386) Wire Train - In A Chamber

I am eleven in 1982, and music is something I Like, well I watch Top of the Pops. My late father’s records sit in a cupboard; my mother never plays them and although I have looked at them, I have no interest in listening to them and keep asking her why she didn’t just throw them away. Now as a fifty-five-year-old man I see she was a young woman in her early thirties grieving for the loss of her husband so she would have no desire to throw them away, they were part of him and although I don’t really remember him maybe my love for music comes from him.

The reason for the reminisce is because reading up on Wire Train they formed in 1982 which doesn’t seem that long ago but then I realised I was a child and not the grandad I am now, where does the time go? They were gone by the early 90’s so this is another band that have passed me by, it’s becoming a theme.

On first listen I am hearing early REM although the vocals are a lot easier to make out than early Michael Stipe.

Opener I’ll Do You I like the rumbling bass and when all the band come in on the chorus we have a very catchy opener and Everything‘s Turning Up Down Again is even better as the band have one of those guitars throughout that’s early Cure/Banshees all shimmering and juddery (apologies to actual musicians but that’s what it sounds like to cloth ears here).

If someone played this record to you and said guess the decade you would have no hesitation in saying the 80’s, during the instrumental breaks you realise this is a band with a solid rhythm section who actually only lasted this record before moving on.

Chamber of Hellos starts like Aha’s Take On Me when the drums come in for a few seconds (Aha came a few years later so It’s actually the other way round) but then the guitar arrives and the chorus has an echo like sound with a chiming guitar.

She’s On Fire is three minutes of heads down catchiness and Love Against Me ends the record and this band really could play.

At times I am also reminded of early Alarm and this is where I am being unfair on Wire Train as I have name checked several bands already who I know better than Wire Train, even Aha I have to admit, whereas many who know Wire Train would compare these bands against them.

If you enjoy early 80s guitar albums that have songs that will make you tap along then In A Chamber is worth your time and for a brief period it made me think about my childhood, the good and the bad and that ladies and gentlemen is the magic of music.

7/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: Everything’s Turning Up Down Again