Wire – Pink Flag (Remastered) (LP) on Sale

Digitally remastered edition. Pink Flag is the debut studio album by English band Wire. It was released in November 1977, through Harvest Records. Though the album failed to chart on its initial release, it has been widely acclaimed and is considered by critics and other commentators to have been highly influential on many other musicians since its release. Wire s first three albums need no introduction. They are the three classic albums on which Wire s reputation is based. Moreover, they are the recordings that minted the post-punk form. This was adopted by other bands, but Wire were there first.

Wire s furious interpretation of punk was encapsulated on this primitive, minimalist debut. Abrasive and disjointed, these 21 tracks exude a fury impossible to ignore and one enhanced by their very brevity. Tracks halt, sometimes abruptly, when the point has been made, creating an ever-changing melange of sound and texture. While generally aggressive, Pink Flag also boasts two wonderful pop songs ( Ex-Lion Tamer and Mannequin ), suggesting that Wire would not be constrained by stylistic expectations. The album s mixture of polemics and pointedness would influence several US groups, including R.E.M., who later covered Strange . Its perceptive urgency grows with time.

Wire: Colin Newman (vocals, guitar); Graham Lewis (vocals, bass); B.C. Gilbert (guitar); Robert Gotobed (drums).
Additional personnel: Kate Lukas (flute); Dave Oberle (background vocals).