Document And Eyewitness

Wire

US $29.99
Release Date 01 September 2014
Dispatched within 5 days

Product code: PF21LP
Format: Double Vinyl LP
Label: Pink Flag

Pink Flag re-issue the legendary 4th Wire album . Released originally on Rough Trade in 1980, the album was primarily recorded live at a 1979 show. Long unavailable on any format the re-issue features additional unreleased material on a double vinyl LP.

For those unfamiliar with Document and Eyewitness, it really doesn’t do it justice to describe it simply as a collection of live recordings from three turn-of-the-80s Wire gigs. What makes it more than that is the unorthodox nature of the main performance and the way it was presented on record. The centrepiece of the original vinyl release was a recording of the final gig of Wire’s 70s phase. Wire’s set was composed of largely new (and often under-rehearsed) work, accompanied by a series of artistic actions and interventions. The evening was memorable for the unusually hostile reaction from sections of the audience, which has perhaps elevated it beyond a simple passing moment. If the crowd was expecting a standard gig, the level of outrage, expressed in vociferous abuse suggested that the band’s intentions were lost on those in attendance, who were instead confounded by the apparent artistic pretensions on display. The approach was to couple selected live tracks with a spoken commentary on the proceedings by long-term Wire fans Adrian Garston and Russell Mills. Hence the title, Document and Eyewitness. For the album, the Electric Ballroom material was supplemented with recordings from a July 1979 show at the Notre Dame Hall (a straightforward band performance), along with one track from a 1979 gig in Montreux.

PF21 LP: Packaged in a gatefold sleeve. Disc 1 is the same as the original vinyl, albeit remastered and re-edited. Disc 2 features the original selection from the Notre Dame Hall show on side one and the two singles and B-sides on side two.

Tracklisting

Side One
1. 5/10
2. 12XU (Fragment)
3. Underwater Experiences
4. Everything's Going to Be Nice
5. Piano Tuner (Keep Strumming Those Guitars)
6. We Meet Under Tables

Side Two
7. ZEGK HOQP
8. Eastern Standard
9. Instrumental (Thrown Bottle)
10. Eels Sang Lino
11. Revealing Trade Secrets
12. And Then… Coda

Tracks 01-12 from Electric Ballroom

Side Three
13. Go Ahead
14. Ally in Exile
15. Relationship
16. Underwater Experiences
17. Witness to the Fact
18. 2 People in a Room
19. Our Swimmer
20. Heartbeat

Side Four
21. Our Swimmer
22. Midnight Bahnhof Cafe
23. Second Length (Our Swimmer)
24. Catapult 30

Tracks 01-12 from Electric Ballroom.
Tracks 13-19 from Notre Dame Hall.
Track 20 from Montreux.
Tracks 21-22 from "Our Swimmer" (1981) single.
Tracks 23-24 from an unreleased 1981 single.