New Wire album details!

[polmico]

It looks like they've pulled a Fly from Here!

"After a year's hectic touring in 2011, 2012 was a quiet one for Wire. The group played only a handful of festivals, including Wire's debut in Russia, at Moscow's Avant Festival, in April. This November saw Wire in Japan for three shows, including a happy return to Club Unit in Tokyo, where they performed in 2011. Wire's last performance of 2012 was at ATP's Shellac-curated "Nightmare Before Christmas" Festival, on ATP's return to a refurbished Camber Sands. Warm clothes proved to be essential!


Change Becomes Us (pf20)



We can now reveal part of the reason for the low number of performances in 2012 was to facilitate the recording of the next Wire album, "Change Becomes Us", now being readied for release on March 25, 2013. "Change Becomes Us" began as an exploration of unrecorded material originally written in 1979–80. Some of this material had only ever existed as quickly prepared sketches for one-off performance; however, subjected to the rigour of a Wire working process of both touring and studio, it evolved organically into what we think is a fascinating hybrid. Liberated from its historic roots, it simply took off! "Really fresh!" is the common quote of the few who've heard it!




The initial recording sessions were held at Rockfield studios, near Monmouth, Wales, during a very damp week in April. Rockfield, famous for being the first residential studio in the UK, has also been the location of the making of many legendary rock albums. Paul Morley recently visited Rockfield for his documentary Radio 4 series on recording studios, "Making Tracks". It was our intention to bring as much of the dynamic energy of the 2011 touring group to the recording and Rockfield is ideally set up to capture both power and nuance in recording. Wire have never recorded quite like this! This album is also the first time where Matthew Simms, previously Wire's touring guitarist, has been an integral part of the Wire recording process. Over the year, the 13 tracks which make up the Welsh Wire recordings have been refined and focussed at swim~ studio to arrive at the finished album: "Change Becomes Us& quot;.

Here's the tracklisting


01 Doubles & Trebles
02 Keep Exhaling
03 Adore Your Island
04 Re-invent Your Second Wheel
05 Stealth Of A Stork
06 B/W Silence
07 Time Lock Fog
08 Magic Bullet
09 Eels Sang
10 Love Bends
11 As We Go
12 & Much Besides
13 Attractive Space

UK Release date is 25th March 2013"

[bRETT]

Nice! It sounds like they're moving away from the more-or-less pop direction of the last two albums (which I liked, but they cant do that forever).

[strawberrybrick]

A new Wire album is always a special event! (this was also posted in OT forum)

[Scrotum Scissor]

It looks like they've pulled a Fly from Here!

And no doubt we'll see endless discussions about this release as well in here. Or maybe not.

But thx for the info nonetheless.

[polmico]

And no doubt we'll see endless discussions about this release as well in here. Or maybe not.

I may like Wire more than Yes, and you may like Wire more than Yes, but it'd be silly to think that on Prog Ears any more than a few think like we.

But thx for the info nonetheless.

No problem. This news made me go back and look at some of their more recent efforts. Send is much better than I had previously thought, and the live album from last year (or the year before?) is quite good too.

[polmico]

New Wire album track! Happy Thursday, prog earers.

http://thequietus.com/articles/11145...oubles-trebles

[philsunset]

Excellent news!

[karel hupjé]

I may like Wire more than Yes, and you may like Wire more than Yes, but it'd be silly to think that on Prog Ears any more than a few think like we.

I'm with you. Wire is far more interesting than Yes or Genesis. But I think progressiveears is not the right place for Wire lovers.

[strawberrybrick]

Check out 2010's Red Barked Tree - one of their finest. Expect US tour later in the year.

BTW, this was posted elsewhere, but seems to have been missed:

Desmond Simmons, the first musical collaborator of Wire's Colin Newman, passed away this week. In addition to his work with Colin, Desmond had a musical career since that time, though it flew under the radar. Obituary to follow...

On a personal note, I had the pleasure of reissuing his "Alone On Penguin Island" album on CD.

[polmico]

But I think progressiveears is not the right place for Wire lovers.

There are a few like strawberrybrick; he knows more about the band than anyone on this site. I figure there'd be a few more fans if they checked them out. Wire is a great band that defies and progresses genre at the same time.

[polmico]

Check out 2010's Red Barked Tree - one of their finest. Expect US tour later in the year.

I'd love to see Wire live, but I got a feeling they're coming nowhere near the Lowcountry. RBT is great, but I prefer the live versions of the songs worked up on The Black Session just a touch more.

Desmond Simmons, the first musical collaborator of Wire's Colin Newman, passed away this week. In addition to his work with Colin, Desmond had a musical career since that time, though it flew under the radar. Obituary to follow...

On a personal note, I had the pleasure of reissuing his "Alone On Penguin Island" album on CD.

I'll have to check out the Simmons album. Never heard of him before.

[Sunlight Caller]

I love Wire too and have since Pink Flag. Red Barked Tree is still in heavy rotation for me. I never knew there was a live release that followed this, so thanks for the heads up. I'll be waiting for 25th March with anticipation.

In spite of my PE name, I agree that they can be more interesting than Yes these days.

[FrippWire]

Wire = autobuy. They put the "Wire" in FrippWire.

[Chuck AzEee!]

Wire is as great to my ears as any of the popular Prog bands. Always great news to hear that this great group still has going strong.

[strawberrybrick]

I was fortunate enough to hear Pink Flag early on - record store was playing a promo in the shop (which I still own). It blew me away, absolutely love at first listen. It was so succinct, raw, the essence rock-n-roll. From there to Chairs Missing and then 154, sonically it's as progressive as progressive gets. Wire wasn't about musicianship or composition, nor was it about image or posturing like most of the "punk" at that time. And I'll admit that it was only later that I got the whole "art" concept of Wire. But everything in their orbit - Dome, P'o, Desmond Simmons, Colin Newman, Cupol, etc; some of it was instant, some of it was purely befuddling, but it was all fresh to my ears.

Simply put, Wire really got me thinking outside the box that was the 70s.

This same idea is being discussed on the Talk Talk thread. The late 70s, that "new wave" of music coming out of Britain (and elsewhere) was so fresh and exciting. It really gave you something you just weren't going to get from a Yes or Genesis or ELP album at that time! It opened my ears and gave my musical journey a whole new itinerary to travel down.

[Chuck AzEee!]

Indeed Charles, I'm not accusing this forum of being closed minded of the sort as we all have our individual tastes, but bands like Wire for example to me at least represented what was fresh about the music scene during the late 70's early 80'd. I was way too young when this band came along the scene, but the musical press spent so much time building up the image of bands like the Sex Pistols and ignoring the truly talented bands like Wire.

[Chuck AzEee!]

Now posting from a larger media (iPad) I want to elaborate on why I posted. Not to take away from the brilliance of Wire and stealing their thunder, but although Wire is often lumped in with The Sex Pistols and The Clash, artistically speaking the band had more in common with Joy Division, Magazine and their quirky American counterparts Talking Heads Devo and Pere Ubu to name a few. Like the bands mentioned, their music wasnt about virtuosity, it was substance over style more like a true art-rock band, sounding more progressive than the progressive rock bands of that era.

Pink Flag, Chair Missing and 154 often get the deserved praise, but this band never released a bad album. True some might be more pop than other later in to their career, but nether less still outstanding to listen to.

Charles

[Lino]

But I think progressiveears is not the right place for Wire lovers.

ya think??? Can't wait for the new disc...and if it's true they are crossing to tour the USA...count me!!... in assuming they come somewhere close enough. Here`s hoping!!

[Lino]

Red Barked Tree is still in heavy rotation for me.

A GREAT album!!

[N_Singh]

their music wasnt about virtuosity, it was substance over style more like a true art-rock band, sounding more progressive than the progressive rock bands of that era.


Charles

Personally, I hate virtuosity for the sake of virtuosity. My teacher once exclaimed to his star pupil, "only amateurs flaunt their technique.

But I'm querying to you what constitutes *substance* at the other end of the musical spectrum, the one that is diametrically opposed to and repulsed by virtuosity. I listened to the Soundcloud song "Doubles and Trebles" three times, to check this band out. The whole thing is predicated on a very basic and monotonous riff of a couple of chords that are allowed to ring out, that is only augmented somewhat by a counter riff at about the 3:00 mark. The melody offers no strange twists and turns and is rather perfunctory, and mechanically on-the-beat, completely without syncopation. The singer seems to possess an interesting, off-kilter, robotically stylized voice.

I am not familiar with their work. Is this song typical of their sound? This sound, to me, is basically traceable back to 1960s American *garage rock*. Not saying if this is bad or good thing, it just is. But, apart from good and bad, where exactly is the innovation? The accompaniment to this song sounds like a demo that couldn't have taken more then a few minutes to think through.

[strawberrybrick]

Either you get it or you don't, perfectly okay if you don't. A lot of what's been said by others in this thread about PE not being the place for Wire is probably exemplified by "not getting Wire".

Listen to their three initial albums: Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154.

Pink Flag is pure rock-n-roll. Distilled, minimalized, stripped down, whatever, but it's not "garage"; their innovation is in the "raw" essence of what a rock song is. Chairs Missing took as psychedelic turn (think Piper At The Gates), while 154 was pure art - the album that "Bowie wanted to make with Eno" or so the story goes. Throughout, there's a progression, guided by Mike Thorne, that again, either you get or you maybe you don't. As albums, they are pure art though...

[N_Singh]

Either you get it or you don't, perfectly okay if you don't. A lot of what's been said by others in this thread about PE not being the place for Wire is probably exemplified by "not getting Wire".

Listen to their three initial albums: Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154.

Pink Flag is pure rock-n-roll. Distilled, minimalized, stripped down, whatever, but it's not "garage"; their innovation is in the "raw" essence of what a rock song is. Chairs Missing took as psychedelic turn (think Piper At The Gates), while 154 was pure art - the album that "Bowie wanted to make with Eno" or so the story goes. Throughout, there's a progression, guided by Mike Thorne, that again, either you get or you maybe you don't. As albums, they are pure art though...

i have not heard those albums. I'll check them out on the big,bad, awful Spotify tonight when I get home. I was just commenting on the Soundcloud link that was posted. In my view, pure rock and roll, i.e., "Distilled, minimalized, stripped down" is essentially "garage". "Louie, Louie" et al. You seem have characterized them as something way beyond "pure rock and roll". More 1967-1968ish.

I am a big fan of Eno/Fripp era Bowie (and practically no other era of Bowie except 1977-1980), and to make that claim ("the album that "Bowie wanted to make with Eno" ) is very high praise, indeed. So, I'll probably check that out first.

[N_Singh]

OK, I decided to listen to 154 on Spotify during my lunch, when no one else was in. I gotta say, ti sounds nothing like the song in Soundcloud. I rather enjoyed it.

#1--I Should Have Known Better--very Joy Division-like.
#12--Indirect Inquiries--I am not a fan of Peter Gabriel 3 at all, I find it very over rated. But, this song reminds me of anticipating that album, but in a much more musical way.
#8--A Mutual Friend--kind of Syd Barrett-ish, late 60s psych-vibe.


My absolute favorite song on the album is #6: A Touching Display.
Also really liked #10 (Once is Enough) and #13 (40 versions).

Thanks for the heads up. Still not a fan of the tune on Sound cloud. But I see what you mean by *art punk*. etc.

[ItalProgRules]

154 is brilliant. Not an easy listen though, I have to be in the right mood. Pretty harrowing stuff.

I also heartily recommend the mid-80s comeback album THE IDEAL COPY. The CD is just stuffed with excellent bonus material, including the entire SNAKEDRILL ep.

[strawberrybrick]

Map Ref from 154 is classic, as is 2 People in a Room - but really it's an amazing _album_ to listen to all the way through!