Pink Flag Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Wire are approaching their fortieth anniversary working as a band, and frankly no band has any right to still sound as kinetic, skilful and fresh with ideas in the wake of four decades of cultural shifts as they do on this snappy 15th album, collected from the same sessions that wrought last year's self-titled effort yet more experimental and expansive in nature As ever, their sound is spiky yet seductive, malevolent yet melodic, with its pop flourishes burnished by glacial abstraction. Colin Gilbert's vocals remain as mysterious yet playful as ever, whether backed up by textured ambience or motorik groove, resulting in a rare gem from a national treasure in rare form.

Review: Wire are approaching their fortieth anniversary working as a band, and frankly no band has any right to still sound as kinetic, skilful and fresh with ideas in the wake of four decades of cultural shifts as they do on this snappy 15th album, collected from the same sessions that wrought last year's self-titled effort yet more experimental and expansive in nature As ever, their sound is spiky yet seductive, malevolent yet melodic, with its pop flourishes burnished by glacial abstraction. Colin Gilbert's vocals remain as mysterious yet playful as ever, whether backed up by textured ambience or motorik groove, resulting in a rare gem from a national treasure in rare form.

Review: The latest effort from British post punks Wire sets the record straight. And then re-emphasise the point. Having been the first word in the genre for five decades now (credited with its invention in 1976), 'Mind Hive' confirms that longevity hasn't killed creativity.

It certainly sounds like the band in question, but they are still looking for new reference points to further immerse us in their aural world. By that we're talking elements of dream pop, surrealist ambience, metal and psychedelia, resulting in an album that cuts through the noise and grabs you by the earlobes. Opening on the ferocious 'Be Like Them', only to close on the hugely atmospheric and, at times, meditative 'Humming', it's destined to satisfy long term followers while enlisting a new generation of fans.

Review: The latest effort from British post punks Wire sets the record straight. And then re-emphasise the point. Having been the first word in the genre for five decades now (credited with its invention in 1976), 'Mind Hive' confirms that longevity hasn't killed creativity.

It certainly sounds like the band in question, but they are still looking for new reference points to further immerse us in their aural world. By that we're talking elements of dream pop, surrealist ambience, metal and psychedelia, resulting in an album that cuts through the noise and grabs you by the earlobes. Opening on the ferocious 'Be Like Them', only to close on the hugely atmospheric and, at times, meditative 'Humming', it's destined to satisfy long term followers while enlisting a new generation of fans.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged and slight surface marks on records, but otherwise in excellent condition***


Nine years is probably more than a hiatus really. By that point people are starting to wonder if you will ever try and make a come back. Wire did just that in 1999 after vanishing with plenty of impressive traces in 1990. In 2001, they set about putting out five records, Twelve Times You, Read and Burn 01, Read and Burn 02, Send, and finishing with PF456 Redux. The latter compared both Read and Burn EPs, alongside the full Send album, on vinyl. Sadly, technical limitations meant this had to be shortened versions of the tracks, hence the PF456 title, referring to both catalogue number and process.

It's not all bad news, though, because this means that almost two decades on we get PF456 Deluxe, which is basically the collection but without what the band described as "brutal edits". Longer, far more commanding and immersive as a result, it's still just as post punkish, punk-rooted, riff-y, original and utterly danceable.

Review: One of history's prominent art punk, post punk, experimental and alternative rock groups, at least one Wire record should sit on everyone's shelf, their richly detailed and deeply atmospheric sound helping lay foundations not just for all the outfits that have picked up the mantel and took the aforementioned styles forward, but also genres such as noise and drone. There really is just so much going on in the often chaotic crescendos and pared back moments alike.

As the title suggests, Not About To Die takes early studio demos from the crew and also correctly makes it clear that, when all these were recorded, the troupe still had decades of creative output ahead of them and weren't going anywhere. That said, by the end of the decade they would disband, before regrouping again, disbanding again, and regrouping. Those details aside, dive in and soak up the unbridled and unapologetic raw creativity at play here.

Review: This typically robust, stomping collection of growling post-punk gems charts Wire's first wave of productivity forming their reformation in 1999. It was initially released in 2003 as a compilation of tracks released in the preceding three years (including the two Read and Burn EPs and the Send album). This edition has been re-mastered, with the brutal edits of the original CD (a requirement thanks to the sheer length of the collated cuts) replaced with more subtle and less dramatic tweaks. It delivers pretty much everything you want from Wire - intensity, darkness, energy and heaviness - and is well worth your attention, especially as this particular CD edition has only been manufactured in limited quantities.

Review: Nine years is probably more than a hiatus really. By that point people are starting to wonder if you will ever try and make a come back. Wire did just that in 1999 after vanishing with plenty of impressive traces in 1990. In 2001, they set about putting out five records, Twelve Times You, Read and Burn 01, Read and Burn 02, Send, and finishing with PF456 Redux. The latter compared both Read and Burn EPs, alongside the full Send album, on vinyl. Sadly, technical limitations meant this had to be shortened versions of the tracks, hence the PF456 title, referring to both catalogue number and process.

It's not all bad news, though, because this means that almost two decades on we get PF456 Deluxe, which is basically the collection but without what the band described as "brutal edits". Longer, far more commanding and immersive as a result, it's still just as post punkish, punk-rooted, riff-y, original and utterly danceable.

Review: Over the course of their stop-start career, WIRE has been responsible for some brilliant and awe-inspiring music, consistently delivering an atmospheric, sonically detailed sound that has variously touched on art-punk, post-punk, experimental and alternative rock. For many fans, though, it's the work that they created during the late 1970s that will always be the band's strongest musical statement. Not About To Die, the group's latest release, revisits this fertile period, offering up raw but surprisingly on-point studio demos recorded before and during the sessions for Chairs Missing (1978) and 154 (1979). It's the sound of a band evolving and innovating, at a point when they were still to establish themselves as innovative underground heroes.