Search - Wire :: Wir: First Letter

An ambitious end

Michael Heminger | Pardeeville, WI | 03/02/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"From the intro synth drone of "Take It (for greedy)" we know we're in for a different type of Wir(e) album here. They had some proving to do after the disappointing "Manscape" and the remaining 3 members pieced together a cohesive and interesting album this time out. "So and Slow it Grows" was a good choice for a single (like it made any difference here in the clueless United States)and mr. Casio does a good job of standing in for Robert Gotobed's no-frills, metronome drum style. The mechanistic "A Bargain at 3 and 20 Yeah!" could have easily appeared on "The Ideal Copy", and "Footsi-Footsi" is minimal synth-pop fun, and ambitious for its time (geez - is this thing 10 years old already???). "Ticking Mouth" lopes along mysteriously, with muted - almost whispered - vocals. The album loses momentum (and interest) as it nears the end, which mirrors, to a degree, what the band did. I'm still glad they called it quits with this one, rather than the feeble "Manscape" so I can know they called it quits for the right reasons (they were finished) than the wrong ones."