Wire

condition (record/cover): NM / VG+ (light ring wear)

The Electric Ballroom show demonstrates Wire 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 reacted 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, when Wire supported Roxy Music on the continental leg of their Manifesto Tour. Colin Newman has stated that the idea of Document and Eyewitness "was to make it an art statement, as opposed to just releasing a rubbishly recorded gig." In his book Read and Burn: A Book About Wire, Wilson Neate wrote that the album was consequently not presented as a standard live album, that the band was "undercutting the illusion of the live moment with after-the-fact commentary and observations on the night's occurrences." The spoken commentary between selected tracks by two Wire fans, Adrian Garston and Russell Mills, constitutes the "eyewitness" in the album title