August, and MuhMur Radio HQ has become Wire central. A couple of weeks ago I was out and about in a nearby Devonshire town (I am keeping the location a secret ... for obvious reasons), and came across a record shop selling new charty stuff and "pre-loved' vinyl. There was also a bin of unsold 'Record Store Day' releases. I managed to pick up the Wire release "PF456 Deluxe", a book containing two 10"EPs and a 7" single. It was going for a song as Arthur Negus once said. This compilation was available on last year's Record Store Day. I also grabbed a copy of Wire's 2018 Record Store Day offering "Nine Sevens", a box of Wire's first 9 singles, including the EP that came with "154" LP and the unreleased "2nd Length (Our Swimmer)" single that Charisma Records rejected. The Harvest years of Wire are my favourite, I remember buying the "Mannequin" EP from Sanctuary Records in Lincoln when it was first released. 1977. I followed them right through to "154" and beyond - their solo projects etc. I wasn't too keen on the reformation in 1985. I went to the Bloomsbury Theatre gig in July that year. So I never really kept tabs on their releases and/or activities from then on. That was until I moved down here to Devon and my brother-in-law's band supported Wire on a European tour and came back with some goodies for me, signed CDs, set lists and a can of Belgian lager (Maes) that Graham Lewis had given him. The can (still unopened) is on display at MuhMur Radio HQ! He even introduced me to the band when they played Exeter a few years ago.
Also back in the month of August I bought a copy of the CD "Not About To Die", an album of studio demos from 1977 and 1978 with some amazing versions of tracks from the "Chairs Missing" and "154" albums.
So, whilst the summer has been swimming to the tunes of Wire's back catalogue I received a notification from Juno Records about the re-issue of Duet Emmo's 1983 album "Or So It Seems". Duet Emmo was the title given to the project for the collaboration between Daniel Miller (Mute) and Bruce Gilbert & Graham Lewis (Dome), the name being an amalgamated anagram of both parties. I must admit to being a little surprised by this re-issue / repackage as I thought Mute Records never deleted their back catalogue (something I probably read in the 1980's before they sold themselves to multi-nationals and then sold themselves again) and I thought an original copy of "Or So It Seems" can only be going for £15 - £20 or so. But No! Looking on the internet I could only find secondhand ("pre-loved") copies going for £40+ and quality was quite often VG+. A timely re-issue.
I think the single from the album, also entitled "Or So It Seems", came out in 1982. Crisp and spacious sequencial synth patterns intertwining with Graham Lewis' flowing multi-tracked voices. A sound that would not have seemed out of place on a Yazoo album.
A few years ago, I wouldn't like to put a date on it but probably about 2015 I found myself at 'Back To Mono' Record shop in Lincoln. back then it was in a compact and bijou indoor shopping complex called "The Mini-Market", but that has long been demolished.
Waffle Warning! : "Back To Mono" has been in Lincoln since the early 1990s. It's still going strong and now situated in Guildhall Street, just down from The Stonebow. "Back To Mono" follows a long tradition of great secondhand record shops in Lincoln going back to the mid 1980s with 'Mary's" on Broadgate. Downstairs vinyl, upstairs Adult Magazines and two doors down, The Jolly Brewer pub. Andy Dobbs had a great shop on Tentercroft Street before moving to the Cornhill Market and Vince Ramsey ran 'Planet Of Sound', firstly on Hungate and later on the High Street. But now Lincoln just has "Back To Mono", well worth visiting if you're in the area. Every time I went back to Lincoln I always used to pop in and browse the racks and always found a bargain. The shop is run by a guy called Jim, lovely chap and a couple of years ago whilst at a 'family do' I found out that I was related to him ... briefly. He married into the family on my Mothers side, but the marriage didn't last. The family on my Mother's side is large (something I didn't discover until her death). Jim was the DJ when Sleaford Mods played a gig at The Basement in Lincoln (2015), we were probably related then. Ha!
On this occasion I managed to find a copy of "Or So It Seems", the sleeve is heavily water damaged but the vinyl condition is excellent. NM as they say on Discogs. I bought a couple of other records - Virgin Prunes "Faculty Of A Broken Heart" 12" single was one of them ... Colin Newman connection there .. and Jim let me have the lot for a tenner.
"Or So It Seems" is still a great album, I hadn't played it for a few years and the other day it still sounded fresh and relevant as it did in 1983. There are two classic electro-pop tracks, the title track and a piece called "The First Person", this track is an updated and 'popified' version of the song "Linasixup" from the first Dome album. The album kicks off with the very Domesque "Hill Of Men". Side two of the album fits in the 'experimental electronics' draw with small electronic pieces surrounding the extensive rumblings of "Long Sledge", again a piece that wouldn't be amiss on any early 1980's Gilbert & Lewis album.
So, is the re-issue worth buying for the one 'extra' track? "Heart Of Hearts (Or So It Seems)" was the B-Side of the 1982 single, a remix of the A-Side, a thing that was very popular in the 1980's. I have the single. My copy is a 7" French pressing where "Or So It Seems" is split in to two parts.
I guess this is a worthy re-issue although I will stick with my originals (for now). I guess copies are available from Juno and Norman in the UK or direct from Mute Records (although I do find Mute Records mail order arm very slow) ...
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