| Artist |
Wire |
| Album Title: |
Silver / Lead |
| Album Cover: |
 |
| Primary Genre |
Alternative & Punk: Art Rock |
| Format |
Vinyl |
| Released |
03/31/2017 |
| Label |
PinkFlag/Mutesong |
| Catalog No |
PF24LP |
| Bar Code No |
5 024545 773316 |
| Packaging |
LP Sleeve |
| Tracks |
| A1.
|
Playing Harp for the Fishes (3:44)
|
| A2.
|
Short Elevated Period (2:54)
|
| A3.
|
Diamonds in Cups (4:09)
|
| A4.
|
Forever & a Day (4:06)
|
| A5.
|
An Alibi (3:10)
|
| B1.
|
Sonic Lens (4:31)
|
| B2.
|
This Time (4:17)
|
| B3.
|
Brio (3:37)
|
| B4.
|
Sleep on the Wing (3:00)
|
| B5.
|
Silver/Lead (2:40)
|
|
| Date Acquired |
06/24/2024 |
| Personal Rating |
 |
| Purchase Price |
39.03 |
Web Links |
All Music Guide Entry:
Discogs Entry:
Wikipedia Entry: |
Notes |
Notes:
Released with a black, die-cut, poly-lined inner bag.
Recorded at Rockfield, Monmouth.
Additional recording at Swim Studio.
℗ & © pinkflag 2017.
Mutesong.
Credits:
Art Direction – Jon Wozencroft
Band [Wire Are] – Colin Newman, Graham Lewis, Matthew Simms, Robert Grey
Bass Guitar – Graham Lewis
Cover [Cover Image By] – Graham Lewis
Drums [Drum Kit] – Robert Grey
Electric Guitar, Keyboards – Colin Newman
Engineer [Engineers] – Jeroen Melchers*, Tim Lewis
Lacquer Cut By – Pete Norman
Mastered By – Denis Blackham
Producer [Production], Mixed By [Mix], Recorded By [Additional Recording] – Colin Newman
Written-By, Lyrics By [Text] – Graham Lewis
Written-By, Music By [Music] – Wire
Written-By, Songwriter [Song] – Colin Newman (tracks: 1 to 3, 5 to 6, 8 to 10), Graham Lewis (tracks: 1, 4, 7), Wire (tracks: 1, 4, 7)
Companies, Etc.:
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Pinkflag
Copyright © – Pinkflag
Published By – Pinkflag
Published By – Mute Song
Recorded At – Rockfield Studios
Produced At – Swim Studio
Mixed At – Swim Studio
Recorded At – Swim Studio
Mastered At – Skye Mastering
Lacquer Cut At – Finyl Tweek
Pressed By – Optimal Media GmbH – BG58641
Barcode and other Identifiers:
Barcode (Text): 5 024545 773316
Barcode (Scanned): 5024545773316
Matrix / Runout (A & B side labels): 77 2017
Matrix / Runout (Variant 1, A side runout, etched): PF24LP BG58641-01 A1
Matrix / Runout (Variant 1, B side runout, etched): PF24LP BG58641-01 B1
Matrix / Runout (Variant 2, A side runout, etched): PF24LP BG58641-01 A1 v v
Matrix / Runout (Variant 2, B side runout, etched): PF24LP BG58641-01 B1 v =
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|
| Reviews |
AllMusic Review by Heather Phares:
On Silver/Lead, Wire celebrate their 40th anniversary by throwing some intentional kinks into their well-oiled machinery. Much of their music in the 2010s was as fast-paced as their release schedule, but on their 15th album, they're slower and stranger than they've been in years. Aside from the swift guitar pop of "In a Short Elevated Period," this album doesn't blaze like Change Becomes Us or Nocturnal Koreans; instead, it turns the energy of those albums inward on songs that shimmer like silver and have the heft of lead. Wire are just as keenly observant when they're introspective as when they take aim at the outside world, and when Colin Newman sings "be a good witness of all that you've seen" on the minor-key T. Rex riffage of "Diamonds in Cups," it's an apt description of their modus operandi. Meanwhile, the grinding opener "Playing Harp for the Fishes," which features bassist Graham Lewis on vocals, revives the darkly surreal ruminations that this incarnation of the band seemed to have left behind. The feeling that Silver/Lead's songs should be faster creates a different kind of tension that's arguably more provocative, and interesting, than a barrage of rapid-fire tempos. "An Alibi" is an uneasy post-punk lullaby, while the ironically named "Brio" evokes the languid spaciness of Pink Floyd as well as the desolation Wire mastered decades ago. Slowing things down also lets the melancholy that bubbled under on Wire come to the surface, and Silver/Lead delivers some of the band's prettiest, and saddest, music in some time. Newman imbues "Sleep on the Wing" with a highly literate, ever so slightly ominous sorrow, while Lewis' weary baritone is used perfectly on "This Time," where he sings "this time is gonna be better" to a melody that sounds like a lie the moment it leaves his lips. And when he sings "Ooh darling/I want you to stay" on "Forever & a Day," it shows just how much power naked emotion can have in the hands of a band as famously cerebral and aloof as this one. As precise as ever yet oddly moving, Silver/Lead reaffirms that Wire are more like mercury, shape-shifting effortlessly while remaining true to the things that have always made them great.
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