Wire ‎– "Live At The Roxy, London - April 1st & 2nd 1977"

With stuff like '154' , 'Y', 'Closer', 'Metal Box', and other genre defining releases of the so-called 'Post-Punk' period; I, for one, never called these records/bands Post-Punk, because as far as I was concerned the 'Punk' era hadn't ended. These were Punk records; not 'Punk Rock' i'll admit,but definitely a progression of the original Punk ethos. Progressive punk is, for me, a better description. Post-Punk was shit like Bauhaus, ABC, Duran Duran, and all that 'New Pop' crap.The stuff that gave us the phrase,'Like Punk Never Happened'.

The most progressive of the class of '77 was Wire,who in the space of three years evolved from probably the purest manifestation of the 'Punk' sound, to virtually Avant Garde. 
On EMI's 'Live at The Roxy' compilation from '77, they stood out as the most different,and intelligent of the groups featured. Yet their songs most accurately reflected the Year zero philosophy of those punk svengali's down the Kings Road. Short,Sharp, Shock rock, with absolutely NO guitar solo's. These songs really did make the Pistols sound like Bad Company, with Albert Steptoe on Vocals (to paraphrase Captain Sensible);which in retrospection they actually did! The band members didn't behave like Rock Stars either, another Punk prerequisite! Looking at the photo's of Wire at the Roxy,they didn't dress like a punk was supposed to either; just have a butchers at Lewis's shirt! This ,of course, makes them Punk as Fuck!

So in tribute to this pûrity of objective,here is Wire as they were first heard by the public; both sets from April fools day, and the following day, live at the hallowed Roxy Club in Covent Garden,in 1977. One has to say that the April the Second performance is by far the superior one,with added bite and aggression. Even Graham Lewis can be heard calling a punter a 'Fucking Little Shit' with his clipped downtown Grantham, Lincolnshire ,baritone. Slightly tailing off halfway through the 'shit' bit. Oooooh those filthy punk rockers with their spitting and their habits!?

(Its interesting to see how EMI boffin's edited bits of dialogue together for the compilation LP.The same happened to Johnny Moped's performance,which you can check out in it's entirety HERE)

Wire roxy april 1^st 1977:

1. The Commercial
2. Mary is a Dyke
3. Too True
4. Just Don't Care
5. Strange
6. Brazil
7. It's So Obvious
8. Three Girl Rhumba
9. TV
10. Straight Line
11. Lowdown
12. Feeling Called Love
13. NYC
14. After Midnight -
15. 12XU
16. Mr Suit -
17. Glad All Over

Wire roxy april 2nd 1977:

1. The Commercial
2. Mary is a Dyke
3. Too True
4. Just Don't Care
5. Strange
6. Brazil
7. It's So Obvious
8. Three Girl Rhumba
9. TV
10. Straight Line
11. Lowdown
12. Feeling Called Love
13. NYC
14. After Midnight -
15. 12XU
16. Glad All Over
17. Mr Suit

DOWNLOAD april fool's day wire HERE! Or Alternatively more fool you if you don't HERE!

DOWNLOAD april the 2nd wire HERE! Or DOWNLOAD the second of Wire HERE!