I'm liking Wire more and more!

[Steven West]

Any other Wire fans here? I got their first album '184' I think it was 25 years ago, and I hated it! I played it for friends, and they all said 'is this you, it sounds like you?' and I hated them for that, and got bummed that I really stunk. But my friends liked Wire - so maybe? Then I heard 'Eardrum Buzz' in the 80's and really liked that song! One of those CD's I've been meaning to buy... And about 15 years later, I did! The 'A List' CD, the greatest hits one. Songs like Drill, Torch It, Feed Me still pissed me off, and I rarely listened to it.
But friends caught me listening to it once, and said 'this is good shit! Who are these guys?' So I loaned them the CD. Now I've gotten it back and listened to it a few times over now.

Daaaaaaamn, these guys ARE good! I 'get it' now.

[whyterabbyt]

Yup. Mostly got into 'mid-period' stuff (Bell is a Cup, Ideal Copy et.c.), but recently went back and got the early ones as well. And Send is f**king brilliant. Saw them recently as well; stormingly wonderful stuff.

There's a track on (I think) Ideal Copy that just starts off with this sound and i could have listened to an album of just that sound.

[shamann]

I have the first 3 albums, love them all (184 is 3rd album, Pink Flag = 1 and Chairs Missing = 2).

I never got into the various reunion material in the years since, but those three albums are really great.

[dystonia_ek]

Early recordings (Pink Flag, Document & Eyewitness, Chairs Missing, 154) are pretty essential. Lost interest after 'The Ideal Copy' for the most part, but what they've been doing recently, especially the 'Read & Burn' EP's and 'Send', is quite excellent.

Was an even bigger fan of Gilbert and Lewis's recordings as Dome.

[Steven West]

Wow, so 184 is 3rd? I remember the sound on it was really horrid. Badly recorded I mean. Mind you, Joy Division and others weren't much better. But my buddies didn't seem to notice. They thought it was me and my 4 tracker at first, but they got into it - and I never could?

But then what happened? Was Eardrum Buzz and such from this 'reuniting' era? That's polished stuff! The samples in that song are AMAZING! I think my fave now is 'The King of Urr, And The Queen of Umm'
Just a really nice song. But that freaking brass stab, and the way Eardrum Buzz ends - still pisses me off.

Have you guys heard Elastica do Silk Screen Paws? That's another damn nice song - but can't picture Elastica doing it?

[shamann]

I always liked the rougher sound of those records (154, Joy Division's Closer, etc).

Eardrum Buzz was late 80s, I think. Roughly the first reunion. Maybe not so much a reunion, but there was like a 6 year lag between albums. Then they split in early 90s. I had a few CDs from the swim label run by some Wire folk, and I have vague recollections of things they did through the 90s. And there is the most recent stuff, of which I may have only heard one song.

Elastica's big radio hit was a dead-on knockoff of a tune from Pink Flag.

[dystonia_ek]

Wire sound and video archive @ Brainwashed - makes for a good snapshot of the band's evolution.

http://brainwashed.com/wire/

[Steven West]

Great site Dystonia. Thanks!