A–Z (album)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A–Z (1980) is the debut studio album by Colin Newman, lead singer for post-punk band Wire. It was released in October 1980, through record label Beggars Banquet.
The album veered from extremely skewed pop to more mainstream numbers, such as "Order for Order", which was compared by some to Gary Numan.
A track from the demos for this LP (but not included on the original vinyl release), "Not Me", was covered by This Mortal Coil on their It'll End In Tears LP.
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Critical reception
A–Z has been well received. In its retrospective review, AllMusic wrote "A-Z truly deserves to be held in the same regard as Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154".
Jason Parkes of Head Heritage wrote that it was "probably the best album [released] between the first and second phases of Wire".
Legacy
"Alone" and "Not Me" were covered by This Mortal Coil on the albums Filigree & Shadow and It'll End in Tears, respectively. "S-S-S-Star Eyes" was covered by P-Model and released as a supplementary cassette to an issue of the band's fan club newsletter. "Alone" was used in the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs.
Personnel
- Colin Newman – guitar, vocals, album cover
- Desmond Simmons – bass guitar, guitar
- Mike Thorne – synthesizer, keyboards, production
- Robert Gotobed – drums
- Charles Bullen – Clarinet on "Troisieme"
Technical
- A. Newman – album cover
- Harvey Goldberg – engineering
- Dennis Weinreich – engineering
- Steve Parker – engineering
- Malti Kidia – sleeve layout and typography
- Jack Skinner – cutting
See also
