Customer Reviews

A-Z (Reis)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Originally planned as Wire's fourth proper album, their former record company refused to release "A-Z" and dropped the band, so Colin decided to put it out under his name and settled down at Beggars Banquet, one of U.K.'s premier independent labels of the late-'70s/early-'80s. With band members Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis out of the picture -- they were working on their 'Dome' project and explored the leading edge of noise -- "A-Z" is less caustic and arty than the preceding "154" and relies more on conventional songcraft than on sonic extravaganzas. Surprisingly, the guitars rarely sound like rock guitars, and Mike Thorne's gentle, pointed electronics and effects add much to the album's drive. Colin remained a gifted songwriter with tastes in progressive rock, power pop, new wave, and even neo-classical ("Alone on piano"), and there are a couple of tracks here which match the best on Wire's classics "Pink flag" and "Chairs missing". The bouncy "&jury", the moody "Alone", as well as "Inventory" and "Don't bring.." are among the highlights. "Not me" was later covered by 4AD band This Mortal Coil for the album "It'll end in tears", and the instrumental "B" is more eccentric than any Wire song. There are a few tracks I always have to skip because Colin's singing is overdone and pathetic at times, distracting from the music's quality. But on the strength of all these great songs here, "A-Z" is absolutely worthwhile and stands out as Colin's most satisfying solo album.

Colin Newman's strongest solo effort is very reminiscent of the 3rd WIRE album, 154, possibly because he used several of that album's collaborators [WIRE's drummer and 154's producer]. The songs are catchy, off-centre pop-rock in the main with eerie interludes like Alone, featured in Silence of the Lambs, rounding out the collection. If you're a fan of early WIRE you will really love this album.

Very much a progression from '154' - perhaps more guitar driven and conventiomal than 'document & eyewitness' but well worth the purchase if you even remotely dig Wire.

Best songs: 'Alone', 'Inventory' (tho' I have a weakness for the 'S-s-s-star Eyes' wig out) and 'But No'.

Undoubtably Colin's best LP!!!

Sort of a Wire project, but not quite a Wire project, Colin Newman's 'A-Z' represents one of the two streams of artistic direction that came out of that band in its breakup. Lewis and Gilbert were heading in the direction of industrial/experimental music at the time of this release, and drummer Robert Gotobed was off pursuing dark electropop with Fad Gadget. So this left Colin Newman to turn out this wonderful release of rather bent-out-of-shape pop music. Much of what's here will seem familiar to those who've heard Wire's '154', although it seems to me that Newman is pursuing matters in a more 'composerly' direction by this point, making more extensive use of studio resources, and thereby increasing the sonic complexity of his music. There's a couple of tracks here that don't quite click, and Newman's vocals sometimes get a bit monotonous, but these really are the only flaws. Two of the tracks here ("Alone", "Not To") were later reworked by This Mortal Coil, and the former of those also made a rather creepy appearance in the soundtrack of 'The Silence of the Lambs'. Anyone who prefers more than a little atmosphere to their pop music really owes it to themselves to pick this up and give it a listen.

Per some of the other reviews, I decided to chance this album expecting a few good songs, but I was pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't call this 'pop-rock', more along the line of progressive rock, at least. Unlike the previous Wire albums, this makes great use of electronics, along with other non-punk instruments (which, needlessly to say, is not just guitars and percussion). I think this is sort of the kind of album Wire have always wanted to make, or maybe even been destined to make (no one can listen to 154 or Chairs Missing, or Document & Eyewitness for that matter, and not see the shift). Fans of Pink Flag will probably stay away from this one, just because this isn't a punk album, per se. Listening to this, I really feel more a fan of Colin Newman than just Wire, and I hope to get more of his solo work.

This is indeed the album that contains the track "Alone" from Silence of the Lambs. The This Mortal Coil version is not the one used. The sound quality of the song when used in the film is a little odd - some kind of echo and weird equalization was used, perhaps to suggest the stereo being in another room, or maybe just to make it sound more creepy.

It should also be noted that it is NOT the song that many people look for from this film - the dancing-in-the-mirror song where he films himself with the "flyin flyin' flyin' over you" lyric - that is "Goodbye Horses" by Q. Lazzarus.

As for the rest of A-Z, absolutely outstanding. Highly recommended.

This album grew on me slowly and has never let go. It is Colin's masterpiece. Every track, and I mean every track, is carved out of a different kind of audio stone/soundscape. And so it is as much Mike Thorne's masterpiece too. Just buy it in any format and turn it up and listen as deeply as you can. rejoinder is maybe the best song of the 80s? desert island music for definitely certain.

To the guy/gal who's looking for "THe Silence of the Lambs" version of "Alone", i think it might be a cover version of this Colin Newman track by This Mortal Coil.

Fellow music Lover trying to save someone elses dime. I searched to find that cool song, "Alone", from "The Silence Of the Lambs" and I thought that I found the correct version. I Was Wrong, this is NOT The Version from the movie. At this point I don't know where to get it because an earlier review stated that the Soundtrack didn't have the correct version either.

As a stand alone CD, I didn't like it.
I do like groups like The Cure especially "Mixed Up" album.

If someone finds the Correct version, leave a review so that other Lovers of "that cool song" can buy it for themselves.
cheers
-JH Atlanta, GA.