WIRE - Album by Album

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by debased, Jan 17, 2018.

  1. debased

    debased Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Roanoke, Virginia
    "There's nothing on Pink Flag that has a lasting quality in terms of what Wire are and how Wire likes to see itself. Wire didn't stay as what Pink Flag defines; Chairs Missing defines what Wire became, and what they have remained. Chairs Missing's much more harmonically rich and more beautiful. It's a much harder record to place in time than Pink Flag. And although it doesn't have the grandeur of 154, it's a special record. It's appealing but a little bit unhinged. It has a certain kind of energy to it, and a certain oddness - it's not quite as definable as it might be, and you don't know what to call it. I think it was a real touchstone for Wire. It's where Wire came into their own." Colin Newman
     
    vonwegen, broccolid, chahooa and 10 others like this.
  2. Em.

    Em. Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal, USA
    Chairs Missing is my favorite of their initial Trifecta of Magnificence. It ranges from the experimental to the (dare I say) 'poppy', and does it all so excellently.
    I mean, a tune like "Outdoor Miner" following "Mercy", and then followed by "I Am The Fly"...the whole thing is just so damned solid.

    While I'm thinking of it, for those who haven't heard it, the single version of "Outdoor Miner" is well worth checking out, as it's a bit longer than the album version, and includes a piano section after the 2nd chorus. Nothing mind-blowing, but I dig it.

    [​IMG]

     
    vonwegen, DesertChaos, bzfgt and 3 others like this.
  3. Nikki Actionpacked

    Nikki Actionpacked Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle Washington
    Wow. I never heard this version before. That's really cool.

    I worked my way backward to Wire from more contemporary British rock n roll--Radiohead, yes, but also other less known bands with obvious Wire and Gang of Four influences.

    Chairs Missing is one of my favorites because it still has some of the minimalism of Pink Flag with the "anything goes" attitude of 154.

    A special mention of the lyrics throughout this record: they're arch and difficult, but really rewarding, like little Kafka pieces. French Film Blurred is the most obvious example (also love this song) but Outdoor Miner is another one I love.

    Wire has always had a really interesting creative process when approaching their records so I'm interested in hearing peoples' thoughts about that. Thanks for starting this conversation!
     
    vonwegen, Devotional and bzfgt like this.
  4. ciderglider

    ciderglider Forum Resident

    I had the 1987 versions, and 2 of the 3 had defects, in that each had a track with a glitch. I have read that others had the same experience. I now have the 1994 versions, and I am happy with these. I've not investigated the 2006 releases, but I think I read they were louder.
     
  5. ciderglider

    ciderglider Forum Resident

    Looking at debased's first Chairs Missing post I noticed that the writing credits were altered for the 2006 release; I wasn't aware that this had happened. a bit of Googling suggests that this change led to Bruce Gilbert not rejoining the group in 2007.
     
  6. Spruce

    Spruce Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brigg, England
    You see.....I disagree with your opening sentence. I think it perfectly illustrates what Wire were/are. Great songs with irresistible hooks, quirky, different and everything else we associate with them. I agree entirely that the "sound" evolved from the dense guitar attack of the debut but the underlying principles of their songwriting remained. It just evolved...as most good bands do. Shame that the discussion about Pink Flag got somewhat off thread and was relatively brief. Anyway, here we are at the second album. Looking forward to the comments.
     
  7. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Colin Newman's statements on anything are entirely dependent on when they were made, he seems to change his opinions like his underwear. I remember him saying he was embarrassed by Mercy on this album, he dismissed it as sub-heavy metal with a lot of shouting on it. That was probably in the early 90s when he was moving closer to electronic music and cooling on guitars... fast forward a few years and Wire are back with loud guitars and a lot of shouting and playing Pink Flag in its entirety.
     
    DaveJ and vonwegen like this.
  8. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    II started with 154 and moved backwards. For years, though I liked it, I thought Pink Flag was too punk for me! Chairs Missing fits perfectly between the two, so it's understandable that it would be a favourite of people's - including the band's.

    Personally, Wire reforming in the 80s was like the Beatles reforming for the average SHF member - the gigs were amazing. In retrospect, however, tge records were uneven and, when I listened to them recently, kind of tame and almost generic 80s. Then Manscape was so boring it killed off my interest.

    I've got one album from the second reformation. Send, I think? A lot of shouting going on, no tunes. Didn't like it. Never heard much thereafter.
     
  9. MGSeveral

    MGSeveral Augm

    You may like 'Change becomes us', in which case
     
    vonwegen, bzfgt and strummer101 like this.
  10. Spruce

    Spruce Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brigg, England
    Sorry debased. I have only just spotted that it was a quote from Colin Newman. Anyway, I still stand by what I wrote. Colin Newman...what does he know!:p
     
    bzfgt likes this.
  11. Popmartijn

    Popmartijn Senior Member

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Thanks! I'll look out for the 1994 versions then. :righton:
     
  12. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    Yes, the extended middle break is very nice, I've always loved this single.
     
    vonwegen and Pavol Stromcek like this.
  13. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    I was just about to write something similar. Between "Real To Real" and "New Gold Dream" the Simple Minds were untouchable and released some seminal albums. That they appear in a Wire thread as contenders for "Great first three album runs", "great debuts" or even are compared to Big Country is.... well.... to use some vintage 1977 UK punk language... bollocks:crazy:
     
    strummer101 likes this.
  14. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    Chairs Missing is a phenomenal album. I listened to it the other day after this thread commenced... it's been a few years. It sounded more restrained and perhaps less-varied than I remembered in my mind's ear. I don't mean that as a criticism in any way. I don't listen to as much intensely aggressive music as I used to and I thought that Chairs Missing might be too much during a relaxed afternoon. It wasn't too much, it sounded great.

    And I followed it with a listen to my 5-song CDR mix of non-LP singles from this period and >>>.

    01 A Question of Degree
    02 Former Airline
    03 Our Swimmer
    04 Go Ahead
    05 Midnight Bahnhof Cafe

    They all segue together nicely and iirc, the last three were all recorded at the same session. That's getting ahead of ourselves a bit, but A Question of Degree, Former Airline and Go Ahead were all included on some CD reissues of Chairs Missing.
     
  15. debased

    debased Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Roanoke, Virginia
    Undoubtedly, there are people who don't check this website daily (or weekly) and will come into this thread at later stages. I don't mind a bit of backtracking as long as it's about Wire. The door has been pulled around but it hasn't been shut.

    This, as well as Robert's departure, will be thoroughly addressed later on.
     
  16. Pavol Stromcek

    Pavol Stromcek Senior Member

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    What a massive leap forward Chairs Missing was from Pink Flag. It's a major cornerstone of post punk, and for me it's really where the rubber meets the road. They almost completely abandoned punk and went all artsy, and managed to do so without losing their manic intensity. They got weirder and better. And Mike Thorne's synths are an invaluable part of Wire's artistic development, which leant the sound a kind of forward-thinking, futuristic vibe, and added an often gorgeous layer of texture and atmosphere.

    They're playing with a variety of sounds, messing with song structure, stripping things back where most bands previously wouldn't, but also building up subversively dense walls of sound that make even Pink Flag's loudest moments seem tame by comparison. Yet, it's not like it's all experimentation or angularity - there's an abundance of catchy, poppy melodies throughout. They strike a nice balance between art-damaged weirdness and hummable pop.

    "Practice Makes Perfect" is the perfect opener and works as a statement of purpose. It starts off so cool, detached, and a bit melancholy with its minor key chords, and quickly builds into something quite menacing and powerful. "French Film Blurred" - what a song title! - features a somewhat stripped back arrangement with instruments sort of squiggling in and out, and some amazing sounding guitars, and works its way up to a massive sounding crescendo.

    The brief, choppy, manic "Another the Letter" and "Men 2nd" do the whole brevity thing better than anything on Pink Flag!

    On the attractively melancholy "Marooned," Thorne's synths help set an awesomely brooding and icy mood. Thorne's lush synths feature prominently again on the quirkily catchy "Being Sucked in Again," one of my favorite tracks on the album. It's a perfect example of how you can take something that's basically pop and totally mess with the formula to make it sound fresh, bold, innovative, and weird. "Sand in My Joints" is a monster of a song that's as heavy and punky as anything on Pink Flag. "I Feel Mysterious Today" is, well, suitably mysterious.

    I have the 1989 Restless Retro CD, which tacks on "Former Airline," "Go Ahead," and "Question of Degree" at the end, and I'm so accustomed to hearing them in this context that to me they're part of the album. In particular, I love "Question of Degree," which is an outstanding song with more of those lush Mike Thorne synths, not to mention some wonderfully squishy guitar effects. I also dig the droning synth that runs through "Go Ahead," though I admit that I have to be in the right mood to let "Former Airline" play in its entirety.

    But Chairs Missing is not the most cohesive album. There are a few problem areas, and it probably doesn't always have the best flow in terms of track sequencing. For example, I've never been a fan of "Heartbeat" which just sounds trite to me. Nor have I ever been a huge fan of the lighthearted "I Am the Fly," which to me has always sounded like a silly pub romp. But most of the album is amazing and it will always be my second favorite Wire album (after 154).

    I love how they did the punk thing - and did it better than just about any of their peers - and then got the hell out and quickly moved on to something much more interesting. Like I said at the top, they made a staggering amount of artistic growth between Pink Flag and Chairs Missing, with the latter boldly heading into unchartered waters, in the process helping significantly to define the artier, more forward-thinking strains of post punk.
     
    Tristero, debased, crozcat and 4 others like this.
  17. Bren

    Bren Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    There were a handful of songs on Chairs Missing that I liked when I first heard it way back when (1991?), though I'd fallen for 154 first and Chairs seemed a bit bizarre in comparison. Nowadays I really appreciate how big a step it was for Wire and how unique the songs and arrangements still are today. The whole album bursts with new ideas and enthusiasm. Another The Letter packs so much information and development into a short span. Being Sucked In Again is an all-time fave. Too Late has those wonderful layers of guitars in the final minute that elevate what was already an exciting song. On and on.

    I also love the non-album tracks Question of Degree and Former Airline (mentioned above).
     
  18. DPK

    DPK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southeastern U.S.
    Any fans of the Ideal Copy/Bell is a Cup/ITTABA/Manscape/First Letter era here? Or am I the only one who loves that stuff (along with the early and late, more punky and rock and rolly stuff)?
     
    factory44 and Noisefreq1 like this.
  19. Bren

    Bren Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Yes indeed, lot of great stuff there. I love all of Wire's phases.
     
    chahooa and factory44 like this.
  20. MGSeveral

    MGSeveral Augm

    Re "Practice Makes Perfect"


    I have some old "Strand Magazine" compilations from around the 1890's, and in there are some casts of famous actor/actress/etc hands. Oddly enough Sarah Bernhardt is not one of them. But I always wondered if that's where they got the idea from. (I've had these books from around 1971 or so).

    I only found out on reading the latest Wire biography a couple years ago that that was exactly where they got the idea from.
     
    vonwegen and bzfgt like this.
  21. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    A Question of Degree etc shouldn't be anywhere near Chairs Missing, I don't think anything to do with this album, they're much more connected to 154. Dot Dash and Options R belong here.
     
  22. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    Yeah "Like a Heartbeat" and "Sand in My Joints" aren't my favorites, and "I Am The Fly" is good but near the bottom. Everything else on here is classic, and those aren't really bad.
     
    Pavol Stromcek likes this.
  23. Pavol Stromcek

    Pavol Stromcek Senior Member

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    I disagree in that, to me, "Dot Dash" and "Options R" sound much more like Pink Flag-era leftovers, and don't sound anything like Chairs Missing at all, even though that single was released much closer to Chairs. I also think "Question of Degree" fits in pretty well with Chairs Missing material even though it was released closer to 154, though it would fit well with that album too, I think.
     
  24. Pavol Stromcek

    Pavol Stromcek Senior Member

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    I am a massive fan of Ideal Copy and Bell Is a Cup, and I can't wait to talk about them when this thread gets around to them. (Not really a fan of IBTABA or Manscape, though.)
     
    chahooa and DesertChaos like this.
  25. Summer of Malcontent

    Summer of Malcontent Forum Resident

    Apparently this is the result of the label hearing 'Outdoor Miner' as the obvious single from the album (which proves nothing except that they had ears), except that it was 'obviously' too short. So Mike Thorne built on an extension without any additional input from the band. I think he did a great job: one of the most tasteful and organic 'extended versions' of the era.

    Was if this single or 'Map Ref.' that was about to be Wire's biggest (only) hit until the record company took part in some ethical dodginess that got it excluded from the charts all together?
     

Share This Page

molar-endocrine