WIRE – Not about To Die (Remastered) – LP – Vinyl [RSD 2022]

LP Limited EditionBlack Vinyl. Remastered Official Release. See below.

Available exclusivelyin-storeonSaturday 23rd April 2022.
Any all/remaining copies will be on saleonline from 7pmonSunday 24th April.

The original Not About To Die was an illegal bootleg, released at some point in the early 80s, by the dubiously named Amnesia Records. The album was made up of selections from demos recorded by the group for their second and third albums: Chairs Missing and 154. These demos had been recorded for EMI, with cassette copies circulated amongst record company employees. However, they were never intended for release. A typically shoddy cash-in, the songs on Not About To Die were taken from a second or possibly third generation cassette, with the album housed in a grainy green and red photo-copied sleeve.

Compared with the high standards of production and design Wire have always been known for, it was something of an insult to band and fans alike. Now, in a classic act of Wire perversity, the group have decided to redress the balance and reclaim one of the shadier moments of its history, by giving Not About To Die its first official release on the bands own pinkflag imprint.. All the tracks have been properly remastered, with the relevant recording details in place. As for the sleeve artwork, whilst it strongly references the original, it is decidedly more artful in its execution. Not About To Die emerges as a fascinating snapshot of Wire in transition with embryonic versions of classic songs such as French Film (Blurred), Used To and Being Sucked In Again, that the group would develop considerably for their epochal 1978 album Chairs Missing. Later demos such as Once Is Enough, On Returning and Two People In A Room would surface in radically altered form on 1979s 154. Some songs, such as The Other Window, are virtually unrecognisable from their later iterations but the biggest prizes here may well be the tracks that were omitted from Wire’s later studio albums.

QTY (UK & Ireland): 2000

Tracklisting:

1. Oh No Not So (Save The Bullet) – [4th Demo]
2. Culture Vultures – [4th Demo]
3. It’s The Motive – [4th Demo]
4. Love Aint Polite – [4th Demo]
5. French Film (Blurred) – [4th Demo]
6. Underwater Experiences – [4th Demo]
7. Stalemate – [4th Demo]
8. Options R – [4th Demo]
9. Indirect Enquiries v1 – [5th Demo]
10. Chairs Missing (Used To) – [5th Demo]
11. Being Sucked In Again – [5th Demo]
12. Ignorance No Plea (I Should Have Known Better) – [6th Demo]
13. Once Is Enough – [6th Demo]
14. The Other Window – [6th Demo]
15. Stepping Off Too Quick (Not About To Die) – [6th Demo]
16. On Returning – [6th Demo]
17. Former Airline – [6th Demo]
18. Two People In A Room – [6th Demo]