Review:

on 2008-08-26 xtal Said:

Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, 154. 1977, 1978, 1979. It's no wonder Wire disbanded after their defining triumvirate. How one band became so herculean over the short span of 3 albums in 3 years is beyond me.

I decided to review 154 because it is well known to be the red-headed step child in its family. 154 is obviously known and loved by Wire die-hards for the brilliant masterstroke it is, but few others beyond those borders. There are legions of simply Pink Flag fans who couldn't care less about post-1977 Wire-- I'm not innocent of this myself, it is almost a necessary phase on the way to total Wire fandom--. There are moderate Wire fans (like myself for about two years) who have no choice but to listen to Chairs Missing once their copy of Pink Flag melts from constant use. And then the group of Wire fans-- that I myself really only graduated to over the past year-- who embrace the 1970s Wire trilogy as their second family. It is a road of many repeated listens. I mean a lot. So many that I'm going to provide a general roadmap to true Wire appreciation.

First of all, secure yourself copies of each album on your preferred media. Second, don't procrastinate with the shelf space issue like I too often do: make room right away. Their adjoined spines look very pretty together. If this is your introduction to Wire, be patient: just let them sit on your shelf for a week or two and resist the temptation to play Pink Flag at "11" (sorry if iPods don't go up to 11, I don't use one). No, instead fill your time with other loosely related passtimes: drink more tea, golf twice in two weeks, feed any deer that live in your backyard, etcetera. Now try to buy a used copy of the Buzzcocks' "Singles Going Steady" and have at it a few times; once you've enjoyed that thoroughly find a copy of "I Robot" by the Alan Parsons Project (it doesn't matter if this one's used or not). It's a terrible album, but everyone should hear it for themselves. Finally, watch the first Harry Potter movie just so you know how poor 154 feels: like Ronald Weasley, 154 has the thankless job of standing in the shadows of attention-whore Pink Flag (that's Harry) and brainiac Chairs Missing (yep, Hermione). Has that week or two passed yet? Okay, throw in Pink Flag.

* 36 minutes later ... *

Press play again.

* another 36 minutes later ..... *

"Wow. That Buzzcocks album sucks!" [disclosure: that Buzzcocks album does not suck]

This is still a review for 154. I'm working up to that. This Pink Flag "thing" that you're in is going to go on for a while (and so it should). It is perfectly fine to discover many bands completely backwards, totally out of order, via compilations and mix tapes or whatever. Not Wire. Wire is one of a very small number of bands I would urge anyone to experience fully chronologically. It's for your own good, and while no one told me this I luckily did it anyway. Hypothetical: let's say I saw you putting on a [insert preferred physical media here] of Chairs Missing and you said "Hey, I'm about to listen to Chairs Missing without prior listening of Pink Flag" ... well then I would slap you across the face. Not to punish you, but to save you from the injustice you are about to commit on yourself.

Yes, I urge you that much.

Anyway, once it's time for Chairs Missing it does indeed come as a surprise. Not at how sharpened the band's skills are by 1978, but at the music they are now playing. Other people have talked about Chairs Missing at great lengths no doubt; I won't bother. I'll just say that one could argue in favour of Chairs Missing as the truest "punk" statement, the be-all end-all of its entire ethos. As quickly as Pink Flag embraced punk culture and punk embraced it, Chairs Missing sneered in the rear-view mirror and told "punk culture" to blow itself.

By the time of 154's arrival it's obvious that Wire were more than just post-punk. But I'd like to talk about the music. On 154 Wire are writing full-fledged hook-laden pop anthems. "Map Ref. 41 Degrees N 93 Degrees W" is probably the finest victory lap my ears have ever heard, its ridiculous name guaranteed to annoy everyone who would ever talk about it. "On Returning" is a brilliant vignette-- it would have been an epic on Pink Flag-- about exactly that, showing that if they wanted to they could have easily cut Pink Flag 2 and 3, but here their fractured riffs sound even deadlier than before. "I Should Have Known Better" is a brilliant opener that sets the tone as much as, if not more than, "Reuters" and "Practise Makes Perfect" did on their respective albums. "The 15th" is the first pop song on the album and possibly Wire's best-known track. Here the supposed inaccessibility of Wire never seemed so accessible, and 154 begins quickly to take hold.

The middle section comprised of "Single K.O.", "A Touching Display", "On Returning", "A Mutual Friend" and "Blessed State" is the meat and potatoes, and it's darn tasty, offering a nice counterpoint to Chairs Missing's centerpieces, "Heartbeat" and "Mercy." Admittedly 154 took its time to grow on me. I had listened to Pink Flag probably 40 times and Chairs Missing 20 before I gave 154 a second listen. But it all came in time.

If one person's curiosity is piqued by my ranting and raving then I will be pleased. I've been thinking of something to say about 154 for a while and this is really all I could come up with, which ended up being mostly about Wire's other two albums. Oh well. If you scour the internet and find a million best-of whatever music lists I challenge you to find a list where 154 isn't the lowest ranked of Wire's 1970s output. Bollocks I say! 154 is Wire's absolute finest moment, but don't take it from me. If you haven't discovered this excellent band, please do so.

Wire is kind of like Zeppelin IV: side two pounds side one's ass, but you still have to make the full journey to appreciate each part of the whole for what it is.
Rating: 9/10