Document and Eyewitness

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Document and Eyewitness
Document and Eyewitness cover
Live album by Wire
Released July 1981
Recorded Electric Ballroom, February 1980, Notre Dame Hall, July 1979
Genre Punk rock
Post-punk
Length 78:00"
Label Rough Trade/Mute
Producer Wire
Wire chronology
154
(1979)		 Document & Eyewitness
(1981)		 The Ideal Copy
(1987)

Document and Eyewitness marked the end of the first period of Wire's activity and the end of their association with EMI. The Notre Dame Hall show records Wire after the tour to support 154, tired of playing the same old songs and continually moving forward. Of the seven songs, three were never recorded by Wire and the rest were captured as B-sides and other ephemeral recordings.

The Electric Ballroom show documents a band revelling in their (artistic) freedom, creating a surreal and challenging show that not only included almost all new material, but also a Dadaist cabaret including a moving 6'x12' sheet behind which the band performed, assorted headdresses and props, and an MC, Wire's manager Mick Collins, who tried to keep control of proceedings. The show was performed before a restive punk crowd who were little appeased by a version of 12XU (edited down to a 15 second fragment for this release) and which overreacted with a thrown bottle during the unnamed instrumental.

The recording was made on an eight track tape recorder that was set up incorrectly, resulting in a distorted two track mix.

The live version of 'Heartbeat' was recorded in Montreux in March 1979 when Wire supported Roxy Music.

The original vinyl release was a double with the Notre Dame Hall and Montreux tracks on one record and the Electric Ballroom tracks on the other. 'Our Swimmer' and 'Midnight Bahnhof Cafe' were originally released on Rough Trade as a 7" single (RT79) and are bonus tracks on Mute's CD reissue.

[edit] Track listing

(1-7 were recorded at Notre Dame Hall, London, 8 at Montreux, 9-20 at the Electric Ballroom, London, 21-22 at Magritte Studio)

  1. 'Go Ahead'
  2. 'Ally in Exile'
  3. 'Relationship'
  4. 'Underwater Experiences'
  5. 'Witness to the Fact'
  6. '2 People in a Room'
  7. 'Our Swimmer'
  8. 'Heartbeat'
  9. '5/10' M.C.'s request spot
  10. '12XU (Fragment)'
  11. 'Underwater Experiences'
  12. 'Everythings Going To Be Nice' Woman enters pulling 2 tethered men and an inflatable jet
  13. 'Piano Tuner (Keep Strumming Those Guitars)' Vocalist attacks gas stove
  14. 'We Meet Under Tables' Vocalist wears black knee length veil
  15. 'Zegk Hoqp' 12 percussionists with newspaper head dresses
  16. 'Eastern Standard' M.C. attempts geographical explanation'
  17. 'Instrumental' (thrown bottle)
  18. 'Eels Sang Lino' Vocalist accompanied and lit by illuminated goose
  19. 'Revealing Trade Secrets'
  20. 'And Then...' Vocalist eats 2 loaves and then blank scrolls are unrolled
  21. 'Our Swimmer'
  22. 'Midnight Bahnhof Cafe'