A Houseguest's Wish: Translations of Wire's 'Outdoor Miner'

Various Artists (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 9, 2004)
• Original Release Date: November 9, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Words On Music
• ASIN: B0006FK8LU
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #445,484 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Outdoor Miner (Adam Franklin)

2. Outdoor Miner (Titania)

3. Outdoor Miner (Kick On The Floods)

4. Outdoor Miner (Timonium)

5. Outdoor Miner (Polar)

6. Outdoor Miner (Typewriter)

7. Outdoor Miner (Fiel Garvie)

8. Outdoor Miner (Lush)

9. Outdoor Miner (Experimental Aircraft)

10. Outdoor Miner (above the orange trees)

11. Outdoor Miner (Christian Kiefer)

12. Outdoor Miner (Flying Saucer Attack)

13. Outdoor Miner (Boy Division)

14. Outdoor Miner (Sharron Kraus)

15. Outdoor Miner (The Meeting Places)

16. Outdoor Miner (Laura Watling)

17. Outdoor Miner (Should)

18. Outdoor Miner (The Sems)

19. Outdoor Miner (Junetile)

Editorial Reviews

Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, Issue #55

"Everything here is rather good. Play it once you'll play it 40 times more."

Product Description

A Houseguest's Wish is WORDS ON MUSIC's 25th Anniversary tribute to the seminal WIRE song, "Outdoor Miner." Released in 1979 as a 7" single (and appearing in a more skeletal version on their Chairs Missing LP), fans and critics have long regarded "Outdoor Miner" as one of WIRE's finest moments — and one of their rare early excursions into unbridled, sugar-coated pop.

WORDS ON MUSIC has assembled interpretations by 19 artists from five countries (Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, Canada, USA) into one stunning and diverse collection. This novel project translates Outdoor Miner into folk (England's SHARRON KRAUS), blues (CHRISTIAN KIEFER), punk (Germany's BOY DIVISION), an intimate orchestral ballad (ABOVE THE ORANGE TREES) noise-rock (England's FLYING SAUCER ATTACK), postrock (TIMONIUM), twee (LAURA WATLING), and even a clarinet-escorted instrumental (SHOULD).

Featured appearances on this tribute include an acoustic excursion by SWERVEDRIVER frontman ADAM FRANKLIN, a buoyant pop rendition by TYPEWRITER (THE LUCY SHOW singer Mark Bandola), LUSH's dazzling 1991 recording, and the Beach Boys -esque rendering by KICK ON THE FLOODS — the new project by FOR STARS singer Carlos Forster.

The "Outdoor Miner" single was poised to be WIRE's breakthrough song in their native England in 1979 until the British Market Research Bureau, compilers of the BBC charts, withdrew the single on allegations EMI had improperly hyped the single's sales. As a result, WIRE narrowly missed appearing on the influential Top Of The Pops television program, and remained a band with credible cult status but no hit records. On the Silver Anniversary of "Outdoor Miner's" release, WORDS ON MUSIC sets free this brilliant pop song once more through a full-length album tribute. Choosing a single WIRE song for this novel project is particularly apt in light of the band's 1991 album The Drill — which contains nine reworkings of the title track.

"Outdoor Miner's" strange subject matter — that of the leaf-dwelling serpentine miner insect — was once described by WIRE singer and bassist Graham Lewis as their 'least commercial lyric.' But by integrating such impenetrable words into what is otherwise an extremely hummable, catchy pop song, Outdoor Miner transcends niche, cult-song status: it is a fertile composition capable of metamorphosis.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Great Outdoors", June 21, 2005

By 

altmalta "www.alternativemalta.com" (Malta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Houseguest's Wish: Translations of Wire's 'Outdoor Miner' (Audio CD)

source: www.alternativemalta.com

`He lies on his side as he's trying to hide the fact it's the earth which he's known since birth.' And those are the most famous lines in Wire's most underrated (and they had a lot) single `Outdoor Miner'. As it has approached it's 25th anniversary, the label Words on Music have decided to celebrate by hunting down 19 artists to sing this irresistible post-punk tune. I know, I know, 19 people singing the same song over and over again - sounds boring.

But in all honesty, there is such a vast array of styles that the momentum never ceases. There's an indie pop version (Lush), a slowcore version (Timonium), a punk version (Boy Division) and even electronica (Juntile). Furthermore the majority of these bands hail from different countries: obviously the US and UK, but even Spain and Germany. To make this compilation even more desireable, Swervedriver frontman Adam Franklin has gone out of hiding to record a version as well! (his acoustic interpretation is a definite standout).

This compilation is testimony to the fact that Wire are still a relevant band and have left an imprint on music - mostly post-punk, and I can hear them in most of the current crop of bands that are popular today. What would Bloc Party and The Rakes sound like if this band didn't exist? Wire have had a big part to play in the music world. Whenever you hear a band with weird lyrics, simplistic but interesting chord changes, an innovative use of keyboard sounds, or even counting in French you know where their roots lie. This compilation is a testament to Wire's greatness and hopefully they'll be an influence to more bands on the way.

2.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, March 31, 2009

By 

Mr. Scott T. Allen (Naperville, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: A Houseguest's Wish: Translations of Wire's 'Outdoor Miner' (Audio CD)

For a song whose lyrics are, let's say, "cryptic" and are obviously repeated over and over again on the CD...this works. Versions vary widely, the bands appear to have put forth the effort to learn and "own" the tune. Favorites are by Polar and Lush. Sharron Krause is creative. Can't strongly recommend this CD because it's mostly mediocre, but if you keep the volume low it's OK to put on repeat, kick back and do some reading/writing/whatever.