While the LP version of Not About To Die was a Record Store Day release and we like to support independent record shops, we also appreciate that RSD does not cover all retail, not everyone wants to consume music on vinyl, and not everyone can get to a record shop. So this release is for everyone else!
The original Not About To Die was an illegal bootleg, released in the early 1980s, by the dubiously named Amnesia Records. The album comprised selections of demos recorded by Wire for Chairs Missing and 154. These demos had been recorded for EMI, with cassette copies circulated amongst record company employees. However, they were never intended for release.
A typically shoddy cash-in, the songs on Not About To Die were taken from a second- or possibly third-generation cassette, with the album housed in a grainy green and red photocopied sleeve. Compared with the high standards of production and design Wire have always been known for, it was something of an insult to band and fans alike.
Now, in a classic act of Wire perversity, the group have decided to redress the balance and reclaim one of the shadier moments of their history, by giving Not About To Die its first official release. All the tracks have been properly remastered, with relevant recording details in place. As for the artwork, while it strongly references the original, it is decidedly more artful in execution.