CD: WM10
RELEASED: 2004
LABEL: Words On Music

01. Adam Franklin - Outdoor Miner
02. Titania - Outdoor Miner
03. Kick On The Floods - Outdoor Miner
04. Timonium - Outdoor Miner
05. Polar - Outdoor Miner
06. Typewriter - Outdoor Miner
07. Fiel Garvie - Outdoor Miner
08. Lush - Outdoor Miner
09. Experimental Aircraft - Outdoor Miner
10. Above The Orange Trees - Outdoor Miner
11. Christian Kiefer - Outdoor Miner
12. Flying Saucer Attack - Outdoor Miner
13. Boy Division - Outdoor Miner
14. Sharron Kraus - Outdoor Miner
15. The Meeting Places - Outdoor Miner
16. Laura Watling - Outdoor Miner
17. Should - Outdoor Miner
18. The Sems - Outdoor Miner
19. Junetile - Outdoor Miner

A Houseguest's Wish is a tribute CD to the seminal Wire song, "Outdoor Miner." Released in 1979 as a 7" single, fans and critics have long regarded Outdoor Miner as one of Wire's finest moments ? and one of their rare early excursions into unbridled, sugar-coated pop. The Outdoor Miner single was poised to be Wire's breakthrough song in their native England in 1979 until the British Market Research Bureau, compilers of the BBC charts, withdrew the single on allegations EMI had improperly hyped the single's sales. As a result, Wire narrowly missed appearing on the influential Top Of The Pops television program, and remained a band with credible cult status but no hit records. Choosing a single Wire song for this novel project is particularly apt in light of the band's 1991 album The Drill ? which contains nine reworkings of the title track. Words On Music has assembled interpretations by 19 artists from five countries (Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, Canada, USA) into one stunning and diverse collection. This novel project translates Outdoor Miner into folk (England's Sharron Kraus), blues (Christian Kiefer), punk (Germany's Boy Division), an intimate orchestral ballad (above the orange trees) noise-rock (England's Flying Saucer Attack), postrock (Timonium), twee (Laura Watling), and even a clarinet-escorted instrumental (Should). Featured appearances on this tribute include an acoustic excursion by Swervedriver frontman Adam Franklin, a buoyant pop rendition by Typewriter (Lucy Show singer Mark Bandola), Lush's dazzling and energetic 1991 recording, and the Beach Boys harmony-laden rendering by Kick On The Floods ? the new project by For Stars singer Carlos Forster. Outdoor Miner's strange subject matter ? that of the leaf-dwelling serpentine miner insect ? was once described by Wire singer and bassist Graham Lewis as their 'least commercial lyric.' But by integrating such impenetrable words into what is otherwise an extremely hummable, catchy pop song, Outdoor Miner transcends niche, cult-song status: it is a fertile composition capable of metamorphosis.