Wire - "The 1976 Demo's" (unofficial release)

Prince Edward and Antonin Artaud were listening to some random punk rock numbers, when Edward slipped on Wire's 1976 Demo's LP.

“Who are these rowdy yobbo's making this god awful racket?” said Artaud.

“Why, that'll be Wire. One of the cornerstones of intelligent art punk ,and prolific Avant gardist musicians.” countered Edward Windsor smugly.

“Nah! Can't be them,'cus their songs don't have guitar solo's in 'em!This band is positively festooned with crappy guitar solo's!” added Artaud spitefully.

Then, accompanied with farting sound effects, in strutted an irate Alfred Jarry.

“ Course it's facking Wire yoo Cant! They sacked off the wanker who did the fackin' solo's, and edited 'em out of the fackin' songs! This was obviously recorded before this historic decision was effected-ahhhhh!”

A stunned silence ensued before Jarry added,pataphysically of course,

“Yoo Fackin' Kaaaaannnnnntttsssss”

And exited stage front into the first rows of seats of an emptying theatre.

“Well fuck me!” exclaimed a clearly agitated Antonin Artaud.

“As I am a closet Homosexual predator I will later....oh.....and by the way, did you know that Prince Harry's real father is obviously James Hewitt and absolutely NOT prince Charles?”

 Thank you Antonin, Edward, and Alfred, for putting us straight on several facts there,especially the one about Harry Hewitt!

This artifact, reveals a very different Wire to the one we know and love from Pink Flag onwards.Just look how hard and dishevelled they look on the cover!There are some patently terrible songs here,how right they were to sack that awful lead guitarist and his sub-pub rock solo's. 
In less than a year and a half's time, Wire were to progress rapidly on to Post Punk masterpiece “Chairs Missing”; such pace of change as to mirror the Beatles from “Love me Do” to “Tomorrow Never Knows”(the track that was the beginning of modern music?). In Wire's case its from “Mary is a Dyke” to “Former Airline”,which only took two years compared to The Beatles four!

This isn't the worst Demo's collection from the Punk annals at all. That pedestal goes to Joy Division's 'Warsaw Demo's',especially the track “Gutz”which is even worse than Colin Newman busting a blood vessel on the track “Bitch”. He must have been drunk!

Track Listing:

A1 Prove Myself
A2 Mary Is A Dyke
A3 Bad Night
A4 Can't Stand It No More
A5 Love
A6 Midnight Train
A7 What Is This Feeling Called Love
A8 Tv
B1 Lost Boy
B2 Johnny Piss Off
B3 After Midnight
B4 Fade
B5 Bitch
B6 Roadrunner

DOWNLOAD wire with solo's HERE!
or
DOWNLOAD solo's with wire HERE! 

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!

Desmond Simmons ‎– "Alone On Penguin Island" (Dome Records‎– DOM 33.1 ) 1981

Just as Colin Newman records sound like Wire, but without Gilbert and Lewis, and Dome sounds like the stuff lurking in the background of a Wire album,but without Newman,Gilbert, Gotobed and Lewis. This album by Colin Newman band member,Desmond Simmons, on Dome Records Incidentally; sounds like a Colin Newman impression without any member of Wire involved at all!(although it was produced by Gilbert and Lewis,Colin Newman guests on a few Vocals,and Robert Gotobed Drums!)

Never having heard this until recently,(thanks to Rainier,can we call you 'Prince'?), I was surprised this made it to Dome Records? As Dome was set up to see how far one could go and still be able to call it music! I paraphrase Bruce Gilbert here, but there is no evidence of this objective on Desmond’s record. Its fairly straight forward post-punky experimental pop.....er....like Colin Newman's solo stuff; which this sounds almost exactly like,but not as good!? Still a fairly entertaining listen,(especially,”Caste from Hawaii”, “Phone Ringing (version 2)” and “To be Lost”), which is the primary objective of popular music anyway is it not?

Tracklist:

A Caste From Hawaii
To Be Lost
Beacon Hill Six
April Waits
The Gymnast
Bing Crosby's Hat
Man The Lifeboats
Phone Ringing
Counterpane
By Air Or By Sea
Panthenon
Tracers
Alone On Penguin Island

(With CD bonus tracks)

DOWNLOAD the loneliness of a penguin HERE!

or

DOWNLOAD the Loneliness of an Island HERE!

Colin Newman ‎– "Not To" (4AD ‎– CAD 201) 1982

The third solo album, and thankfully the Band return,including Robert Gotobed,a guest appearance from old buddy Bruce Gilbert, and Dome records recording artist, Desmond Simmons. Songwriting makes a come back also with some Newman originals,a Graham Lewis penned number(You,Me,and Happy), and even some old Wire tunes(5/10,We Meet Under Tables) that never made it to the recording studio proper. Probably his best album,full of quality avant-pop of wire-esque proportions,only let down by an 'orrible Beatles cover to close side two.

Tracklist:

Lorries	3:51
Don't Bring Reminders	3:27
You, Me And Happy	2:37
We Meet Under Tables	3:47
Safe	2:34
Truculent Yet	3:49
5/10	3:32
1, 2, 3, Beep, Beep	2:14
Not To	3:33
Indians!	3:05
Remove For Improvement	4:07
Blue Jay Way	3:11

DOWNLOAD or not to download?That is the question.

or

DOWNLOAD definitely download!That is the answer

Colin Newman ‎– "Provisionally Entitled The Singing Fish" (4AD ‎– CAD 108) 1981

Colin Newman's attempt at an experimental album turned out to be like his first solo album, but without any vocals!? This would be ok if the music could stand up on its own merit,but it's nothing more than backing tracks for tunes that were never written! He must have had a tape full of demo's that never got finished,and thought that rather than write a new album he'd use these for the second solo record instead. A easier way to compete with the prolific production rate of his former colleagues. He does a Mike Oldfield and plays all the instruments himself,as all the band on “A-Z” had been sacked off,luckily, for us, to return for the next record.

A kind of post-punk elevator music,that is ultimately......very boring? It has a certain period charm,but Colin should have stuck to what he does best; slightly experimental pop songs.

Tracklist:

Fish 1	2:31
Fish 2	1:49
Fish 3	3:04
Fish 4	4:58
Fish 5	4:05
Fish 6	2:17
Fish 7	2:30
Fish 8	4:07
Fish 9	3:45
Fish 10	3:01
Fish 11	1:58
Fish 12	3:34

DOWNLOAD a singing fish HERE!

or

DOWNLOAD your provisional entitlement HERE!

Colin Newman ‎– "A-Z" (Beggars Banquet ‎– BEGA 20) 1980

I know we're straying off the true DIY path somewhat,but I feel obliged to push forward the three Colin Newman solo efforts. Wire were incredibly influential figures for the disenfranchised young person who wanted to make interesting music,and the only way was to do it themselves!

Newman was the working class member of the group,and always the most 'Pop' orientated among his art school buddies in Wire. This is evident on his inaugural LP, “A-Z”, which is basically ,Wire, without the background sonic footprint of the lads from Dome.

I first heard this album via one of those in-house BBC video's on the Old Grey Whistle Test, for the track “B”. I assumed that all the song titles would be letters from A to Z, but was disappointed to find that “B” was the sole appearance of the alphabet on the whole record. The songs however were as inventive and memorable as anything on “154”, with “B” being one of the weakest. Here hide the melodies that were missing from Gilbert and Lewis' numerous releases in 1980,something you can tap your foot to,and hum along after it stops playing. Is that such a bad thing? It's certainly more difficult to create than endless drones and formless ambient Industrial workouts. Colin Newman was undoubtedly the craftsman of the group, and its proven on this and his third effort “Not To”. Arty pop that a larger common denominator can find something to cling onto. Better still, merge this with a Dome record,and you've got perfect Avant-Pop; aka Wire.

Tracklist:

I've Waited Ages
& Jury
Alone
Order For Order
Image
Life On Deck
Troisième
S-S-S-Star Eyes
Seconds To Last
Inventory
But No
B

 

DOWNLOAD From Z to A HERE!