An early masterpiece!
5
By TallPhantasmic
This was the first XTC I ever heard, and that was all it took to hook me for the rest of my life. (For time reference, though I wasn't aware of it yet, 'The Big Express' had just been released.) I'd never heard such amazing use of discordant yet strangely harmonic guitar, often barked yet strangely melodic vocals, and unusual yet strangely driving and hypnotic rhythms - all fused together into something completely different than anything else out there yet strangely familiar (at least to my own peculiar musical sensibilities.)! This is really where any new XTC listener should start, or if not here then perhaps the next release 'Black Sea', as these two albums have always lived together in my mind, as if they are one continuous piece, 'Wires' as act one and 'Sea' as act two. The flow of songs on this album is masterfully crafted, one of the best musical sequences I've ever heard, as the listener is beautifully propelled through a properly breathing album to the final, almost apocalyptically building track, 'Complicated Game' - it should be noted that the songs that follow, 'Life Begins at the Hop', 'Chain of Command' and 'Limelight', are in fact bonus tracks that were not on the original album, and were included later when 'Drums and Wires' was released on CD. They're good, but don't really belong here, and would likely be more at home on the album that preceded, 'Go 2' in my opinion. Still, any XTC is good XTC, and obscure bonus tracks are always welcome! Anyway, get this one! It's truly an early masterpiece by one of the most astonishingly gifted bands ever.
