classic albums, atsonicpark edition # 2: wire - chairs missing
 

WIRE
"CHAIRS MISSING"
Harvest Records, 1978

1. "Practise Makes Perfect" – 4:11
2. "French Film Blurred" – 2:34
3. "Another the Letter" – 1:07
4. "Men 2nd" – 1:43
5. "Marooned" – 2:21
6. "Sand in My Joints" – 1:50
7. "Being Sucked in Again" – 3:14
8. "Heartbeat" – 3:16
9. "Mercy" – 5:46
10. "Outdoor Miner" – 1:44
11. "I Am the Fly" – 3:09
12. "I Feel Mysterious Today" – 1:57
13. "From the Nursery" – 2:58
14. "Used To" – 2:23
15. "Too Late" – 4:14

One of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make musically was being asked once about fifteen desert island discs and I couldn't decide between Pink Flag and Chairs Missing, two flawless records by Wire. I generally have to give the nod to Pink Flag because it's one of the only albums I've ever listened to, without taking it out of the disc changer, non-stop, for weeks and weeks and weeks. That record is just AMAZING. Amazing amazing amazing.

However, I think Pink Flag gets all the recognition, so I've decided to focus this post on Chairs Missing... I really dunno if I can reccomend it over Pink Flag, but I can say that it's definitely the more interesting of the two records. Pink Flag was art punk; Chairs Missing is art... I dunno... it's still got punk elements, but I can't really name any records that sound like this. It's like they took the sound of 'Reuters' from Pink Flag and used that as the basis for this entire album.

Endlessly inventine, I can't put my finger on what exactly is going on on some of these songs -- how they create this insane mood with just a couple standard rock instruments a little synthesizer doodles. It's crazy. It's cold but not in a Cure way; this isn't goth music. It's still accessible enough.. damn. Yeah.

"Mercy" is a standout, an epic that never gets boring, "Marooned" is simple but has one of the best choruses I've ever heard, "Another the Letter" has amazing guitar interplay, "I Am the Fly" sounds seriously deranged, "Men 2nd" is probably my favorite track.. .WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST...

But the best song on here has to be "French Film Blurred". This is a masterpiece of creativity, production, songcraft, effects.. I dunno. Everything comes together. At the end when there are about 5 or 6 layered guitars playing on top of each other as more effects are added on top and subtle keyboards rise to what is expected to be a noisey crescendo -- and then it all just ends. Crazy.

Just ridiculously amazing and brilliant.

I like Chairs Missing the best...though The 15th from 154 may be my all time favorite Wire song.

I like Wire's later stuff, but Pink Flag and Chairs Missing are incredible.

I just bought this on vinyl a few weeks ago and it's definitely superior to (the great) Pink flag.

amazing record. far superior to the much heralded pink flag. i am the fly is a classic boogie track. outdoor miner is beautiful. french film blurred is just plain genius. follow up 154 aint half as good but thats saying something. wires finest work.....

One of the best.

I'm still in total awe of this record.

Been listening to this album on and off for the past few days, great choice!. Really like Bruce Gilbert's solo output too.

Far better than Pink Flag to me.
Also my CD has a few bonus tracks, including Go Ahead, which is my fav Wire song.

Currently my favorite Wire album. It used to be 154 for the longest time, then Pink Flag for a bit, and then this one as of recently. I can never decide which one I like better, so I should probably stop trying.

The three track run of Heartbeat -> Mercy -> Outdoor Miner is fucking killer. I mean, of course the whole album is brilliant, but those three are on another level for me. I love the single version of OM with the lovely piano interlude too.

Anyone know how they got that weird robot sound effect for the guitar (I guess it's the guitar) on "I Am the Fly"?

id say the 4 track run of those three + i am the fly
it acts like some weird buildup to the aforementioned derangement of IATF

fuck.

I love the first 3 albums by this band more than life itself.

Yeah, those first 3 albums are a strong candidate for the best run of albums ever by any rock band. Like up there with VU & Nico to The Velvet Underground or EVOL to Daydream. Just stunningly fantastic. Chairs Missing is indeed the peak for me, but the other two are still stunning. The two punch of Mercy and Outdoor Miner just kills me. I don't know, I could say so much about this album, and Pink Flag, and 154, but to be honest there's no way I'll add anything, so I'll just say yes to whatever superlative praise can be heaped on them. And probably go listen to them now...

I love it, but I think I prefer Pink Flag after all. Both are fucking fantastic though, and 154 is really great as well. Fantastic band.

What I love about this band, and I think I said this elsewhere, and this goes for the Fall too, is how simple all the songs appear to be... I mean, the drums and the guitar lines and bass lines and whatever are always extremely simple, a 2 year old could play them, but the simplicity is very deceiving... there is so much more going on than meets the ears. It's remarkable.

True. I also love how they're so unclassifiable and before their time. I mean, even on Pink Flag which at first might appear to be quite "normal" punk, there's so much going on. It sounds punk, but at the same time they have the rawness of hardcore and some of the more complex post-punk sound and ideas - before those genres were even "invented".

Pink Flag is a pop record.
Some people believe it's punk because it was released in 1977.

Yeah right dude, next thing you'll be saying hip hop isn't music!

No wait...

Haha.

"Why-are you reading this?!"

I'm listening to this know for the first time in a while, and it truly is one of the best records ever. I keep expecting to turn around and see little chunks of my brain splattered on the wall behind me. I haven't really got anything new to say that justifies bringing this thread back from the dead, but I will comment that Mercy, especially in the second half, is one of the greatest things that could ever possibly exist, and that the immediate transition into Outdoor Miner KILLS me.

Also, is it just me, or do the last 2 minutes or so of Mercy seriously sound like something from Branca's The Ascension?

Hahha you're right.

I love Chairs Missing but its worth checking out 154 as well. Currently my favorite Wire album. They are still going strong as a live band too, worth catching if they do another tour.

.

Adam, did you hear The Lemonheads' cover of "Fragile" from VARSHONS this year?

Love WIRE. Love pink flag, chairs missing, all of it. They did what they wanted to do and oh so well.

no I did not!

I grabbed these two Wire albums from a friend the other week but I haven't had much of a listen to either just yet. This thread has inspired me to get to it sooner than later.

you should.

The first three Wire records are pretty much perfect in their own warped way, I think.

This one might be my personal favorite.

~Jeremy~

You know, I am listening to object 47 for the first time since it came out.

I love it! What was I thinking before? I wrote it off as "one of the worst albums I've ever heard." If you're expecting anything fast or adventurous, it's not that..
it's just good little songs.. good little SLOW songs.. still, tons of great simple bass riffs and overprocessed guitar hooks. Great stuff. It's no send, pink flag, chairs missing, 154, read and burn ep 1-3, behind the curtain.. but it's better than all the other stuff.

Pink Flag is my favorite but Chairs Missing is seriously close, it has my favorite Wire song ever, "Outdoor Miner".

There's some tribute cd released a few years back with like 20 covers of outdoor miner. I've never heard it.

Wire are incredibly boring. Not one interesting song.

pleasant but unchallenging

You bob your head to this, don't you.

I think Pink Flag and Charis Missing are flawless albums. Need to listen to 154 very soon. They laid the very foundation for great post-punk music with those two albums. Untouchable really. I think Wire, Gang of Four, Mission of Burma, The Pop Group, and The Feelies, make post-punk one solid genre, so varied in sound/method but always the same delicious recipe.

I'll go with Practice Makes Perfect for my favourite track.

Co-signed. Wire's fourth album shoulda sounded like this. So many pop hooks on this but Newman's voice is insane.

yeah colin has some GREAT stuff, especially a-z. wire albums 4 through... uhhh... i dunno.. suck. READ AND BURN picked up the quality.

BELL IS A CUP is a bit underrated though. I just think their experimentation with electronics was lame, and I think that about quite a few songs by the Fall, too, back when they experimented with electronics a lot, in uninteresting ways.