Wire - 154: Classic or Dud?

"154" is up there. I still have "the 15th", "map ref", "40 version", "mutual friend", and "blessed state" as mp3s on my machine since I started working here.

In fact, I even imagined what a "154" tribute record would be like.. There's a rock band that was influenced by every single song on this one:

• Sonic Youth -- "Two People In A Room"
• Nomeansno -- "Once is Enough"
• Wedding Present -- "40 Versions"
• Polvo -- "Mutual Friend"
• Superchunk -- "The 15th"
• Radiohead -- "I Should Have Known Better"
• The Strokes -- "On Returning" (HAW HAW! Kidding!)
• Seefeel -- "Map Ref.." (Look, "THEEEE BAND" already covered it.. give someone else a chance at it)

That said, "Whore" is one of the better tribute CDs out there

The previous list was what I imagined what a good "154" tribute would be, not who I think were directly influenced by each song respectively...

I will weakly echo all the praise since all the praise has already been offered. And since MBV was indirectly invoked, here's the bit from the interview I did with one K. Shields about his lurv for Wire:

I note that while a lot of artists on (Whore) provided little liner notes explaining how they got into Wire, you didn't, so I wanted to ask: have you all been long-time Wire fans in the band? The thing about Wire is, sometime in '85 or '86, I knew this guy who worked in a record shop; he was a mad Wire fan, a really big fan. I'd heard one or two things by them, and they didn't have any real effect on me. But then one day it hit me that some of the stuff they were doing was done ten years ago, and it was very strange, like 'What is this music?' Other stuff was very catchy, almost Beatle-like, with harmonies and nice vocals. I just thought it was really liberating that someone could do that, because I'd come across a couple of bands before that were like that, and there were a couple of bands in the past that were like that. But whenever you come across a new example, and the fact that this was done ten years ago meant a lot to me, and helped form my whole idea of what we could do. When the idea was put to us to do a Wire cover, I thought it would be good to do, if I could do one of the Wire songs that inspired me, I suppose, to not be afraid of being a pop group. Not a pop group with an intent to be pop stars, but a pop group in a sense that you're writing music that's essentially pop music, easy, instinctive music, but you're also doing other stuff, because that comes the same way, as opposed to placing limits and saying, "Well, we can't do that, it's too catchy." To me it seems like a real tragedy, when people do that. You often wonder about a certain band, do they write really good songs and then just not do them because it sounds too good, or too catchy, or takes away from the mood that they've got? Like Metallica, they always have to be within a certain area, they have to be Metallica. I don't know; I just like the idea of people who can do anything, a bit like the way the Velvet Underground used to do it.

Like the gentle pop tunes up against the lengthy, free-form experiments?

Yeah, what was good. They were into what was good, and I don't think they put a big distinction between what John Coltrane was doing and what the Beach Boys would be doing. I think that's the key. To me, between John Coltrane and Brian Wilson is something. It's good, and that's what makes it the same, a sort of good.

i once fell in love with someone not least becuz they announced the above w/i being asked (along w. iggy pop's lust for life)

it didn't work and then some BUT whenever i remember this fact i entirely totally forget the not working part and reach for the phone to call em up

No 3: Kiss Alive!

Speed was cheaper then, of course.

I just bought a DVD of Wire doing a "154" show from German TV, 1979. They encore with "Pink Flag", though who cares? The stuff they play before that is one of the best shows I've ever seen by a band. Incredibly intense, slightly pretentious at points but still so super amazing. I was kinda dumbfounded after watching it.

There's a selection of 80's clips at the end of the DVD by Wire and their solo side incarnations, but except for the solo stuff it's just horribly dated. Except for "Ahead".

They've got it at Mondo Kim's here in NYC. Along with DVD's of old Factory videos, Blondie clips, Smiths at Versailles --- some great things that all seem to be the handiwork of someone with an awesome video collection who's just compiling onto DVD-R and selling through Kim's. Not entirely legal but -- hey, you know.

DVD sounds great; snarl.

Oh fuck, that's on Chairs Missing!

Why the Limp and Good Charlotte comparisons?

I just can't stand all the turgid bullshit on 154. Prog for punks, blech.

You should be slapped across the face with a sandpaper glove for that comment.

I was listening to 154 this morning and the lyrics are fantastic.

and yeah i love it

Hey Jess, why do ya think that Chairs Missing is better than Pink Flag?

That said Ned's post way back when is the only one of these that actually says why 154 is so damn loved. Can someone tell me what exactly I'm supposed to be enjoying on that thing (aside from the pre-Pixies prettiness of "the 15th" and "Map Ref" actually having a hook).

all that said, "map ref" is still probably in my top 10 favorite songs of all time.

but its not that prog really. but then again I've only heard 154 and pink flag.

J: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Hahahaha.

TY: Um.

J: Ha. Hahaha. Ha.

I don't get the love for The 15th so much and I'm surprised at the lack of love for Song 1. Is Blur's Song 2 supposed to be a reference to Song 1?

I've come round to most of Lewis' vocals, not least after experiencing his awesome arrogant over-affected supervillain shtick on the 1979 video. That 'fighting brave-ly, WILL SHE SAVE ME' bit in A Touching Display is so melodramatic it's genius.

This is being issued legitimately, soon.

Classicobv.

Miccio, man, I love ya, but FUCK DAT...

anyway, CLASSIC. such a cold, chilly album. the textures are so bleak, atmospheric. "I Should've Known Better" sort of reminds me of Dracula.

I did have it when I was 15! I love "Map Ref." on the Troublemakers comp, and found a used copy not long afterward. Still my favorite Wire LP.

it's out now! i've just ordered mine from posteverything.com. get *in*.

tragically, they don't have any of those stunning a-list T-shirts left.

154 is a landmark; a colossus. it's so spectacularly under-rated (in general) too. is chairs missing better? not quite. but it's not worth arguing. two of the greatest albums in the history of time.

am i the only person in the world who loves - *loves* - a bell is a cup?

and i think i'm one of the few who actually enjoys the drill LP. i don't actually own manscape. i keep meaning to get it. it's a long time since i've heard it; i remember being hugely underwhelmed. which is why i never bought it, see?

i dug out my copy of the wir album the other day. holy christ, ticking mouth! one of their all-time finest moments. what a beautiful, bleak, terrifying song.

And I loves Drill (drill drill, dugga dugga dugga and "1 2 drill .... U")

Also, The Wir Remix of Erasure's "Fingers & Thumbs" is ace ace ace.

But yeah, I would say most fans don't rate the Manscape/Drill/First Letter era highly.

this is one of those things i've NEVER HEARD and i really must rectify that.

quite a few of us are just plain wrong, then, aren't we? :)

although i must admit, the read-and-burn era stuff makes a *lot* more sense as two mini-albums as opposed to one full-lengther.

I still haven't been able to find the "So and Slow It Goes" single, which has remixes by The Orb and LFO. I did manage to find the 12" with the 2 remixes The Halfer Trio did for Wire. Awesome.

Oh, and 154 >>>> everything else I own

Send: Check the lp version, all the tracks are 'redux' i.e. edited down to their basic essences, and all the missing tracks off the "Read and Burn" are included. I should get this, one of these days.

really? that sounds intriguing. does anyone have this? is it worth it?

i got the CD version because it came with the live disc, which is wonderful: "mr marx's table" only really works live, and the vocal on 99.9 is mind-blowing.

I have this, and I remember the idea being more exciting than the actual reality. I recall there was some sloppy editing.

I haven't played it in awhile though, perhaps I should dig it out.

i'd have to disagree there...

It blew my mind straight off. I had only really heard A Bell Is A Cup and Ideal Copy prior to this, and I wasn't prepared for the sheer brilliance.

A Mutual Friend is one of my all-time favorite songs.

that's what listening to 154 feels like for us, yes

Funny, I thought I typed this in last month... (Still haven't got the REDUX yet, suffice to say)

I mean, Miccio, it's not even worth responding to. We all know he's a joke. What's weird is that I like SOME of our posts Alfred, but then you post craziness like this. don't get it.

As for not playing an instrument, geez, can an argument be any lamer? You don't know if I play an instrument; and if I didn't, how would that make "154" a more rewarding experience?

Also, word from the Wire camp is that Bruce Gilbert has left the group, leaving Wire mark 3 in jeopardy. Colin's Githead album will be out this year though...

Funny, I thought I typed that in 6 months ago. (I do have the REDUX now, suffice to say I've played it once. Boy am I backed up with stuff thesedays. I blame that 1981 box)

Happy birthday, that message.

I have played it a fair bit now, and it's excellent stuff. More than the actual 'normal' CD funnily enough.

lyrically/vocally I see it as something to work through, beyond (kill this buddha, the road leads on)
love "Blessed State" though - an all time fave:
"loved in the flesh, but butchered in the mind"

sonically awesome - production masterpiece + terrific hooks and sounds.
much Cocteau Twins seems a worthy continuation of parts of 154 -
e.g. intro to "A Touching Display"

one review at the time (Rolling Stone?) read: Wire, Get Out Of Marienbad (!!!)

best album evah

are the PF/CM/154 remasters worth getting?

Still interminable.

I'd take Pink Flag over Young & The Hopeless now, but it's close. I'd take Good Morning Revival over 154 by a mile though.

I think I will call 154 the Sgt. Pepper's of punk(/postpunk), though. The Sgt. Pepper's of punk(/postpunk) SCREWED & CHOPPED.

Or maybe The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway of punk(/postpunk)

Still interminable.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, June 1, 2007 3:02 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

kind of redundant

I'm coming towards the end of my first ever listen to this record. Feeling pretty chuffed tbh.

Dome next then Louis?

Also upthread: enthusiastic British poster of my own current age gushing untempered praise, seen here before inevitable transformation into laconic cynical antiamerican who makes improper jokes about gun control

Dome? Is that Wire's 4th album?

Dome was a Graham Lewis side project.

Lewis and Gilbert's side project and generally well worth your attention.

But don't expect it to be anything like Wire

I don't mind things that don't sound like other things.

Then you will do well...

who's this pre-ilm-makeover british poster you refer to?

Some say his name is...MP4xA

but I am loathe to believe them

*loath

grr

what happened to sundar?

Still shows up now and again

Did you like "Map Reference..." JGO? It's my favourite Wire song.

the 15th is one of my fav songs ever recorded

That's great too!

ya map reference is rly gd but then so is the whole album

shouldn't rly pick a favourite but maybe "i should have known better" is edging it atm

"the 15th" is timeless brilliance, mind

i'm rly falling for the tuneful ones like those two and "a mutual friend", sheesh, i feel like i'm cheating or something

but "a touching display" is mega-awes along with the vast majority of the rest so that's probably ok

Two People in a Room is fantastic.

Music to gnash teeth and rip seams to

It's a great bit of musical panic, superbly sequenced between the showstopping opener and the gorgeous, relaxing 3rd. 15th. Whatever. It's a great complacency-destroying song.

i'm rly falling for the tuneful ones like those two and "a mutual friend", sheesh, i feel like i'm cheating or something

Your instincts are correct, I assure you.

"I Should Have Known Better" is probably one of my 5 to 10 favourite songs ever...I cannot overemphasise its perfection

I sometimes think the versions of "Touching Display" and "Map Ref 41 N93 W" on "Behind the Curtain" are better than the album versions.

"Blessed State" oh, what a pearl.

most/all of the Rockpalast (1979 German TV) performances are on YouTube, just search Wire Rockpalast (or individual 154 titles). features much/most of the album live(?) - oddly enough sounds reasonably close sonically/arrangements to the album versions (unlike the dry demos). worth checking just to see it sung! (and that music coming from 4 guys...)

Yeah they put that out on DVD too. Wire on the Box. There are some Chairs Missing songs in the set, and a really nice "Pink Flag" right at the end.

Is there anyone who really doesn't think this is a total classic? Even if you prefer the previous albums (which on some days I do).

The "Behind The Curtains" versions are amazing, though, in that neither-here-nor-there midground they straddle between punk and post-punk.

i think it's really good but not a total classic; a few songs that just bore me. "a touching display", "map ref", and the first three tracks are definitely classic.

kinda in the mood for this album, all of a sudden

xp a few songs that just bore me

Glad to see the love for this. Seems like it was often unfairly derided as a dip in quality. Poppycock. It's #24 on my all-time list. It would be higher, except there was a lot of competition from that era, like Television, Buzzcocks, Feelies, Gang of Four, Raincoats, P.i.L.

Wire On The Box: 1979 is available on Netflix!

rah!

Providing
Deciding

It was soon there

so fucking classic, this is the first post-punk album that blew my mind

It really redefined the meaning of vendetta for me.

It was soon there

― kornrulez6969, Thursday, January 26, 2012 3:43 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

so fucking classic, this is the first post-punk album that blew my mind

― ♈ᘮﬡᕮ-Ꭹᗩᖇᗪᔕ - ᗯ ᖺ ᗢ Ḱ ᓰ ᒪ ᒪ (diamonddave85), Thursday, January 26, 2012 4:08 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

69 + 85 = 154 Huh? HUH???!!

No, 154 was the number of gigs they had played at that point. Or so the legend says.

yeah that's what I heard as well

When I was in my late teens, I was encouraged to buy this album at a used record shop (ca. 1998, maybe). The shop owner (an old-school punk) said: we used to get high and listen to this album. Best sort-of-advice I ever received!

Classic! This may actually be my favourite Wire album.

http://cdn.discogs.com/0xvQfrhEUO_D8Y5tc2Z05DOYAg4=/fit-in/588x589/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(96)/discogs-images/R-6731843-1425502746-4364.jpeg.jpg

Looks like rockets shooting off and flags and stuff.
Idunno. Douknow? Always wondered.

/\ That was supposed to be "WTF is the art?"

"Chorus!"

i have always found this album mostly impenetrable, save "i should have known better", "the 15th", "a touching display", "map ref", and ESPECIALLY "40 versions". "40 Versions" is just unbelievably sick.

A Mutual Friend 4eva!!!

re the cover:
SPOILER!!!!

look away

it says WIRE in highly stylized typography
turn the album cover upside down
unmistakeable 'W' right?
the 'i' is easy to see too

squiggly/rippled line/strips represent 'r'
3 lines or strips are the 'e'

think the designer managed to get other references in there too, like pink flag...

so what does the back cover say?

Designed by Lewis and Gilbert I think? (not sure I buy your theory that it say 'Wire')

all part of the same picture if you have the LP

the W wraps around to the back so you may not see it if you're not looking at the LP cover

this album is perfect

correct!

what is your favourite song

https://i.ibb.co/MB2Vgf3/154.jpg

would wear wire

what is your favourite song

― imago, Monday, December 3, 2018 5:12 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

idk! at this point "a touching display" i think?

Don't tell Alfred.

hot take: goth prog is good

Damn, those sweaters are the ultimate post-punk Dad uniform.

I'm sure someone could do a Christmas version as well.

a touching display is a fine, fine choice, probably in my top three

still can't look beyond i should have known better for #1 tho. one of those openers that guarantees the album immortality no matter what the rest of it is like

obviously the rest of it is full of stuff like a mutual friend and on returning so it would be immortal even without ISHKB but still

"A Touching Display" was always my favourite too.

154: I should have POLLed better?

the two shortest songs are my favorites, but the whole thing is soooooo classic

i heard a long time ago that the first three wire album covers are meant to work together, in combination. i was absolutely certain of this, and even thought i saw an image that showed how it looked.

i'm doing it now and it doesn't look right at all? am i making all this up?

pink flag and chairs missing makes some sense, overlaid. but 154 throws everything off.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51v0KGMKu9L._SY355_.jpg

pink flag / chairs missing:

https://i.imgur.com/2idNn2d.jpg

pink flag / chairs missing / 154:

https://i.imgur.com/XdFC35p.jpg

ah, thanks J Sam. the On Returning comp is a remix of the covers. i must have seen it when i was younger and assumed it just a full overlay. how many weird lies have i told myself over the years, this could be a problem

154 throws everything off.

― Karl Malone, Monday, December 3, 2018 10:39 AM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there's no center, so otm

what is your favourite song

― imago, Monday, December 3, 2018 5:12 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

idk. at this point "a touching display" i think?

― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, December 3, 2018

Going to see these guys in March!

Toying with seeing them again. Current version of band were good live a few years back

they're not coming to SF this time :(

I listened to the entire album today and can't remember a single thing about it except one of them yelling OKLAHOMA really loud

They still play only new songs?
If so👎

I think I'd rather see them only play new songs. Not that I'm likely to go out of my way to see them.

I want to see them play material from Read & Burn 1-3 and Send

They mix it up live but tend to focus on the last few albums.

they're not coming to SF this time :(

Oh damnit, I was out of town last time they performed and it was at the closest venue to wear I live too.

Yeah, they've been reasonably normal about the old songs in recent years. You won't get dot dash, but.

opden gnash (imago) at 3:00 24 Jan 20

I want to see them play material from Read & Burn 1-3 and Send


saw em in that era and that's pretty much all they did!

it must have ruled!

Ha, tbh, I bought a ticket because they're basically playing next door but hadn't checked recent setlists. I just sort of assumed I'd get to see "Map Ref..."

I saw them on the tour for Change Becomes Us. Of course that album was largely reworked from Document and Eyewitness era. My notes say they did these:

Marooned
Drill
Doubles and Trebles (formerly “Ally in Exile”)
Adore Your Island
Re-Invent Your Second Wheel
Stealth of a Stork
B/W Silence
Magic Bullet
Love Bends (formerly “Keep Strumming Those Guitars”)
As We Go
Attractive Space
The Flying Dutchman
Blogging for Jesus
Map Ref.
Smash
Comet
Two People in a Room
Spent
Pink Flag

OK, looks like "Two People in a Room" is on recent setlists anyway.

makes sense, as it is...

ONE OF THE GREATEST SONGS OF ALL TIME

Yeah, they've been reasonably normal about the old songs in recent years. You won't get dot dash, but.

― Mark G, Friday, January 24, 2020 10:50 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

... But it seems you might get "Outdoor Miner"!!

Noted

Wire
Not About To Die
pinkflag
24 June 2022

http://images.roughtrade.com/product/images/files/000/237/028/hero/Screen_Shot_2022-02-18_at_1.39.28_PM.png?1645209764

Wire are pleased to announce the first ever official release of Not About To Dieout June 24th via pinkflag (pre-order). Along with the announcement they have shared track “Stepping Off Too Quick” and an accompanying video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4OKaijZUpA

The original Not About To Die was an illegal bootleg, released at some point in the early 80s by the dubiously named Amnesia Records. The album was made up of selections from demos recorded by the group for their second and third albums: Chairs Missing and 154. These demos had been recorded for EMI, with cassette copies circulated amongst record company employees. However, they were never intended for release.

A typically shoddy cash-in, the songs on Not About To Die were taken from a second or possibly third generation cassette, with the album housed in a grainy green and red photo-copied sleeve. Compared with the high standards of production and design Wire have always been known for, it was something of an insult to band and fans alike.

Now, in a classic act of Wire perversity, the group have decided to redress the balance and reclaim one of the shadier moments of its history, by giving Not About To Die its first official release. All the tracks have been properly remastered, with the relevant recording details in place. As for the sleeve artwork, whilst it strongly references the original, it is decidedly more artful in its execution.

Having received proper care and attention, Not About To Die emerges as a fascinating snapshot of Wire in transition. Herein are embryonic versions of classic songs such as "French Film (Blurred)," "Used To" and "Being Sucked In Again," that the group would develop considerably for their epochal 1978 album Chairs Missing. Later demos such as "Once Is Enough," "On Returning" and "Two People In A Room" would surface in radically altered form on 1979’s 154.

Some songs, such as ‘The Other Window," are virtually unrecognisable from their later iterations. But the biggest prizes here may well be the numerous tracks that were destined to be omitted from Wire's later studio albums... Highlights include "Motive," which, whilst obviously still in an embryonic state, has an undeniable power. Robert Grey’s drumming is crisp and minimal, and Graham Lewis’s bass runs are particularly ear-catching. Despite its distinctly un-Wire title, "Love Ain't Polite" is also something of a gem. Bruce Gilbert’s guitar is razor sharp and Colin Newman’s vocal is especially strong, with his delivery of the ‘bah-ba- bah-ba’s’ providing an irresistible energy and charm.

Meanwhile, the track which gives the album its title Not About To Die, officially known as “Stepping Off Too Quick” and shared online for the first time today, is alive with confident energy, and possesses what Newman half jokingly calls “The best intro to any song ever." The intro is so good in fact, that it takes up a third of the song’s entire time frame.

These properly mastered tracks have never been available on vinyl before, and they provide an opportunity to hear Wire at a point in their development when they were bursting with fresh ideas and a will to communicate them. This is post-punk at its very finest.

Aren't most of those tracks on "Behind the Curtain"?

Well yes, but why not just reissue Behind the Curtain, which was an EMI release even if it felt like a bootleg? Is the idea here to reissue the demos without the embarrassingly crude first third, like Mary is a Dyke and After Midnight?

Ah, "never before on vinyl"... got it.

According to Discogs:

Culture Vultures
French Film (Blurred)
Indirect Inquiries
Used To
Being Sucked In Again
I Should Have Known Better
The Other Window
On Returning

"...have never been officially released; the remaining tracks appear on the 1995 CD Behind The Curtain (Early Versions 1977 & 1978)."

Didn't all of these tracks come out with the 2018 3CD expanded editions?

Yes.

Anyway, my copy has just arrived, so..

A guy's gotta make a living. Colin Newman, that is.

the best fucking album ever made!!!!

yes. yes!!

I feel like all the criticisms of this album are like "oh it's so silly and OTT and comically doomy".

But that is what I love about it??

a touching display, you might conclude

You'd be very wrong if you did though.

My favorite album. (Thanks, Fischerspooner.)

Am I the only one who prefers Colin Newman's A - Z? I don't object to "silly and OTT and comically doomy" in general but the tracks led by Lewis and Gilbert just aren't as interesting melodically, harmonically, or vocally (though they are very interesting conceptually and lyrically).

(and texturally)

Ever tried "In Esse" ?

(Makes Metal Machine Music sound tuneful. I sort of like it, but)

I've heard all four Dome albums, and collectively they equal about one fine record plus a lot of mildly interesting experiments.