This is really interesting to hear what a drastic overhaul this tune got. How did they get from here to there?? This version is a fine Wire punk tune that would have gone well on Pink Flag but I think the version on Chairs Missing is just beautiful and overall a much more interesting song. I would love to know more about how it all happened!
Colin Newman actually addressed this in an interview a few years ago. Here is what he said: "I liked the [original] text so I gave it a new, more thoughtful, slightly off kilter, tune. There was a palpable sense of progress. It was as if the new material, as it increased in volume and ambition, was literally pushing anything that sounded backwards looking (and by April 1978, that meant anything that sounded like it belonged on Pink Flag) out the door. Thus the story of version one of French Film Blurred carries a strong element of the story of Wire. Progress is all. There’s nothing wrong with the tune. It’s a perfectly acceptable piece of music that does sound like a development from the material on Pink Flag and is in its own way quite charming, but is then utterly eclipsed, in terms of style and sophistication, by the version that eventually turned up on Chairs Missing."
The same thing happened with the original version of "Indirect Enquiries", which was originally written and demoed in early 1978, shortly before the recording sessions for the Chairs Missing LP. The song was ultimately left off the album, and at some point that summer, its music was entirely reworked from the ground up. The original demo (along with that of "French Film Blurred", from December 1977) was extremely rare for decades, until the 2018 reissue of Chairs Missing. Here is the original "Indirect Enquiries", if you haven't heard it: ruclips.net/video/9-Prp-q3WsY/видео.html
@@cftvdata great info, thanks! I always wondered on these tracks too how much influence Mike Thorne had on the musical direction, my understanding is he played a lot of the synth parts on this album and 154.
@@richardrouth4790 My suspicion is that he had a major influence on the sound of the studio albums. The differences between the demo tapes and the resulting LPs that came out 4-8 months later are remarkable, in that they are largely textural. Thorne played all the synth parts on the records, and it's easy to imagine him taking what are essentially still raw post-punk songs and turning them into multilayered, shimmering mini-epics (especially on 154). It's interesting to look at the difference between Colin's first two proper solo albums as well: the first one, A-Z, sounds much like 154 and was written and recorded with Thorne as a full-fledged band member, while its successor Not To was done without Thorne's involvement and (to my ears at least) sounds much more stripped-down. They are both excellent records, right up there with the first 3 Wire albums, so if you haven't heard them, I highly recommend checking them out.
What a great tune. Bridging the gap from Pink Flag to Chairs Missing. Had heard a bootleg of this in the 80s though couldn't work out the lyric from the bootleg quality - the irony of "The problems of bad reception resulting in blurred perception". Got my order in for the first 3 remasters (due May '18)
This is really interesting to hear what a drastic overhaul this tune got. How did they get from here to there??
This version is a fine Wire punk tune that would have gone well on Pink Flag but I think the version on Chairs Missing is just beautiful and overall a much more interesting song. I would love to know more about how it all happened!
Totally agree. Really interesting.
Colin Newman actually addressed this in an interview a few years ago. Here is what he said:
"I liked the [original] text so I gave it a new, more thoughtful, slightly off kilter, tune. There was a palpable sense of progress. It was as if the new material, as it increased in volume and ambition, was literally pushing anything that sounded backwards looking (and by April 1978, that meant anything that sounded like it belonged on Pink Flag) out the door. Thus the story of version one of French Film Blurred carries a strong element of the story of Wire. Progress is all. There’s nothing wrong with the tune. It’s a perfectly acceptable piece of music that does sound like a development from the material on Pink Flag and is in its own way quite charming, but is then utterly eclipsed, in terms of style and sophistication, by the version that eventually turned up on Chairs Missing."
The same thing happened with the original version of "Indirect Enquiries", which was originally written and demoed in early 1978, shortly before the recording sessions for the Chairs Missing LP. The song was ultimately left off the album, and at some point that summer, its music was entirely reworked from the ground up. The original demo (along with that of "French Film Blurred", from December 1977) was extremely rare for decades, until the 2018 reissue of Chairs Missing. Here is the original "Indirect Enquiries", if you haven't heard it: ruclips.net/video/9-Prp-q3WsY/видео.html
@@cftvdata great info, thanks! I always wondered on these tracks too how much influence Mike Thorne had on the musical direction, my understanding is he played a lot of the synth parts on this album and 154.
@@richardrouth4790 My suspicion is that he had a major influence on the sound of the studio albums. The differences between the demo tapes and the resulting LPs that came out 4-8 months later are remarkable, in that they are largely textural. Thorne played all the synth parts on the records, and it's easy to imagine him taking what are essentially still raw post-punk songs and turning them into multilayered, shimmering mini-epics (especially on 154). It's interesting to look at the difference between Colin's first two proper solo albums as well: the first one, A-Z, sounds much like 154 and was written and recorded with Thorne as a full-fledged band member, while its successor Not To was done without Thorne's involvement and (to my ears at least) sounds much more stripped-down. They are both excellent records, right up there with the first 3 Wire albums, so if you haven't heard them, I highly recommend checking them out.
Love this song in all its incarnations, happy to find a better quality version than my cassette bootleg...
What a great tune. Bridging the gap from Pink Flag to Chairs Missing. Had heard a bootleg of this in the 80s though couldn't work out the lyric from the bootleg quality - the irony of "The problems of bad reception resulting in blurred perception". Got my order in for the first 3 remasters (due May '18)
A very interesting version. First time me hearing it, and it sounds very interesting.