POO: a song out of Wire's Pink flag+Chairs Missing+154

map ref or the 15th

great poll

i agree

so many contenders

first round

"Surgeon's Girl" – 1:17
"Pink Flag" – 3:47
"1 2 X U" – 1:55
"Practice Makes Perfect" (Bruce Gilbert, Colin Newman) – 4:11
"I Am the Fly" (Lewis, Newman) – 3:09
"I Feel Mysterious Today" (Lewis, Newman) – 1:57
"A Touching Display" (Lewis) – 6:55

The 15th vs. Outdoor Miner is TEARING ME APART

for me it comes down to:

three girl rhumba
lowdown
practive makes perfect
the 15th

PINK FLAG so hard forever, but i know some wire-lite song is gonna take it

and not that theres anything wrong with that (at least in this case imo)

yeah, i know, and they're really really good songs (talkin about mannequin, map ref, outdoor miner, and to a lesser degree, the 15th), but they like RUN AWAY with the credit for these three albums by having gauzy elements that remind ppl of how much they like shoegaze bands, and imo THAT IS NOT THE POINT of these albums.

This is really tough but I'm going for the beauty of the 15th

This would be hard even if you separated the three albums

Ex-Lion Tamer

tough, though!

it's not so easy to distinguish:

what is Reuters for example?

lite wire or hard-wire?!

xpost to 69

pink flag (the song) is a great punk song, but Wire are so much better at post punk songs.

between Mercy and The 15th for me

Went with Mercy

xp reuters isnt what im talking about.

i dont mind the punk/post-punk divide -- it's the fact that the PRETTY songs are the ones ppl all stan for, and i think wire is more about TAUTNESS, inna punk or post-punk idiom.

dont get me wrong, i like the pretty ones!!! i just think theyre more one-offs than ESSENCES

blessed state, people.

'a touching display' is totally unrepresentative of the rest, but it's great....

fair enough.

it seems The 15th might be the winner..

in terms of ~essential~ tracks, that would be 12xu vs practice makes perfect vs a mutual friend

map ref. no, ex lion tamer. no, outdoor miner. uhh... underdog vote for "used to"? CANNOT CHOOSE DON@T MAKE ME CHOOSE

just about 90% of these tracks are the best wire track ever for as long as you are listening to them, then the next one starts and is the best wire track ever.

(i like the pretty ones, as you see from my list, and am not even sure that wire is about "tautness" still by the point of 154, or maybe ever; i mean, individual songs on pink flag are very taut, but as a whole it's a sprawl, a mess of weird juxtapositions, and that is as awesome to me as any lean, mean art-punk concept embodied by its snappier individual tracks - which is not to say that those are not also awesome

maybe 2000s wire is "taut"; i don't like that stuff, really. having a bit of a dilemma abt whether to see them live soon when i don't like the past decade of their output which everyone else says is "really strong, man, y'know, considering", etc)

but they like RUN AWAY with the credit for these three albums by having gauzy elements that remind ppl of how much they like shoegaze bands, and imo THAT IS NOT THE POINT of these albums.

...the PRETTY songs are the ones ppl all stan for, and i think wire is more about TAUTNESS, inna punk or post-punk idiom.

...dont get me wrong, i like the pretty ones!!! i just think theyre more one-offs than ESSENCES

― 69, Friday, October 22, 2010

thing is, i'm not really into essences. mostly just songs. and i'd fallen in love with 154 years before anyone thought to gaze at shoes. despite its inconsistencies, i prefer it to pink flag and chairs missing, and that's mostly down to "two people in a room", "the 15th", "a mutual friend", "blessed state" and "map ref". hardly the quintessence of wire, but great fucking songs.

went with "blessed state"

map ref or the 15th

― i love you but i have chosen snarkness (Steve Shasta), Friday, October 22, 2010 1:38 PM

Blessed State! yes! i forgot how great this song is

maybe 2000s wire is "taut"; i don't like that stuff, really. having a bit of a dilemma abt whether to see them live soon when i don't like the past decade of their output which everyone else says is "really strong, man, y'know, considering", etc)

― what is he like? the guy's a juggalo, man (a passing spacecadet), Friday, 22 October 2010 23:29 (6 minutes ago)

'the art of stopping', '23 years too late'....some triffic stuff

Colin Newman was so good at creamy ballads.

I went with "Practice Makes Perfect," but I could have chosen any one of the first fifteen.

From "Mannequin," "Too Late," and "Map Reference"--a trio whose brilliance I'd put up against almost any three anybody else could counter with--I'd take "Mannequin."

The list tails off at the end ("Map Rep" excepted), but that's cuz most of 154 actively annoys me.

*Ref

lowdown vs. three girl rhumba vs. too late vs. mercy vs. start to move vs. 12xu vs. from the nursery vs. this could go on forever.

went with mercy though without really thinking. now i'm listening to too late though and regretting my decision. but i would feel the same listening to any song.

fuck 154 though, seriously.

an honorable mention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTGNnSgfp5Q

"fuck 154 though, seriously."

among other things, i like how this album sounds like Brian Eno

Eno sang as horribly as Graham Lewis.

Eno NEVER sang

I got these albums in sequence in fall '98 and spring '99, and was shocked by "The Other Window" and "I Should Have Known Better."

the 15th

Ex-Lion Tamer! Fragile! 12XU! Outdoor Miner! Map Ref. 41°N 93°W! Fuck you for this impossible poll!

Guarantee "Map Ref" takes this.

the first thought I got when I saw this poll was "Fragile" and I'm going to stick with that one just to preserve my sanity. Well, the more I look at the list, the less I'm convinced that's indeed a proper choice, gotta act quickly then

I voted "A Mutual Friend". Has always stuck with me. Though surely like everyone, could have gone with a million others. "Practice" in particular bumps up against it.

hope someone votes for "It's So Obvious", it would make me sad to see it settle at zero :(

among other things, i like how this album sounds like Brian Eno

not like any eno i've heard. it's too gothic! and lame.

Three Girl Rhumba. Seems way bigger than its running time. Oddly, Pink Flag is probably my least favorite of their big three.

*Favorite* Wire song is actually the Band of Susans cover of Ahead, but that's neither here nor there.

Thinking "Brazil" will take zed honors.

Oh that tribute record WHORE was just great, best of the species.

Felling the pain the pain the pain the pain the pain.

Sand In My Joints 4EVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn, really jealous of you early bird listeners!

I didn't know that, Doran - they seem to be widely revered in the US by music cognoscenti but they're still playing clubs of only around 500-600 (which they seem to sell out), though they were at much larger venues when they initially came back in 2000. The Fall play the same venues. Gang Of Four, as you point out, seems to have an even higher profile despite a lower volume of (and arguably quality) of output. We'll see, though, how they do touring "Content" - the initial tour after their reformation was at big clubs, not sure they'll do better than the places Wire's been playing.

maybe it's because Gang Og Fout are just better as a live band compared to The Fall and Wire?

Gang Of Four

It's been my experience that Wire are like The Beatles for rock geeks, but normal people have no idea who they are. Their biggest moment in the sun was probably REM covering Strange.

It's been my experience that Wire are like The Beatles for rock geeks, but normal people have no idea who they are. Their biggest moment in the sun was probably REM covering Strange.

― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 4 November 2010 23:35 (Yesterday) Bookmark

Selfishly pleased about this sort of thing. Imagine if something like 'Outdoor Miner' blew them right up (and it's suggested that it might've, reading about the "scandal" associated with it), would they be as adventurous later down the line?

what was the scandal?

http://www.stereosociety.com/outdoorminer.shtml

…The single ascended to #51 in the UK charts. So much for esoteric. The BBC unofficially gave the nod that if it went up the next week, they would run it on the big long-running show 'Top Of The Pops'. Since sales were improving steadily, I felt justified in planning my on-camera outfit.

At the time, the so-called 'chart shops', whose sales were monitored, saw a constant battle of wits between the chart measurers (at the time the British Market Research Bureau) whose credibility depended on finding an accurate reflection of all sales from a very small sample, and the record companies who wanted to enhance, or 'hype', the chart position to increase a single's visibility. It was a quite simple process: go into the chart-reporting store and buy six copies with a company credit card. Nothing suspicious here, mate. Have one for yourself...

Dodgy music biz practices came in waves in the UK, and this was crest time. Everybody was doing it, which was perfectly understandable with the sieve-like security of the BMRB. The only problem for us was that EMI was the one that got caught when standards had to be seen to be upheld. The single was deleted from the charts for that week, which meant that it would have a hard time meeting the BBC's rising-position criterion. Had that 'Top Of The Pops' appearance happened, the single would have almost certainly entered the Top 20 and launched a visible 'commercial' career for the group. EMI thought that was a real possibility, otherwise they wouldn't have put in the effort. Unfortunately, that was that, despite the record company's (rather unconvincing) denials. The exclusion made them instantly invisible.

amazing. did this ever happen again with any other bands i wonder?

One of the early Pink Floyd singles iirc

I find it really irritating that they don't really have the same rep as The Pop Group or Gang Of Four.

Is this true though? Obv. they are miles better than both those bands (who I like btw). And also one of the best live bands I've ever seen too. The fact that they keep going away and coming back doesn't help.

Zeno: I don't know if you've seen Gang Of Four in their latest funk metal-lite incarnation but there are most definitely not better than either The Fall or Wire live. They may have more proficient muso-types in their ranks but this doesn't, IMHO, make them a better band.

Wire are nearly always great live... The Fall... well, I guess you have to be a fan or you'd just find them awful but I'd say they've been pretty much brilliant live for years now bar once or twice that I've seen them, and I tend to watch them twice a year live.

and
ork-ney

I find it really irritating that they don't really have the same rep as The Pop Group or Gang Of Four.

I can't remember a time (in North America, anyway) when this was true. Maybe the Gang of Four very briefly, when their first album came out. The Pop Group were never anything here.

I think I got to the point where I don't need another Wire album, I guess.

― Mark G, Wednesday, November 3, 2010 10:18 AM (seven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

... And then they made "Change Becomes Us" and it was all good again!

x"Two People in a Room" (Colin Newman, B. C. Gilbert) – 2:09 0

oh man, this is just WRONG. UNACCEPTABLE. I should have voted for it, but I figured it would already be well represented because it's one of the greatest songs OF ALL TIME IN THE UNIVERSE. Seriously, play it at top volume and do a jumpkick, as high as you can. Amazing.

― Z S, Thursday, October 28, 2010 9:12 PM (seven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I can tell you that is Peter Prescott's favorite song, like, ever. He goes into a trance when he hears it.

― cee-oh-tee-tee

this is a neat little anecdote. at the time i didn't know who peter prescott was. now i do, for some reason, even though i haven't had a mission of burma-phase since then.

i still think it was robbed, btw. maybe not most accessible wire song, but it has a singular intensity

THE WINDOWS

A bit disappointed to learn that apparently the line isn't "our belief structure, the egg timer".

Is it too late to change my mind?

Not even a single vote for 'Reuters'?

Um, probably ending a song like that, not so much a good look these days.

As if it was OK then, but.

Does the song condone what it depicts? Because if it doesn't (and it doesn't), then I fail to see what the problem is, even 'these days'.

I don't think it condones it, no. The correspondent merely notes the chaos (gunfire, looting, burning, rape) around him.

From genius: The stretched-out words at the end also mimic distortion at the end of a tape. Not sure I've ever heard the end of a tape that way, but I see what they mean.

Tape running slower and slower then stopping I assume.

No, but it wouldn't make it anyone's favourite

Speak for yourself. I like its droniness and its sinister intensity.

Hokay

"A Touching Display" was robbed.

The book editions were fascinating in detailing who wrote which lyrics.

Unsurprisingly, Col wrote the punky things like "Mr Suit"

https://bid.omegaauctions.co.uk/auction/lot/lot-348---wire---original-pink-flag-promotional-calendar-poster/?lot=69558&so=1&st=&sto=0&au=185&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=0&pp=48&pn=2&g=1

You can use it again in 2033

A tune from the later era but I couldn't believe this when I saw it only recently. Baffling that this is not a better known clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkf84_tVdBc

80s Wire is underrated.

Not in 20 years!

D’you mean “not in the last 20 years” or “20 years from now they will not be underrated”?

Colin Newman solo albums are gravely underrated.

A-Z is essentially Wire, right?

I wouldn't go that far.

I guess only Robert from Wire is on it, but iirc it began as a Wire record, right?

I know I read something years ago calling A to Z the 4th Wire album, and there's obviously a musical through-line, but other than one lyric by Graham Lewis it's unlikely that all of those songs would have made it to their next record.
Newman's third album Not To features at least a couple of songs redone from the Wire live album Document and Eyewitness and other collaborations with his ex-bandmates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao4Tav1rJFM

date seems off considering when chairs missing was recorded

there's a demo version of Practice Makes Perfect from December 1977 on one of the deluxe reissues so it's possible

German single of Outdoor Miner promotes their TV appearance on Nov 3

They seem to be miming?

Yeah, a good half of band performances on Euro TV back then were mimed Don’t mind in this case since the Rockpalast video has a great live take of it.

November 3rd, 1978 according to one of the comments on Youtube.

... from which we can surmise that the person who posted the video is American and has taken the 3-11-78 date to mean 11th of March.

By the way, this was the b-side of "Outdoor Miner" so I'm wondering if they didn't play (mime) that immediately before this.

They seem to be miming?

The guitars aren't even plugged in. Although weirdly, someone went to the trouble of positioning a microphone over the drumkit.

always enjoyed henry rollins' cover of "ex lion tamer"