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154 [Extra tracks] [Original recording remastered]

~ Wire
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Audio CD (26 Jul 1999)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
  • Label: EMI
  • ASIN: B00000JR11
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 132,008 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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1. I Should Have Known Better
2. Two People In A Room
3. 15th
4. Other Window
5. Single KO
6. Touching Display
7. On Returning
8. Mutual Friend
9. Blessed State
10. Once Is Enough
11. Map Ref 41 Degrees N 93 Degrees W
12. Indirect Enquiries
13. 40 Versions
14. Song 1
15. Get Down
16. Let's Panic Later
17. Small Electric Piece
18. Go Ahead

Product Description

CD Description

Like its predecessor, 1977's CHAIRS MISSING, 154 finds Wiremoving away from its punk roots toward darker, more experimental horizons. There is less overt anger and insolence thanin the past, and in its place is plenty of dark weirdness. Truly disturbing at certain points, this album is a challenging listen. This is not a record to slap on while you clean up the house.
Beginning with the sinister "I Should Have Known Better" a song that has so little to do with the same-titled Beatles song that it really is scary, 154 follows with the shambling, atonal "Two People in a Room" and the choppy, robotic guitars of "The 15th". The fiendish "A Touching Display" sounds like music for a primitive rite, while on "A Mutual Friend", close British Invasion-flavoured harmonies collide with harsh, dangerous-sounding guitar chords. The highlight here, and arguably the most incredible song in Wire'sbook, is "Map Ref. 41 N, 93 W". Words fail to conjure the otherworldly majesty of this track. It may be some kind of twisted cartographer's love song, but it could also be the backing music for a love scene between two artificial intelligences. What can you say? A stunner.

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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 (5)
4 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this CD!!, 14 Dec 1999
By jonathan_scandrett@email.msn.com (Middlesbrough, England) - See all my reviews
My advice is simple......If you do nothing else, buy this CD. Then go and buy every other Wire recording you can find. This is Newman and Lewis pushing the edge of their vocal best. This is Wire at its musical triumph. With 154 we are light years from the harsh, raw edge of Pink Flag and we, the listeners, are exposed to far more depth than the quite excellent Chairs Missing. This album is just simply brilliant.

It does not seem possible that twenty years have passed since the release of this, the last of the best of the Wire LP's, and yet listening it at the end of the 20th Century this album is surely as powerful as it was when first released. Right from the start Wire never fitted any sort of NME/MM pigeonhole and for the span of time covering their first three LP releases the diverse musical styles of Newman/Gilbert/Gotobed/Lewis defied any kind of categorisation. Take 154: how can you hope to define an album which opens with three tracks as musically varied as "I should have known better", "2 people in a room", The 15th"? You can't. Don't try. At times the listener is taken the way of Colin Newman ("Single KO", "On returning") whose harder lyrics, harsher vocal style contrasts with the softer, warmer voice of Graham Lewis ("A touching display", "Blessed state") (Go and find the post-split albums "A to Z" by Colin Newman and "Barge Calm" by Lewis/Gilbert to find out where this separation of styles eventually leads you).

Musically too, the sound of Wire reaches its zenith with this album. There is no doubt that the development of the style clearly evident with tracks such as "Pink Flag" and "Strange" on the first album, and "Practice makes perfect" and "Mercy" from the second, all finally culminate in this album and particularly in the tracks "A touching display" and "Indirect enquiries". Fans of "Outdoor miner" will see obvious parallels with "Map ref..." but the raw sound contained within "12 XU" and (my favourite Wire track of all time) "Sand in my joints" is sadly missing with the complete abandonment of that strident guitar sound. This album was released at the height of the synthesizer revolution so we can surely forgive the guys their foray into experimentation with the possibilities that the synth sound provided.

The addition of five extra bonus tracks do little to add to past glory except explain why in later manifestations Wire themselves seemed to be less than convinced about their own musical progression but you can just about convince yourself that echoes of brilliance remain in the instrumental "Song" and the track "Go ahead"

Just listen to 154 and be amazed. Once is never enough. Listen three or four times and the music of Wire will be with you for a lifetime.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Replace the old with the new., 13 Jun 2000
By A Customer
Played my old vinyl copy so many times it wore out. Greatest record I've ever heard. At least I've played it more than anything else. So varied but so cohesive, this album still sounds as fresh as the first time I heard it. The best in existential soured relationship analysis to the nature of the universe all summed up in lyrics delivered with total conviction, then the music... impossible to relate the effect it's had on me. Not even digital remastering can spoil the sound like it did to Pink Flag. Wire are now playing together again and are as impressive as ever. I doubt anyone will ever match what these four can do with 2 guitars, bass and drums. Add producer Mike Thorne's synths and keyboards and what they made was perhaps the most fascinating art of the 20th century.....
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Modern Classic, 29 Dec 2001
By A Customer
This is the best LP Wire ever made, and Wire are one of the most important British bands of the last 25 years...Therefore, If you are remotely interested in the history of popular music this is required listening. Its gritty, its angular, its violent and loud...but its also melodic and thrilling. Its not just a pop record, its a great work of 20th Century art. In terms of punk/new wave its less written about, but just as essential as Never Mind the Bollcocks or Closer. Don't take my word for it, just buy the bloody thing!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Wanted: vocalist
I bought '154' on its original release, attracted by some tracks I heard on the radio. The song I particularly remember is 'The 15th', with lyrics that sound like fragments and an... Read more
Published on 13 Oct 2006 by D. J. H. Thorn

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless brilliance
With its nondescript title and mundane cover it is perhaps easy for anyone to overlook "154". Quite simply this record is the absolute pinnacle of the post-punk era, and at the... Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2006 by John A. Atkins

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic British Album
This is Wires most accomplished record and therefore the one that anyone new to the band should think about first. Read more
Published on 26 Aug 2005 by tam_the_man

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