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For this #threetunetuesday, as inspired by @ablaze, I went back to the 1970's. No, not the Elton John or ELO 1970's. Not even Abba or late Macca. Nope...instead I went the way of the post-punk brilliance of the English band Wire.
How did I stumble upon this band? Well, that was a story in and of itself. Back in college, I used to clean rental cars for Avis-Rent-A-Car. It was a part time job, and typically meant cleaning up after some very slobbish people. Spent milk, dirty diapers, vomit, and even a dead deer in the trunk...I've seen it all. Still, sometimes I would find money, a pack of beer, or even MREs. Yet the best find was a cassette featuring Wire's Pink Flag and Chairs Missing.
After listening to it a few times, I fell in love with band. I did a bit more research on them at the public library (this, of course, was in the days before massive internet use), and discovered that their first three albums are considered for the most part masterpieces. I concurred.
With that said, I thought for today's #ttt I'd share three tracks, by Wire, from their first album. So, here we go...
Wire : Ex Lion Tamer
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The first one is very punkish. Yet it defines that Wire sound. Minimisticalist, artistic, lean, and sparse. Yet powerful. Wire was considered an art school group; whereas some bands at the time went full-on Ramones, Wire always had a unique complexity to their material. That's probably why groups like Blur were so heavy on Wire as an influence...
Wire : Fragile
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Another one that isn't quite punk; is more sparse and lean drums. The guitar jangles in the background and builds into the chorus. The chords on this one are always a favorite to listen to with earbuds.
Wire : Mannequin
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The last share is Mannequin. This one has a more poppy feel with a dash of the Kinks in the chorus. In this song you can hear all of those influences on Wire with this one...how this song wasn't a FM hit back in the day is beyond me. Oh wait...this album came out in November of 1977. A quick search of the Google machine yielded the fact that Debby Boone's You Light Up My Life was a number one hit all through that month.
My guess is that the world wasn't quite ready for Wire just yet. Maybe it still isn't it...
That's my share for this week. I hope it's something new for you. With some luck, these songs will be the gateway drug into the wonderful world of the music of Wire.
Minimisticalist - yep
artistic - yep
lean -yep
sparse - yep
Yet powerful - yep
Great share man, I have never heard of these legends of yesteryear, but they are very very good - quite surprising that they were not bigger