If its possible, there was only one post-punk band who were probably even worse musicians than Joy Division, that was Wire.Who i'm sure if they could have been more proggy sounding they would have.Like Joy Division they also miraculously mutated, as if overnight, from a thrashy punk band into something incredibly unique and disconnected from their roots.(Check out their '76 Demos HERE).The first album, 'Pink Flag' was however very influential in the USA, and possibly could even be credited as the first 'Hardcore' album.But,unlike most punk groups who headed into a Hardcore blind alley,Wire swerved this dead end and headed for the horizon.
Luckily they were nowhere near good enough on their instruments to be at the proggy end of post-punk like Cardiacs, or Punishment of Luxury.Even though they were on Prog Rock label, Harvest. Instead, they tuned their progressive content towards the 'Ideas' end of the spectrum, and played well within their limitations.In the process, along with Joy Division,PiL and Siouxsie and the Banshees, they became the ultimate Post-Punk group.
Always looking to do the unexpected right angle turn within their angular tunes, Wire were one of the few groups to sound worse in their John Peel Sessions than they did on their official releases!?
Probably their best session was the third one, where they just improvised a 16 minute piece("Crazy About Love") instead of four rehearsed songs from their live set.
A great example to demonstrate why Ideas and Art are far more important than technical ability, or creative safety.
Tracks 1 to 4 recorded on 18/1/78
Tracks 5 to 8 recorded on 20/9/78
Track 9 recorded on 11/9/79
Tracklist:
Practice Makes Perfect 3:38
I Am The Fly 3:49
Culture Vulture 1:57
106 Beats That 1:07
The Other Window 2:22
Mutual Friend 4:16
On Returning 2:08
Indirect Enquiries 4:19
Crazy About Love 15:26
8 comments:
Very well put there, Jonny. Whilst Wire are undoubtably a very skilled unit today, particularly strong live with Matt Simms on board, the fact remains they have always been about ideas above technical ability, the gap between those things of course closing over time but the principal remaining...whereas musos without a clue will remain musos without a clue.
Already have this, so won't be downloading, but always great to see Wire up here on Die or D.I.Y.?
ps: Still some Red Noise in the pipeline I hope?
Wire Boots to follow.......Red Noise has been pushed to the back of the queue so i can segue into some German stuff,...eg...Wire, Electric Ballroom gig,supported by DAF,....more german stuff. So maybe after that?
As for musos....can't stand 'em!
Ah! Nice to know you've got German stuff coming up :) I was heavily into that way back and saw quiet a few good concerts, Einsturzende, Abwaertm DAF, Die Haut and Palais Schaumburg come to mind.....
Fine by me!
...and some dutch stuff too, Mr Madrotter.
Ah!!! Dutch Stuff!!! I'll be going there soon, home!!! Although not quiet home anymore... I'll be doing some dj sets there, Indonesian tunes, mostly of the jaipong and pergosi kind or should I say "Indonesian Vibes"??? November the 18th in The Worm in Rotterdam and Karinding Attack will be playing too, they're from Bandung, a punk band but they only play traditional bamboo instruments. Should be good!!!
Mmmm, wouldn't mind going to that myself.
If you want an advert putting on my front page feel free to provide the artwork.
Yeah, i went back to my motherland recently, there is a bad vibe, open racism and all these brexit scumbags messing up the place...more like a fatherland than a motherland these days....same shit in Holland yes?
Ah Great!!! Thank you so much!!! I will ask the event organizer, Sascha Roth, about it, he organizes the Pantropical nights in Rotterdam and really does a fantastic job, the weirdest acts from all over the globe:
https://www.facebook.com/Pantropical/?hc_ref=ARRucWTVARZ9CBi3HEwtgD4MarcoexQt_SKIYmoy6g2_lQgpy3K1EmKQfuX2tcL6tis&pnref=story
No idea what's waiting for me in Rotterdam, we're not dealing with any kind of Brexit nonsense there, not a whole lot of open racism either but it is getting grimmer every time I'm there....
Then again, I'm only there for 3 maybe 4 weeks a year so what do I know :)
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