For posterity, the Wire live on Suzanne Somers show, 1987.
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― Mackro Mackro, Wednesday, 17 September 2008 05:02 (fifteen years ago) link
Hmm, let me try:
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 17 September 2008 05:09 (fifteen years ago) link
"hitting the top of the music charts" LOL
― Bimble, Wednesday, 17 September 2008 20:01 (fifteen years ago) link
Wow -- great version! I used to think Graham Lewis was hawt; then the mullet happened.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 17 September 2008 21:29 (fifteen years ago) link
It's something.
And yeah, the thing about the clip aside from obvious context/interview roffles is how spectacularly good it all sounds -- I've read a couple of comments on a similar clip elsewhere from people saying it was seeing this on the original broadcast that was something of a life-changer, at least in terms of 'you mean there's other kinds of music out there?'
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 17 September 2008 21:37 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm not sure how Wire could have bettered that performance.
I've read a couple of comments on a similar clip elsewhere from people saying it was seeing this on the original broadcast that was something of a life-changer, at least in terms of 'you mean there's other kinds of music out there?'
This happened in late '88 when I saw Robert Palmer on Arsenio Hall's show, and after he played the Heavy Nova tubthumpers he busts out with "Looking For Clues."
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 17 September 2008 21:46 (fifteen years ago) link
re-playing "the drill" for the first time in abt 20 years and loving it tbh -- reminds me more of early depeche mode than i expected
― mark s, Saturday, 13 August 2016 16:10 (seven years ago) link
I remember.. I remember ...
― Mark G, Sunday, 14 August 2016 08:56 (seven years ago) link
schnake
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 14 August 2016 11:43 (seven years ago) link
"Manscape" has grown on me over the years. Some duff bits but some really strong tracks like "Torch It".
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 14 August 2016 13:57 (seven years ago) link
I finally picked up a copy of "A Bell is a Cup" a month or so back but I feel like I've known it my whole life. It's... the ideal copy, er, original of a huge swath of my listening.
― geoffreyess, Sunday, 14 August 2016 18:24 (seven years ago) link
Kidney Bingos should have been a hit.
― kornrulez6969, Sunday, 14 August 2016 23:19 (seven years ago) link
^this
― Wavy Gravy Planet Waves (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 15 August 2016 01:20 (seven years ago) link
"Eardrum Buzz" nearly was.
― Mark G, Monday, 15 August 2016 09:52 (seven years ago) link
Just been listening to IBTABA (which remains a beautiful wintery sort of album, a live album with all the "live recording" touchstones remixed out of it, leaving beautiful ghostly crowd noises in a weird studio emptiness) and decided to give "(A Chicago) Drill - Live" from The Drill a spin... it made me so happy, you can tell how much fun they are having playing this bizarre track they've done endless variations of.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 11 March 2019 16:37 (five years ago) link
I don't think Colin Newman was having much fun with it. "One of Bruce's" he dismissed it as.
― The Vangelis of Dating (Tom D.), Monday, 11 March 2019 17:00 (five years ago) link
"The Drill" is relatively unessential but still a fun listen. They sure bent, twisted and otherwise mangled the song into lots of different sounds!
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 11 March 2019 17:16 (five years ago) link
I don't buy it, they sound exuberant on that live recording, even Colin
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 11 March 2019 17:38 (five years ago) link
If he didn't think of it, he doesn't like it, seems to be the, er, drill.
― The Vangelis of Dating (Tom D.), Monday, 11 March 2019 17:47 (five years ago) link
DRILL DRILL DRILL
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 11 March 2019 18:19 (five years ago) link
I was referring to "The Drill" remix album. The original song is an all-time monster.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 11 March 2019 18:34 (five years ago) link
DUGGA DUGGA DUGGA
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 11 March 2019 18:36 (five years ago) link
(xp) So was I.
― The Vangelis of Dating (Tom D.), Monday, 11 March 2019 19:07 (five years ago) link
it is also fun to imagine him standing there glumly on stage repeating "drill drill drill" while the rest of the band goes nuts all around him.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 11 March 2019 20:54 (five years ago) link
surprised at all the dislike at the top of this thread. sure manscape was kind of eh but the rest? top notch.
― akm, Tuesday, 12 March 2019 20:49 (five years ago) link
I've posted this before but it bears repeating, some sort of weird live jam remix of an Erasure track by Wir(e) with next to no Erasure content (irony) and it is bloody marvellous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RJPizlCrI8
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 12 March 2019 21:24 (five years ago) link
Someone on this board posted in 2005 and I spent a week listening to it.
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 12 March 2019 21:29 (five years ago) link
lol at the credits
Fingers & Thumbs (Cold Summer's Day) (Figures In Crumbs (Wire Remix))
Bass – Graham LewisEngineer – Paul MysiakGuitar – Bruce Gilbert, Colin NewmanMixed By – Erasure, Gareth Jones, WireProgrammed By [Drums & Sequence] – Vince ClarkeVocals, Other [Concept] – Andy Bell
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 12 March 2019 21:30 (five years ago) link
I think Manscape was one of the first half-dozen CDs that I owned, so I gave it a lot of spins despite not loving it... it never occurred to me that it wasn't a good record. I made early use of my CD player's ability to repeat one track with "You Hung Your Lights in the Trees/A Craftsman's Touch".
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Tuesday, 12 March 2019 21:38 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra96xqZuyLA
okay 1990 but w/e
― Maresn3st, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 17:49 (four years ago) link
Colin Newman shaking his mop top!
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 18:01 (four years ago) link
Is this Wire or Wir?
― Angry Question Time Man's Flute Club Band (Tom D.), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 18:04 (four years ago) link
I don't see Robert, this is the Manscape tour, the ticket at the start says Wire tho'
― Maresn3st, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 18:10 (four years ago) link
If it's Manscape it's Wire. But, yes, Robert could probably have stayed at home.
― Angry Question Time Man's Flute Club Band (Tom D.), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 18:14 (four years ago) link
I'd given up on them by this stage but I saw them a lot in the 80s and thought they were great live - much better than on record. A trifle disheartening therefore to read the Wire biography and find out Colin Newman thought they were shit.
― Angry Question Time Man's Flute Club Band (Tom D.), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 18:19 (four years ago) link
(xp) Apparently he did stay at home, in fact he quit just before the tour - a tour where the rest of the band didn't want him playing drums anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
― Angry Question Time Man's Flute Club Band (Tom D.), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 22:41 (four years ago) link
"kidney bingos" is a song i've known over half of my life and it is still one of the most confounding things i've ever heard.
when trembling blue stars covered it, i was somehow even more creeped out, but it still manages to be an irresistible bop-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9hMLBzs0j0trembling blue stars - "kidney bingos" (2011)
p cool song i reckon. good beat, u can dance 2 it
― she fell asleep with her hand around my throat (Austin), Monday, 4 December 2023 03:32 (five months ago) link
Sometimes I wonder if A Bell is a Cup Until It Is Struck is the best Wire album.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 4 December 2023 04:11 (five months ago) link
It's been noted that Elastica redid (?) "Kidney Bingos" as "Nothing Stays the Same", right?
― with hidden noise, Monday, 4 December 2023 04:40 (five months ago) link
is there anything more wistful than the kidney bingos outro
― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Monday, 4 December 2023 05:00 (five months ago) link
my long-held assumption is that 'kidney bingos' is a reference to the idea of there being a 'postcode lottery' for health care provision in the UK i.e. your access to certain services or treatments depends on where you live
― blazin' squab (NickB), Monday, 4 December 2023 08:49 (five months ago) link
never really tried to decipher the verses before but they're cut-up 80s uk media stories afaict
― blazin' squab (NickB), Monday, 4 December 2023 09:13 (five months ago) link
God, no.
― Tom D has a right to defend himself (Tom D.), Monday, 4 December 2023 10:04 (five months ago) link
It’s great, but I wouldn’t say best. It took me years to realize that ‘80s Wire were almost great too, just different. I like Manscape even! The First Letter is not so hot, though.
― Tapioca by Jean Sibelius (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 4 December 2023 12:17 (five months ago) link
-almost-
Much prefer The First Letter to Manscape tbh.
― Tom D has a right to defend himself (Tom D.), Monday, 4 December 2023 12:19 (five months ago) link
― the absence of bikes (f. hazel),
My favorite Graham Lewis vocal performance too.
― stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 December 2023 13:09 (five months ago) link
They're about equally modestly underrated. Manscape is cluttered and busy, with occasionally gripping textures; the first letter is cleaner and clearer and actually has some hooks.
The coda of this song was possibly the highlight when I saw them in 2011.
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 5 December 2023 16:40 (five months ago) link
I prefer the minimalism of their 90s output
― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 17:45 (five months ago) link