{"title":"pink flag","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"nine-sevens-hf","title":"Nine Sevens","description":"\u003cp\u003eWire release a new double LP edition of their \u003cem\u003eNine Sevens\u003c\/em\u003e box set of 7“ records first released in 2018. Combining the run of early singles with more obscure later period tracks underlines the strength in depth that Wire had. This is pop art as art\/pop and an exploration of the blank canvas of pop culture and how far that canvas can be stretched going from three minute constructs to ambient washes. The 7” single was always the ultimate artefact and statement with the A side being the band momentarily paused in time and distilled and freeze-framed into the forever with less than three minutes of electric sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese “sevens” released from 1977 to the end of that decade signpost the band's remarkable development from their brilliantly monochromatic early phase to the textured complexity of the almost psychedelic unzipping of their sound and vision. In some ways the compilation of \u003cem\u003eNine Sevens\u003c\/em\u003e onto a double album makes for quite a weird documentation of the band in this period.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first disc, to some extent, follows the script of a singles \/ greatest hits collection but the second one goes wildly off-piste and ends up somewhere quite far from where the collection started. A conventional Greatest Hits collection, besides being conceptually a bit naff would, if strictly based on charting singles, consist of only one song! A Best Of is subjective and somewhat pointless in the age of the Spotify playlist that anyone can make. The only thing really that these tracks have in common (besides being by Wire) is that they were released or destined to be released on 7” by Wire in the period 1977-1980.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNine Sevens is both title and elevator pitch!’ Wire always understood the language of pop and also the artfulness of playing with it, deconstructing it and reassembling it into new and thrilling shapes. Decades later, these adventures into sound are like slices of delicious, perfect pop\/noise and hits from a parallel universe.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"pink flag","offers":[{"title":"2LP - Black","offer_id":51404185796939,"sku":"R3680-6750","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":51740955312459,"sku":"R3680-7082","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/HXgzsyLhtyfaH7CbLKDB6c8HYl1smkv-IDOmLTsO3gU-1920w.jpg?v=1741344964"},{"product_id":"vien-ux","title":"Vien +","description":"\u003cp\u003eFollowing the departure of Wire’s drummer Robert Grey in 1990, \u003cstrong\u003eWIR\u003c\/strong\u003e had risen phoenix-like from the ashes of the acclaimed UK post-punk band. They were created to fulfill the final phase of Wire’s Mute Records contract. With a more sequence-based sound, \u003cstrong\u003eWIR\u003c\/strong\u003e saw the band breaking all their own rules by creating a new sparse electronic music. Graham Lewis sang most of the vocals and they even cannibalized their own catalog by sometimes sampling their own older material.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWIR\u003c\/strong\u003e was not a long-term project. Besides completing their only album, \u003cem\u003eThe First Letter\u003c\/em\u003e, their only other activities were a very small number of gigs and two multi-artist “conceptual happenings” under the name I Saw You. One of these was in Clapham in April 1992 on election night and the other in Vienna in Feb 1993. On that Vienna trip, in addition to playing the gig, the band recorded a radio session for the Austrian national broadcaster ORF which was organized by Peter Rehberg - later the person behind MEGO and sadly no longer with us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis was released in 1996 by Touch on CD and consisted of two long tracks with a running time of almost 25 minutes. Once the short run of CDs had sold out, the rights technically fell to the band, and pinkflag released it - digital only - in 2007 and now released on vinyl for the first time. The remastered 2025 vinyl adds a newly recorded, Taylor Swift style re-recording of what is undoubtedly \u003cstrong\u003eWIR\u003c\/strong\u003e’s most pop moment, the dark brooding shadows of \"\u003cem\u003eSo\u003c\/em\u003e\" and \"\u003cem\u003eSlow\u003c\/em\u003e\". The version released here is based on how the band played it live, so, in spite of being instantly recognizable, it does not follow the arrangement of any previously released version.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"pink flag","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":51404186026315,"sku":"R9464-3521","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":51740945187147,"sku":"R9464-8169","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/8S4_iPGPpMVoJ1nfVvFIVV66Fu00NTjO82HOEo2Kypg-1920w.jpg?v=1741344965"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/pink-flag-1.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}