Search - Wire :: Pink Flag

A seminal band for a reason, and it all started with this al

Aquarius Records | San Francisco | 04/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Really, what more can I say about Wire's Pink Flag that hasn't already been said? The album is so good, so burned in the retina of my brain (even though I still cannot for the life of us unscramble Graham Lewis' lyrics), so nearly perfect that it's sort of hard to write about. In a perfect world, whatever nonsense I may have to say about the record would be moot, as you should already own this record (along with Chairs Missing and 154, Wire's second and third albums respectively). But for those of you who may be enraptured by the recent flurry of post-punk revivalists who continue to make quite a stir, let the reissue campaign of the first three records introduce you to the band that Interpol, Maximo Park, Franz Ferdinand, and Bloc Party only wish they could be.



Recorded in 1977, Pink Flag is an immaculately concise punk record, even as Wire recognized that punk was becoming a self-parody and willed themselves to develop through experimentation with structure, technology, and process. Pink Flag's 21 songs cover a mere 35 minutes, many of them clocking in around 90 seconds or "when they ran out of words" as bassist / vocalist Graham Lewis once quipped. Energetic and volatile, each of the songs on Pink Flag thrash through the repetoire of reductivist power-pop riffs as immediately catchy and aggressive as anything by the Damned, the Ramones, and the Sex Pistols. But even on their first album, Wire demonstrated an uncanny ability with chord changes and melodic shifts that by '70s standards were much artier than their punk bretheren. Of course, in the aftermath of math-rock's acrobatic twists and turns, Wire's Pink Flag hardly sounds unpredictable... but if it weren't for Wire would we really have Laddio Bollocko, for example? Probably not.



The album's opening track "Reuters" is an anxious introduction to Wire's provocation with lead vocalist Colin Newman over-annunciating a polemic against government's abuse of propaganda (sound familiar?) on top of an increasingly agitated metronomic blast of bass, twin guitar, and drums. Elsewhere near perfect pop songs develop out of the angular punk slashing, as heard on "Ex Liontamers" and "Mannequin." Wire ends the album with the monotone anthem "12 X U" which many have declared their "Anarchy In The UK." With a motorik rhythm punctured by concise punk riff, the track simultaneously decries homophobia and censorship with the song's entire lyrics "I saw you in the mag kissing the man / 1 2 X U!"



So yeah, Wire are a seminal band for a reason, and it all started with this album. If you don't have it, please do yourself a favor and buy this album. You won't regret it!"

Punk heaven

Jason R. Conger | Tampa, FL USA | 02/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Out of all the major punk albums, this one might be the most original. What makes it so unique in the realm of punk rock is the vast diversity of song structures Wire tackles here. Some songs are four minutes long and some songs are less than a minute long, which may happen frequently in the albums of today, but for the time was considered groundbreaking. It's this quirky unpredictability that makes Pink Flag so fresh and exciting to this day. As with most British punk albums, the vocals are barely audible, but no matter-the relentless energy and passion make up for any misgivings there may be. Although the vocals are hard to understand, the vocal phrasing is pitch-perfect; Colin Newman's singing here has the assurance of Roger Daltrey in his prime. As far as Pink Flag goes, it is one of those albums that just doesn't let up. From the swaggering confidence of "It's So Obvious" to the catchy grooves of "Three Girl Rhumba", this is one of the most essential of punk albums. It is ironic that an album this artsy can also offer such a good time. It's best not to pay any attention to the lyrics because they serve only the melody, yes, melody, of the guitar lines. This isn't Bob Dylan, this is 1977 British punk. Lyrics aside, let me just tell you that unlike most amateurish punk bands, these guys can play. Pink Flag does not even remotely resemble a debut album, these guys sound like they have been playing together for years. Spin magazine heralded Pink Flag the #2 punk album of all time after the Ramones' debut album. You'd better believe it. A+"

Limey Art Punk

Cromulus | Rome | 02/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 23 song CD by Limey art punkers is a must own for any serious punk fan. There is nothing in The Ramones, Clash, Sex Pistols, Gang Of Four, Talking Heads, and Television catalogs that this can't compete with. And the fact that Wire managed to find its own voice in such a crowded and talented punk scene with such competency is downright astonishing, if not miraculous.



The formula is simple - it's the Buddy Holly and Ramones approach to songwriting where everything is stripped down to its bare essentials except in the hands of Wire it yields shockingly different results. Whereas its American predecessors managed to find warmth, Wire manages to find chilling starkness. The Ramones' interest in junk culture ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre"), boredom ("Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue") and American romance ("Oh Oh I Love Her So") have no place in a world populated by Reuter's newscasts with reports of burning, looting and rape ("Reuters"), whoring oneself for marketing purposes ("12XU"), the carrion flesh for tabloids ("Field day For The Sundays") or bleak love ("Fragile").



Most of the 23 songs here are sparse, short (with a few exceptions), have an otherworldly beauty to them and almost 30 years later they still hit with potency and leave a mark on the listener.



Sadly, despite other high points on subsequent albums ("I Am The Fly", "Question Of Degree", "I Should Have Known better", "Practice Makes Perfect"), Wire never bested their debut.



Should you want to take the Wire plunge, Pink Flag is their masterpiece and their quasi - Best Of" Collection called "On Returning" will do the trick.

"