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Review: |
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It doesn’t matter whether a band has been going
for 27 weeks or 27 years as long as they can come up with the
goods. On the evidence of Send, a 40-minute shot
of pulsating, uncompromising indie sound, there’s no doubt that
Wire can.
In the Art of Stopping, no doubt making a reference
to the band’s stop-start existence, kicks things off with hypnotic
drum rhythms and a grinding guitar loop. While Colin Newman’s
vocals are clear, there is a sign of things to come with occasional
dashes of distortion to spice things up as he croons "Trust
me, believe me" with a hint of a John Lydon sneer. With a final
"It’s all in the Art of Stopping", it’s straight into the next
track, Mr Marx’s Table, the opening chords giving a nod
to glories past. The breakneck pace is similar to the opening
track, but in this Newman almost serenades the listener over
the scratchy guitars. The doomy menace of Graham Lewis’s bass
first makes its presence really felt in Being Watched,
alongside a spiky guitar riff which drops in and out of proceedings,
as the lyrics make a seeming reference to voyeurism.
Comet is another highlight. Robert Gray’s drums drives
things along as apparently unstoppable as the object of the
song title. A guitar break is dropped into the resulting maelstrom
and everyone’s happy. The main guitar theme on The Agfers
of Kodack again hints at earlier sounds, but this time there
are several subtle asides -- a lovely wah-wah sound creeps in
now and again -- while the insistent drum beat is less dominating.
Graham Lewis’s distorted vocals help create the feeling of insecurity
while the line, "Fresh from the front: our favourite reporter",
will remind fans of the phrase "our own correspondent", which
opens Wire's first album.
Nice Streets Above features as low a bass as I’ve ever
heard -- if you’ve got a sub-woofer the neighbours are going
to start worrying about their foundations. The distortion of
the vocals has been turned up so high here that in many places
they start to become part of the sound curtain, with few words
being audible at all. The only answer is to keep turning that
volume dial up... Surely everyone on your street needs to hear
the sawing guitar and echoing electronics with which the track
builds to a climax?
In Spent, the vocals come across as those of a man railing
against everything that’s wrong in the world. The drums bounce
along slightly less maniacally, but the guitar and electronics
add little to what’s been heard so far and the bass is rather
smothered. Back to form on Read and Burn, this time the
bass is used to keep things together while the guitars and electronics
combine to create a disturbing atmosphere as well as a wall
of sound. This reaches its most intriguing point just before
the two-minute mark, and is wrapped up after reverting to the
earlier rhythms. I’d be just a little happier if Read and
Burn had been allocated the 4 minutes 43 seconds which Spent
can’t really sustain. No matter.
You Can’t Leave Now is a classic. Newman sings over
the astonishing bass and brittle guitar textures which are like
nothing I’ve heard before. It’s that synchronicity of bass,
almost single-note drum beat, guitars and gawd-know what else
which will keep you returning. Half Eaten pounds along
in glorious style and is my favourite track. The steely guitars
chime in until the lyric "The temperature’s rising, it isn’t
surprising" emphasizes the sense of careening headlong to disaster
in a warning of global warming without preaching. There aren’t
many tracks by anyone I could hit the repeat button on all day,
but this is one.
A return to sanity is threatened during the opening minutes
of 99.9 as the waves of sound gradually build up. What
a way to go out: throbbing bass, insistent drumming and Newman
screaming like a man possessed. There’s a brief respite, but
the closing minutes of this song leave you in no doubt that
these guys mean business.
Of course, chances are that if you have an ear for indie guitar-driven
noise, you will know of Wire and the fact that many of these
tracks have already surfaced on the first two Read and
Burn EPs, reviewed earlier on this site by PostLibyan.
Due to a state of disorganization and a debt-clearance programme,
these are missing from my collection. This, however, is probably
a bonus for EvilSponge visitors new to Wire as I’ve come to
this CD as it’s meant to be heard -- as an album in its own
right. I glanced at PostLibyan’s comments a couple of weeks
ago but have steadfastly kept clear since then. My strategy
with almost all CDs is to spin them the first few times with
very little reference to the track titles, so I don’t think
his remarks have had much bearing on my views.
At the time of writing Wire were offering a bonus CD, live
at the Metro, Chicago, September 14, 2002, with copies of Send
ordered direct from PostEverything.com
as a form of compensation (because some tracks have appeared
before). This must make Send one of the bargains
of 2003/04 and further reinforces the seven sponge rating. Wire
may go on to surpass Send, but it will remain
essential listening. |
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