Sooo I’ve been on a huge Wire kick lately, and feel compelled to try and spread the fever. The focus of the post is an often neglected single from ‘78, right after Chairs Missing, right before 154. It’s been included as bonus tracks of the remastered Chairs Missing CD but who wants to bother with that? The A-Side is A Question of Degree; the song is absolutely frantic and as angular as a Geodesic Dome, but the vocals on top are crazy catchy, like some former Bubble Gum prince down on his luck and up on his pills. The B-Side is Former Airline, and the song is a total mess in the best of ways. The term “Art-Damaged” comes to mind. Way too many things goings on that don’t seem to fit, altogether pretty grating and ultimately awesome. A perfect of example of more experimental art and music colliding and actually working. Download
And since i’m feeling generous (i.e. stuck at work with no work to do) I found links to the first three, and the only necessary, Wire albums. If haven’t heard these, you really need to.
Pink Flag ( 1977 )
Chairs Missing ( 1978 )
154 ( 1978 )
And this video of them playing on TV in Germany. There is a whole dvd of this show that is totally worth tracking down on the Bay.
Tags: Bruce Gilbert, Buckminster Fuller, Colin Newman, Former Airline, Harvest, Heartbeat, outdoor miners, sharp things, the 15th, Tyrades, Wire
