Manscape

Never a band to look back into the past, Wire, unlike many contemporaries who steadfastly clung to rock's limited vocabulary, embraced the merits of technology, leaping completely into the breach with MANSCAPE. Jettisoning the playful and colourful schemes of A BELL IS A CUP UNTIL IT'S STRUCK and melding the sequencer mechanics of THE DRILL remix project with reasonably traditional song-based structures, MANSCAPE was received with indifference upon its release. No wonder---Wire re-wrote and recast the vagaries of rock and pop into songs that were not songs, devoid of staid choruses and overwrought with tricky time signatures. Almost anti-song in some respects, the synthetic gusto of "Stampede" and the burbling mock-industrial electronic strings of "Where's the Deputation?" (featuring the venomous vocal gymnastics of both Colin Newman and Graham Lewis) offer glimpses of new directions that were eventually borne out in post-rock. The deceptive rewards of MANSCAPE eventually reveal themselves with repeated listenings.

Entertainment Weekly - "...beyond the usual artistic bounds of pop..."