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Holistic Guidance - Object 47
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List Price: N/A
Our Price: $12.29
Availability: N/A
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0843190002122
Number Of Discs: 1
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Editorial Reviews:
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In the five years since the May 2003 release of their last ful-length album, Send, Wire has expounded, reviewed, contracted, lain dormant, recovered, expanded, and shed an old skin and grown a new one. Wire is not the same as it was before-but then Wire is never the same as it was before... Object 47 (the 47th object in their discography) is nonetheless only Wire’s eleventh studio album. It is the second product of an arc of work that began in 2006 and has so far yielded the rather well-received EP Read And Burn 03 (from which no tracks appear on Object 47), and stands as a confident statement of where Wire is in 2008-as ever, looking forward! While retaining Wire’s idiosyncratic mix of an avant-garde mindset with classic pop timing, this album boasts 'tunes with zoom', a unique formula that somehow manages to sound wholly Wire (in a classic sense) and wholly contemporary. A full press campaign is planned in the USA and UK, augmented with college radio promotion in the USA. Wire will play festivals throughout Europe and tour USA in October of 2008.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Short but sweet
Comment: I've read that Wire influenced not only various early-80s punk bands (with their first two records), but also late-80s electronic rockers (Depeche Mode* etc.) with albums such as A Bell Is A Cup. Both of those aspects of Wire's history are present on Object 47, a short (35 mins.) but relatively strong collection of nine new tunes. This band line-up includes both Colin Newman and Graham Lewis but not Bruce Gilbert. Ob47 is a highly listenable and enjoyable set that goes by very quickly. The tracks feature melodic, dual-tracked lead vocals that sound vaguely Eno-esque in their slightly blurred way, plus some forceful bass lines and very interesting song arrangements. One song pretty much goes right into the next, giving the disc a seamless feel that made me want to hear it all over again after the first time thru. (So I did.) My favorite cuts are "One Of Us," "Four Long Years*," and "Are You Ready?" but all nine songs are good. [*Listen for the Depeche Mode flavor of this tune. Actually, it's a better DM sound than much of Dave Gahan's solo work!]
Customer Rating:
Summary: The wait is over and you are rewarded
Comment: I'm not going to lie, the first time I listened to "Object 47" I wasn't exactly thrilled. Despite its concise nature, it felt so controlled and restrained in comparison to "Send" from 2003. I had recently been listening to "Send" and the "Read & Burn" EP's non-stop, so "Object 47" felt like a step backwards.
But as people always say, 'it grows on you.' ("So does bacteria," the skeptic replies) The signatures that were, have been, and likely will continue to be Wire are intact and unhampered. Anything that doesn't agree with you on the initial listen is disguised as growth. This is the reason we follow this band, right? Because they never make the same album twice. It's through multiple listens (in my case, at least four) that the album can be elevated from good to very good. Songs that struck me as so blank during round one suddenly grab me days later, causing me to think 'why did I not notice that before?'
"Perspex Icon" is pretty darned exciting. When their website was talking about 'tunes with zoom,' I bet they were referring to rushes like this. I love the double-time shift in "Hard Currency." "Circumspect" appears to be so unassuming and easy-going at first but is in fact a challenging little ditty that many younger bands couldn't conjure up on their best day. There is never a day where "One of Us" or "All Fours" doesn't sound totally awesome to me. I remember being a little surprised by the lead-off track when it was released for free from their website. The music sounded so sunny, yet the chorus went "one of us will live to rue the day we met each other." Huh...
All things considered, "Object 47" is excellent. I probably like "Send" more, but that fact isn't worth spittle at the end of the day.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Protracted, Somewhat Tedious Album that Should've Been A Great EP.
Comment: Object 47 finds Wire realizing what they seemed to be moving towards on their previous release, Read & Burn 03: An EP that was a more ambient, deliberate, mid-tempo incarnation of the intense, droning, distinctly modern industrial punk they created on the first two Read & Burn EPs (partially compiled on the full-length Send). O-47 features sonic industrial elements from R&B 02 along with some ambient elements from R&B 03, combined with the brevity of their early work and pop-sensibility of their 80s material: Recognizably Wire, yet most of it doesn't sound specifically like anything they've done.
The strongest songs on O-47 manage to strike the perfect balance between sonic adventurousness and pop sensibility, combined with clever, but accessible lyrics. The opening track, "One of Us" is among the very best songs Wire as ever done - propelled by a powerful, compelling bass/drum line which serves as the perfect undercurrent for an irresistibly catchy guitar riff and oddly harmonious vocals. "One of Us" sets a high bar the rest of the album never reaches, though "Mekon Headman" comes close.
While O-47 is more focused and taut than R&B 03 it suffers from many of the same weaknesses. Specifically, they consist mostly of mid-tempo, sonically-repetitive tracks that dilute Wire's strengths. With a couple exceptions ("One of Us", "All Fours") all songs on O-47 move at mostly the same pace, making the album feel somewhat tedious (even at only 35 min). A problem made more pronounced by the mechanical, monotonous nature of some individual tracks: "Four Long Years", "Hard Currency", and especially "Are You Ready?" - a dated dance-rock track which could've easily been one of the many similar mediocre songs they recorded in the 80s.
O-47 has enough interesting material to be worthwhile for those of us who are long-time fans, but listening to it and thinking about Wire over the last 5 years I can't help but wish they'd followed through with their original plan to release a series of R&B EPs - A logical and fairly brilliant extension of thier minimalist aesthetic (Since Send consisted mostly of R&B 01-02 tracks it was essentially redundant). If instead they compiled the 5 or so best tracks from O-47 with "No Warning Given" (the standout track from R&B 03), and instead released that as the R&B 03 EP it would have been a cogent statement on par with the first 2 R&B EPs. Instead, O-47 will likely be thought of much like their 80s albums: A mostly inconsequential release with a few worthwhile songs.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good But Not Great is an Apt Description
Comment: I agree with the other reviewer that this album by Wire is good but not great. I think Send may be the best thing they've done since the heyday years of Pink Flag/154/Chairs Missing, and while this one is still sharp and on target, the overall quality level does not match that of Send. But this is comparing the album to other Wire releases - if this was a new band and this was their first release, I would think, "Wow, these guys are interesting - I want to hear more from them!" The sound is very much like Send, with a mixture of uptempo, edgy tracks and slower, more atmospheric and cerebral songs.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not wholly expected but not disappointing either
Comment: I agree with T. Schafer that this album falls short in some areas of expectation. I can't say I dislike any tracks (except maybe 'Hard Currency' and 'Patient Flees', which sound all too like other groups doing the same things), but some of the music is a bit bland, and a lot of the vocals are really dull and just drag the music down. It has a very airy feeling like Read And Burn 3, but don't expect any 9 minute '23 Years Too Late'. By the way, most tracks are from 3-4 minutes, which, for a Wire album, is strange. I do really enjoy some tracks, however, like 'Mekon Headman' and 'Circumspect'; some take Wire's trademark repetition to a cool slower tempo rock, while other songs are less unified and don't really pick up when they are meant to. The 'Send' era was mind-blowing, entirely unexpected musically and lyrically, whereas this release feels more of 'typical' alternative rock album. I still have to give it 4 stars because this band is wonderful, and you can still hear plenty of all the reasons why this band has always been severely under-rated.
It sort of reminds me of the difference between 'The Ideal Copy' and 'A Bell Is A Cup'; the first release, like 'Send' is very interesting, artistic, and strong, and the next album, like this one, is slightly off-balance but still pretty good.
Also, you can get a free download of 'One of Us' from Wire's website, www.pinkflag.com.
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