Colin Newman : Alone
In October of 1980, Wire guitarist/ vocalist Colin Newman released his debut solo album A-Z. Here Newman is extending the off-kilter synth sounds and art school attitudes of Wire's 154 album with help from Wire drummer Robert Gotobed and Pink Flag/Chairs Missing/154 producer Mike Thorne. Wire hadn't officially broken up but it would be five years before the band ever played together onstage. Graham Lewis teamed up with Bruce Gilbert to make electronic music in He Said and Dome, but he and Newman co-wrote A-Z's most memorable track, "Alone". It appears on the Silence of the Lambs soundtrack and would later be covered by This Mortal Coil.
Alone, with too much generosity
A theatre mask of hostility attracts
Assaults occur infrequently
And those who come, to conquer?
Need strength
But damage accumulates
Still
Moving him to tears
Retained a sense of humour
Newman told NME
"..the lyrics are just noises that you can make with your mouth. They don't really mean anything. I can never make statements. If I say something I also say the opposite as well, and then I want to say something that states the middle ground, so I end up at the end of a piece of writing saying absolutely nothing!"
The album is a genuinely creepy and a challenging listen. The ultimate grower, it is rising in prestige as the decades go by and is considered by some to be Wire's "fourth album".
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