The First Letter is the ninth studio album and the last album released by Wire

Wire (band)

Wire are an English rock band, formed in London in October 1976 by Colin Newman , Graham Lewis , Bruce Gilbert , and Robert Gotobed...

 before their second extended hiatus. It was one of only three releases credited to "Wir", the others being the "So And Slow It Grows" single, and a limited edition two song EP entitledVien. The band changed their name to "Wir" after drummer Robert Gotobed's departure, who quit the band because the musical direction increasingly relied on drum machine

Drum machine

A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...

s and loops. Other than an Erasure

Erasure

Erasure are an English synthpop duo, consisting of songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke and singer Andy Bell. Erasure entered the music scene in 1985 with their debut single "Who Needs Love Like That"...

 remix, the band would not reform until 1999, and not release any new material until 2002's Read and Burn 01 and Read and Burn 02 EPs and 2003's subsequent Send

Send (album)

Send is the tenth album by the English rock group Wire. It was their first recording as a 4 piece since 1990's Manscape and the first full length release by any incarnation of the group since 1991.-Track listing:# "In the Art of Stopping"# "Mr...

. The album produced the single "So and Slow It Grows." All songs were composed by Bruce Gilbert

Bruce Gilbert

Bruce Gilbert is an English musician. One of the founding members of the influential and experimental art-punk band Wire, Gilbert branched out into electronic music, performance art, music production, and DJing during the band's extended periods of inactivity...

, Colin Newman

Colin Newman

Colin Newman is an English musician, record producer and record label owner.-Biography:Newman is a member of the rock band Wire. When the band temporarily split in 1980, Newman pursued a solo career. His first solo LP, A-Z, was released in 1980 on the Beggar's Banquet label...

, and Graham Lewis

Graham Lewis

Graham Lewis is an English musician.Lewis is the bassist with punk rock/post-punk band Wire, a band formed in 1976...

, except "Naked, Whooping and Such-Like (Extended on and On)", with words by Lewis, and reading by Claude Bessey.

Track listing

1. "Take It (For Greedy)" – 3:13
2. "So and Slow It Grows" – 5:13
3. "A Bargain at 3 and 20 Yeah!" – 2:55
4. "Footsi — Footsi" – 4:55
5. "Ticking Mouth" – 6:31
6. "It Continues" – 4:33
7. "Looking at Me (Stop!) Stop!" – 4:12
8. "Naked, Whooping and Such-Like (Extended on and On)" – 7:05
9. "Tailor Made" – 3:48
10. "No Cows on the Ice" – 4:16
11. "A Big Glue Canal" – 4:09
12. "So and Slow It Grows" (Single Mix) – 4:00

Personnel

Wir

• Bruce Gilbert
  Bruce Gilbert
  Bruce Gilbert is an English musician. One of the founding members of the influential and experimental art-punk band Wire, Gilbert branched out into electronic music, performance art, music production, and DJing during the band's extended periods of inactivity...
  
   – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Graham Lewis
  Graham Lewis
  Graham Lewis is an English musician.Lewis is the bassist with punk rock/post-punk band Wire, a band formed in 1976...
  
   – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Colin Newman
  Colin Newman
  Colin Newman is an English musician, record producer and record label owner.-Biography:Newman is a member of the rock band Wire. When the band temporarily split in 1980, Newman pursued a solo career. His first solo LP, A-Z, was released in 1980 on the Beggar's Banquet label...
  
   – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  

Additional personnel

• Pascal Gabriel
  Pascal Gabriel
  Pascal Richard Marcel Gabriel is a Belgian-born musician based in London. His musical career began in 1977 in the punk rock band The Razors...
  
   – production
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  , mixing
  Audio mixing (recorded music)
  In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
  
   on "So and Slow It Grows" (Single Mix)
• Russell Haswell
  Russell Haswell
  Russell Haswell is a multidisciplinary artist.He has exhibited conceptual and wall based visual works, video art, public sculpture, as well as audio presentations in both art gallery and concert hall contexts. Extreme Computer Music is one specialized area of activity...
  
   – design and images
• George Holt – engineering
  Audio engineering
  An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
  
  
• Paul Kendall
  Paul Kendall
  Paul Kendall also known as PK or Piquet is a sound engineer, producer, mixer, composer.-The Space Age :Born in 1954, falling between the two moments of hippy and punk found himself stuck firmly in glam....
  
   – production, engineering
• Red Cloud – layout
• Sven – "3w" and "stoneman" images