect Wire pop song.
PLEASE TAKE (2010) For their nest album , Red Barked Tree, Newman says that he reverted to something he hadn’t done for decades , writing songs on an acoustic guitar. I’m assuming this, the opening track sung by Graham Lewis, is one of the results. It’s an unexpectedly pretty tune and as you are getting your head around that you get something else unexpected, as Lewis drops the f-bmb for the first time on a Wire record (12XU doesn’t count). Gentle and confrontational at the same time.
RED BARKED TREE (2010) The closing track is another unexpected turn – psychedelic folk which the band admitted (or maybe boasted) sounded more like Pentangle than Wire. The lyrics concerned the hope of finding cures for illnesses in the natural world, and the possibility environmental damage might mean any such cure is lost before we even know what it is.
TIME LOCK FOG (2013) Despite having new guitarist Matt Simms on board, Wire’s next move was to look back again ,this time to the somewhat difficult material that had been recorded on their live Document & Eyewitness album in 1981. Again though this was looking back in order to move forwards, as the original songs were reworked into new, frequently unrecognisable songs that made up the aptly titled Change Becomes Us album . Time Lock Fog for example was based on a barely listenable percussion based track called 5/10. Here it is atmospheric and almost dream like.
IN MANCHESTER (2015) I saw Wire live for the first time only a few months after Change Becomes Us was released , but they were already trying out new material. Out of this prolific patch came their next album , simply titled Wire. Most of the album was Wire in pop mode, and In Manchester was one of the standouts. Lyrically it’s not got much to do with Manchester, instead coming about when Lewis gave Newman some unformatted text form which Newman would choose his own chorus. Which is how “in Manchester ah-ha” became one of Wire’s most memorable choruses of recent years.
PILGRIM TRADE (2016) The songs on the Wire album had been recorded “basically as the band played it” , but several songs recorded in the same session were more the result of studio experimentation and trickery. These songs were released separately a few months later as the Nocturnal Koreans mini album. For me this was the my favourite Wire album in a long time, with some echoes of 154. Not everyone agreed , with one commenter on The Guardian music site sneering that it was Wire for Elbow fans. Either I’m an Elbow fan and didn’t realise or he’s talking crap. Pilgrim Trade is superficially quite gentle, but has a jarring undertone to it. The lyrics are possibly about religious sects , but as usual it’s hard to tell.
SHORT ELEVATED PERIOD (2017) In 2017 Wire celebrated their 40th anniversary in their typical style, by releasing and touring with more new material , a definitely not by playing I Am The Fly. The first track to be streamed from Silver/Lead turned out to be a red herring. The album leaned more towards Wire’s atmospheric , mellower side, whereas this track is proof that when they want they can still turn out pop punk in their own distinctive way.
PLAYING HARPOONS FOR FISHES (2017) The opening track on Silver / Lead has a big, almost cinematic feel to it. Graham Lewis sounds world weary and full of regret, but as usual the cryptic lyrics don’t really give anything away.
Wire’s website Pink Flag tells us that they are about to start recording a new album – of course!
