Released on vinyl for RSD 2022 and now available on CD. The original Not About To Die was an illegal /bootleg, released at some point in the early 80s, by the dubiously named Amnesia Records. The album was made up of selections from demos recorded by the group for their second and third albums: Chairs Missing and 154. These demos had been recorded for EMI, with cassette copies circulated amongst record company employees. However, they were never intended for release. A typically shoddy cash-in, the songs on Not About To Die were taken from a second or possibly third generation cassette, with the album housed in a grainy green and red photo-copied sleeve. Compared with the high standards of production and design Wire have always been known for, it was something of an insult to band and fans alike.

Now, in a classic act of Wire perversity, the group have decided to redress the balance and reclaim one of the shadier moments of its history, by giving Not About To Die its first official release. All the tracks have been properly remastered, with the relevant recording details in place. As for the sleeve artwork, whilst it strongly references the original, it is decidedly more artful in its execution. Not About To Die emerges as a fascinating snapshot of Wire in transition with embryonic versions of classic songs such as ‘French Film (Blurred)’, ‘Used To’ and ‘Being Sucked In Again’, that the group would develop considerably for their epochal 1978 album Chairs Missing. Later demos such as ‘Once Is Enough’, ‘On Returning’ and ‘Two People In A Room’ would surface in radically altered form on 1979’s 154. Some songs, such as ‘The Other Window’, are virtually unrecognisable from their later iterations but the biggest prizes here may well be the tracks that were omitted from Wire's later studio albums... Highlights include ‘Motive’, which has an undeniable power.

Robert Grey’s drumming is crisp and minimal, and Graham Lewis’s bass runs are particularly ear-catching. Despite its distinctly un-Wire title, ‘Love Ain't Polite’ is also something of a gem. Meanwhile, the track which gives the album its title Not About To Die (officially known as ‘Stepping Off Too Quick’) possesses what Newman half jokingly calls “The best intro to any song ever”. The intro is so good in fact, that it takes up a third of the song’s entire time frame. These properly mastered tracks have never been available on vinyl before, and they provide an opportunity to hear Wire at a point in their development when they were bursting with fresh ideas and a will to communicate them. This is post-punk at its very finest. 

TRACK LISTING

Oh No Not So (Save The Bullet 4th Demo 
Culture Vultures 4th Demo 
It's The Motive 4th Demo 
Love Ain’t Polite 4th Demo 
French Film (Blurred) 4th Demo 
Underwater Experiences 4th Demo 
Stalemate 4th Demo 
Options R 4th Demo 
Indirect Enquiries V1 5th Demo 
Chairs Missing (Used To) 5th Demo 
Being Sucked In Again 5th Demo 
Ignorance No Plea (I Should Have Known Better) 6th Demo 
Once Is Enough 6th Demo 
The Other Window 6th Demo 
Stepping Off Too Quick (Not About To Die) 6th Demo 
On Returning 6th Demo / Former Airline 6th Demo 
Two People In A Room 6th Demo

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2022 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Released as an illegal bootleg back in the early1980's Not About To Die were recordings made for EMI as demo's for 1978/1979 albums Chairs Missing & 154. Now Wire have decided to redress the balance and give the album it's first offical release on their own pinkflag imprint

The Wire album Send (pf6) originally released in 2003 was in fact a compilation of material contained on the releases Read & Burn 01 (pf4), Read & Burn 02 (pf5) & new tracks. The original plan had in fact been to simply compile the 2 planned Read & Burns but the unforeseen runaway success of Read & Burn 01 meant that in spite of the “band merch only” status of Read & Burn 02 there would be too much duplication if that plan was to go ahead so an extra 4 tracks were made and some Read & Burn material was dropped in order to come up with an acceptable track list for Send. As none of those tracks had ever been released on vinyl a creative solution was sought that would accommodate all of the tracks contained in those 3 releases (which unhelpfully equals 1.5 standard 12” vinyl records). While 2021’s solution was 2 X 10”s - 2003’s solution was a set of fairly brutal edits and the resulting release became PF456 REDUX . A “does what it says on the tin” title which basically lists the catalogue numbers and the process by which they were squashed into a single 12”.

There was a limited run in 2003 and then the title was never re-pressed, living on as a digital product only. The item remains, nonetheless a curio. Born as much of creative curiosity as necessity and as the full tracks have found their ultimate expression as PF456 DELUXE, an expanded version with a book, it is perhaps fitting that PF456REDUX now finds its new home as a limited CD release. title PF456 Redux is both catalogue number and descriptor of the process.

TRACK LISTING

1. In The Art Of Stopping.
2.I Don’t Understand.
3. Comet.
4.Germ Ship.
5. 1st Fast.
6. The Agfers Of Kodack .
7. Half Eaten.
8. Being Watched.
9. You Can’t Leave Now.
10. Mr Marx’s Table.
11. Read And Burn.
12. Spent.
13. Trash Treasure .
14.Nice Streets Above.
15. Raft Ants.
16. 99.9

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2021 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY JUNE 12TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 6PM ON THE SAME DAY (SATURDAY JUNE 12TH).

Full length versions on vinyl for the first time in a unique package