Track Listing
1. Reuters
2. Field Day For The Sundays
3. Three Girl Rhumba
4. Ex Lion Tamer
5. Lowdown
6. Start To Move
7. Brazil
8. It's So Obvious
9. Surgeon's Girl
10. Pink Flag
11. Commercial
12. Straight Line
13. 106 Beats That
14. Mr Suit
15. Strange
16. Fragile
17. Mannequin
18. Different To Me
19. Champs
20. Feeling Called Love
21. 12XU
Review
This is possibly one of the most interesting punk albums to ever cross this list. Wire are what you might call art-school Punks, the song construction is more interesting, the lyrics are smarter and the concept is better than most other punk bands. And it just sounds so modern.
There are 21 tracks here for what is an half an hour album, some of the songs don't even go over 30 seconds, but none of them really feel unfinished. They are just perfect snippets of punk. Even with all their arty sensibility they never compromise on rage or noise, this is probably then noisiest album on the list until now, the title track is a good example of this.
The variety in the tracks here is as impressive as anything else. There is plenty to like, dislike or feel cold about, there is just so much here in such a short space, but all songs feel startlingly modern, and that might be why Wire are given a lot more credit today than when they came out. They are a well of influence that has been well used by some great bands. Listen to this.
We are going through a great, great patch right now.
Track Highlights
1. Strange
2. Three Girl Rhumba
3. 12XU
4. Lowdown
Final Grade
9/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
The album's wide-ranging influence is exemplified in the number of bands that have covered songs from it. R.E.M.'s version of "Strange" from its 1987 release, "Document," might be the most well-known. Other notable tracks include Minor Threat's blistering version of "12XU" found on the 1982 Dischord compilation "Flex Your Head," and fIREHOSE's version of "Mannequin," which appeared on its "Live Totem Pole" EP in 1992. Elastica also used a riff similar to that of "Three Girl Rhumba" for their song "Connection." The New Bomb Turks covered "Mr. Suit" on their 1993 album Destroy Oh Boy! and noticeably slowed it down.
Mike Watt and The Missingmen cover Three Girl Rhumba and Ex-Lion Tamer:
4 comments:
if you can tell me anything about Mike Watt and the Missingmen without google/wiki-ing it i will be mightily impressed :o)
wow Adam you are even more than a snob than I am...
Mike Watt was from fIREHOSE and is the new bassist for The Stooges... that's about all I know.
there's a fox that lives near me!
Fucking hell man! Shoot it and make a stole!
Fox steaks tomorrow?
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