from the LP 154, Harvest Records, 1979Wire were one of a cherished few bands that managed to define the sound of post-punk before punk rock had even begun to fizzle yet; quite frankly, they were never your average punk band to begin with, being something more like “art-punk” or “proto-indie”. In addition to having an extremely prescient album cover (foreseeing the ‘80s obsession with high art and pastel colors), this LP stands as one of the most successful in post-punk’s catalogue, awash in avant-garde arrangements and an ever-more synth-driven sound. I’m not sure what the actual relevance of these coordinates are, but they fall in the middle of Iowa’s rolling hills, and Wire hailed from the UK---whatever it means, the lyrics are awfully smart, “…the carving and bearing of the land; the quarter square the graph divides, beneath the rule a country hides…interrupting my train of thought, lines, of longitude and latitude; define, refine, my altitude…”
