WIRE
READ & BURN 01
Pink Flag PF4
http://www.pinkflag.com/
It was with no small amount of trepidation that I went to see the reformed
Wire perform at the El Rey early May, 2000. I knew who the players would be,
but had no idea which persona they would affect. Shock of shocks: Wire emerged
as Wire ca: 1977. The opening song was, in fact, "Pink Flag", and
the rest of the set was principally comprised of choice bits from Pink Flag
and Chairs Missing (including my all-time fave "Mercy") The rumor
was that this was no tribute tour, and that Wire was indeed a living band
.
Lopping of the excess of their late Eighties persona (sequencing, synths,
drones), Read and Burn 01 proves this rumor to be fact and continues on the
hard, lean, terse path of the live show with an entirely new batch of songs:
Six songs. Eighteen minutes. Cool. Cos, with Wire, brevity is a 'good thing.'
(Hmm. Did Martha Stewart trademark that yet?) The songs are barely just; more
extended repeated riffs than tunes - imagine crossing "12XU" with
"Drill" and you get the recipe. The hard compression of Albini-style
production adds a machine-like menace to the effect, which convinces on the
opener "In the Art of Stopping", "Comet" and "Germ
Ship", but by the time we finish "The Agfers of Kodak" out
of breath, there's the nagging feeling that a break here and their (I know
- it's only six songs) would have made the disc a bit more indispensable.
How's bout a pleasant pop song like "Fragile" or "Outdoor Miner"
fellas? Caveat notwithstanding, a welcome return to form by one of (post)punks
most important bands.
-William Mohline