From: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org (idealcopy-digest) To: idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Subject: idealcopy-digest V1 #28 Reply-To: idealcopy@smoe.org Sender: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk idealcopy-digest Saturday, April 11 1998 Volume 01 : Number 028 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: A Greeting ["Alex Wise" ] Re: idealcopy-digest V1 #25 [Aaron Mandel ] Re: idealcopy-digest V1 #25 [Aaron Mandel ] A-Z [stevenl@comtrol.com (Steve Loubert)] A-Z title and cover art ["mark.short" ] FW: A Greeting [Chad Wilson ] Re: FW: A Greeting [rivethead & soup_99 ] who am I? [JudeHayden ] The First Letter + Musical Competency [] Re: FW: A Greeting [] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 23:18:42 +0100 From: "Alex Wise" Subject: Re: A Greeting > *who you are > *when/where did you discover Wire > *favorite album(s) > *least favorite(s) (just to get us all yelling at each other) I'm a 21 year old from Sydney,Australia and when I discovered Wire funnily enough traces back to my last year of primary school.I was listening to 2JJJ FM(when it was good)one night and I heard Ahead being played.I didn't get into it at first as my ears were still developing but somehow I could not get it out of my head.Not long afterwards I saw the 'Ahead' videoclip on The Noise which was a decent music TV program which sadly is no longer with us.The same show on the same night I saw videoclips from a couple of Wire solo videoclips,one being He Said and I forget the other.This was 1988.That same year I also heard some Wire songs from the late '70s period including 'I am the Fly' on the radio and also a couple from 'A Bell Is A Cup' being Silk Skin Paws and Boiling Boy.And this all led to the fascination and establishment of an alltime favourite band for me. I did not purchase LPs or CDs at the time until the following year when one of my first purchases was Wire's IBTABA.Prior to that I saw the 'Eardrum Buzz' videoclip and had dubbed my cousin's copy of 'The Ideal Copy' which he later sold to me.Everything I mentioned so far was an excellance and of course unforgettable.Christmas that year I also purchased A Bell Is A Cup.I actually lost track of Wire for a couple of years but they were to return into one's musical world never to be let astray again. In my years of punk enthusiasm of 1993-1994 I purchased the first 2 Wire LPs.Both have their moments of inspiration.Not long ago I purchased '154' along with many Wire comps.I don't really have a favourite Wire LP as they all have their own uniqueness but I could give 'A Bell Is A Cup' both highs and lows. The highlight cuts I considered were Boiling Boy,It's A Boy and Silk Skin Paws.I'd give Kidney Bingos highs and lows.In the lows I found it a bit miserable,'80sish and pop-stricken but in the right side its quite a gem.I did not like tracks like 'Follow The Locust' nor 'The Queen Of Ur...',way too wimpy for me.These two tracks and Colin Newman's overly soft and cute vocals on the LP kind of ruined my listening ears to the LP.I actually sold my copy a few years ago. But I could ignore the vocals and concentrate on the music so I intend to re-purchase 'Bell' as its good side makes it a very good album. Well I certainly play 154 and The Ideal Copy to death and IBTABA has a very high rating among me particularly with its versions of German Shepherds,Finest Drops and boy I thought the version of Over Theirs was truly an energetic, powerful piece. I have not yet heard 'The First Letter' nor 'Drill'.I have only heard 3 songs from the Manscape sessions being the last 3 on the Coatings comp.Two of them I liked alright but would not class Wire's best but Gravity Worship I would definately place in my faves catergory.Maybe not the ultimate Wire sound but was truly Wire in terms of soundbreaking barriers.A real masterpiece. My favourite Wire tracks would be the easiest for me to list being Madman's Honey,Gravity Worship, German Shepherds,Boiling Boy,Advantage in Height,12XU,Being Sucked In Again,Over Theirs(IBTABA version),The 15th,The Other Window,A Mutual Friend,40 Versions,Too Late,Blessed State,etc. In terms of solo work I particularly love the Lewis/Gilbert projects.I have copies of Dome CDs1to4 and Bruce Gilbert's 'This Way To The Shivering Man' and they are all gem masterpieces. I have been warned off Colin Newman solo material particularly from a huge Wire/Lewis+Gilbert fan although I would like to check out A-Z particularly as Mike Thorne guests and produces the LP.In Red-Eye Records I had a listen to Bastard and among the technopop numbers there were some songs that weren't too bad.I have ordered AC Marias'One Of Our Girls Has Gone Missing' and the Wire biography 'Everyone Loves A History'.I would love to get hold of more Lewis/Gilbert material including the WMO stuff that's bound to disappear(if I have the right amount of money quick enough),the full length LPs of''This Way' and 'The Shivering Man' and eventually check out more He Said,Halo,and more Gilbert material. I have my own musical outfit under the guise of The Valley Of Death utilizing samples and treatments creating dark eerie soundscapes and noise.The Lewis/Gilbert and Wire influence is there along with debts to Severed Heads,Big Black,Killing Joke and many others. Other favourite acts alongside Wire include SPK,Pil,Joy Division,Gang Of Four,Chrome,lots of post-punk, lots of Industrial era acts such as TG,lots of new music on various labels such as Chain Reaction,Relapse,Cold Meat Industry,etc.Speaking of Big Black has anyone seen the Pigpile video.As BB covered Heartbeat they do a special live version with Lewis and Gilbert guesting!At the same time as being one of the video's highlights it also saw a unique and very rare collaboration in Lewis/gilbert and Big Black histories alike.A real powerful and energetic cross-over performance I think its a pity we will hear no more from one collaboration but we shall see others to come. And Wire shall not depart our spirits ever. - -Alex ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 11:03:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: idealcopy-digest V1 #25 On Thu, 9 Apr 1998, Andrew N Westmeyer wrote: > (1) The Late Show version is in a class of its own. (2) "The > Drill" CD came from improvisation which led the song into a sufficiently > new area to make a track out of it. which is the Late Show version? i like some of the tracks on The Drill, particularly "In Every City?". but that disc sounds, to me, like several fleshed-out songs (which might have been written or inspired by improvisation; i couldn't guess) and a few recitations of the same old song stretched out to absurd lengths. to the fellow that was scared off of newman's solo albums, at least try A-Z and possibly Not To. the lack of graham's voice is painful, but they're good on their own merits. a ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 13:40:25 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: idealcopy-digest V1 #25 Excerpts from mail: 10-Apr-98 Re: idealcopy-digest V1 #25 by Aaron: > > (1) The Late Show version is in a class of its own. > > which is the Late Show version? Wire performed on the Late Show in 1987. It's on one of the bootlegs. The recording quality isn't great, but the performance is fantastic. Colin is using a delay pedal with the vocals, and the delay is not timed to the tempo, so there is a very disorienting quality to it. Fantastic! I should point out that this is *not* David Letterman's "Late Show". The host is a woman and I don't recognize her voice, so I'm not sure who it is. The answer is probably in Eden's book somewhere! (A)ndrew Westmeyer qwerty@cmu.edu www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~qwerty "What a blessing that so much of humanity is able to be alive at the same time as myself." -Cecil Adams ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 13:49:14 -0500 From: stevenl@comtrol.com (Steve Loubert) Subject: A-Z Aaron wrote: >to the fellow that was scared off of newman's solo albums, at least try >A-Z and possibly Not To. the lack of graham's voice is painful, but >they're good on their own merits. I gotta agree here. To my ears, A-Z is the solo album that sounds the most like Wire ca. 1979. Steve ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 00:19:00 +0100 From: "mark.short" Subject: A-Z title and cover art A brief note to elucidate the ttle and cover art of Colin Newman's "A-Z". In the UK there is a series of street maps called "A-Z" (the streets are indexed alphabetically, would you believe). The six images on the front cover of "A-Z" are based upon these street plans. The bottom right-hand image is based on a street plan of Tottenham, a district in north London. (I used to live there.) Having read Kevin Eden's book, I have a picture of Wire comprising a "pop" camp (CN) and a "noise" camp (BG,GL). So why is it that the perfect pop moments, eg Blessed State, Kidney Bingos, Eardrum Buzz, are Wire material, rather than on Newman's solo output? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 18:14:12 -0700 From: Chad Wilson Subject: FW: A Greeting Hello! I am new to the list so I thought I would chime in with a greeting! > *who you are [Chad Wilson] Yep that's me! I'm a 26 year old NT admin for a Medical Insurance company in Napa Ca. > *when/where did you discover Wire [Chad Wilson] 1986 When I friend let me borrow "Ideal Copy". I was lucky enough to discover them live at the Fillmore June 16, 1988! Drill live was the coolest live song ever performed, HOWEVER all of the versions on CD (the Exploded Views version is spliced in the middle!) don't do too much for me... Hmm... > *favorite album(s) [Chad Wilson] Tough, Tough question... On one hand it would be "A Bell is a Cup Until it is Struck". It is minimalist expression at its finest! No amount of guitar wanking or angst ridden screaming can match the pure power of, as what another list member described perfectly as "3d aural space" (Or words to that affect! :) > *least favorite(s) (just to get us all yelling at each other) [Chad Wilson] Well... ok.. I will go here but I feel bad! I really dislike All stuff by ANY of the wire members post 1992... "Bastard" left me feeling especially ripped off... I think anyone can loop sequences on a keyboard, and it is a shame that Colin refuses to be a "Rock Star"... I don't think anyone wants Colin to be a Rock Star. but I sure miss hearing his voice on new material! I think the "Key Items" for any Wire and members fan are the following! Commercial Suicide - CN Singing Fish/Not To (And if you are lucky like me CN1) - CN Hail - He Said A-Z - CN ANY Album or CD by "Wire" the wir CD is not necessary (but OK) Thanks! Chad ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 19:23:25 -0700 From: rivethead & soup_99 Subject: Re: FW: A Greeting Chad Wilson wrote: > "Bastard" > left me feeling > especially ripped off... I think anyone can loop sequences on a keyboard, > and it is a shame that Colin refuses to be a "Rock Star"... I don't think > anyone wants Colin to be a Rock Star. but I sure miss hearing his voice on > new material! > I think ripped off is rather harsh. I find the compositions on Bastard very enjoyable, but I most definately miss Colin's singing. I heard a rumor that Colin did have vocals for most of the tracks on Bastard but deleted them in the end. Anyone know if this is true? - -introduction- Tom aka soup_99 I first heard Wire playing at my local indie store when Pink Flag first reached these shores (San Francisco) and have been a fan ever since. hmm...guess that makes me old! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 22:40:25 EDT From: JudeHayden Subject: who am I? Hi all- just following up belatedly on the self-introductions... my name's Jude, and a friend turned me onto the Ideal Copy in high school (circa '87-88), and I was hooked. My first ever CD purchase was "A Bell is a Cup" for the ridiculous sum of $16.98 at the fortunately now-defunct Record Bar. Then I jumped backwards by convincing my high school girlfriend that I really needed both the import CD of Pink Flag and the import vinyl of Chairs Missing for my 18th birthday. (I still can't believe she bought them both. Thank you Diana, wherever you are!) Being a lover of all thing quirk-pop, I tend to favor the pre-Wir group stuff, Colin's solo work (when's that Pop Vox coming out???), and He Said's Take Care. (Like another list member, I found "Hail!" on CD for 99 cents in a Best Buy clearance bin a few months back. I'm still in shock). >>What Wire or Wire-related item are you searching for...? I'd love to get a hold of the CN1 CD. The high school friend I mentioned earlier had the import version that came with "P.E.T.S.F./Not To", but he sold it without consulting me first, the bastard. At least I still have the crappy dub I made of it, somewhere. That's it for now! Jude ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Apr 98 23:13:52 -0400 From: Subject: The First Letter + Musical Competency Hello All, Has anyone else here noticed that in the last 2 minutes or so of "The First Letter" on the Vien E.P. you can hear Brian Eno's "Fractal Zoom" off of his Nerve Net album? That was one of those situations where I recognized it instantly, but it took a few minutes to decipher its origin. I'm not sure exactly why it was used (aside from the fact that Wire were Eno fans and Eno played keyboards on Hail). Oh well. DISCLAIMER: the following is in no way, shape, or form an attack upon anyone; merely my humble and wordy opinion. Please do not take offense as I hate conflicts. Thanks in advance. One more thing..I've noticed a couple postings recently where people have made statements to the effect of "anyone could do (X song) off of (X album)" Technically, anyone with a guitar and a few chords could perform all of Wire's albums, but Wire beat all of us to it. Music isn't always based on the complexity of the pieces or the particular sounds used, but rather how those sounds are organized. Give two people the same equipment and guidelines to compose a piece of music, and you'll get two drastically different works. For me, one of the appealing aspects of Wire is their simplicity and minimalist approach to music and the idea that I could "perform" said music, but not duplicate it to the letter. All of Wire's solo efforts rely on manipulation of sound and rhythm, processes that anyone could experiment with. It just so happens that some people make better noise than others :) And as far as the more "electronic" works of Colin and Graham go; if anyone has had experience programming and sequencing, they'll know that there's more to it than just looping keyboard phrases. They can't be expected to repeat their finest moments for the sake of the audience, but rather move ever-forwards (even if some of the older stuff is more enjoyable!) OK, that's my two cents (for now)..thanks for listening. Cheers! Eric auteur@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Apr 98 23:22:55 -0400 From: Subject: Re: FW: A Greeting > I heard a >rumor that Colin did have vocals for most of the tracks on Bastard but >deleted them in the end. Anyone know if this is true? I've read this in several interviews. It's also in his Bastard press release: "Vocal music can't help but be defined by the voice. People who haven't heard what I've been involved with in the last 10 years may assume that my album will be a bit like Wire without the other blokes. It isn't." Eric auteur@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ End of idealcopy-digest V1 #28 ******************************