chairs missing

Wire began building on their skeletal sound with the disturbed post punk experiments of this transitional textural triumph. Their brilliant debut 'Pink Flag' had already established the group as art school deviants from the pure punk ethos; and, with their followup, they ventured even further.

'Chairs Missing' was recorded with Colin Newman on vocals and guitars; Bruce Gilbert on guitars; Graham Lewis on bass guitar and vocals; Robert Gotobed on drums; and producer Mike Thorne adding keyboards and synthesizers to the mix.


Newman looks back: "The thing about 'Pink Flag' is that I wrote all the tunes and taught Bruce to play the guitar parts. I think Bruce in his own words would say he doesn’t regard himself as a particularly good technical guitarist. His favorite approach to the guitar is to tune the guitar to an open tuning and then put his finger on it. The problem with that is you can’t accommodate minor chords and subtle chordal shifts and changes, which have occurred in all my songs, going back to the opening track of Pink Flag - Reuters. The first chord you hear is a minor. The fact that minor chords were used in Wire from the outset is what distinguished us from other groups. Punk rock is not about minor chords. Punk rock is about major chords. Minor chords give it a different kind of feeling, so Bruce had to learn how to play the guitar in standard tuning for Wire...He did it, and I think he became quite good at it. But it was really obvious by the time we were getting to the second album – 'Chairs Missing' – that we needed to be two guitars. The classic example is 'Practice Makes Perfect'. That’s my riff, and I’m the only one who can really play it like that. On 'Pink Flag', Bruce was playing my guitar chords, my rhythm guitar parts – and me going back to being the rhythm guitarist allowed Bruce to find another space within the band."

'Chairs Missing' became their first album to make it to the charts, hitting number forty-nine in the UK. The album was a pivotal moment in the development of the post punk movement. Thorn considers: "Their attitude, its expression through tough, competent musical work, and the support of EMI gave them considerable territorial reach, into which they grew. They found themselves bearing the torch of a reborn progressive music fired with the spirit of punk and do-it-yourself-without-the-self-serving-experts, experimenting and exploring far beyond the contemporary pastiche of Sham 69 ('Urry up 'Arry, we're going down the pub'). Punk had quickly started to imitate itself, as with any commercially successful form, but change was the only constant for Wire. The 'new wave' was evolving from the punk revolution, although none of us bore the burden of style - Wire's moves were just developmental and with the program. As pop intellectuals will observe, 'pop will eat itself,' a saying memorable enough that a group took it for their name. People who were the real article, who lived what they were presenting and who took the genuine personal risks, tend to be swamped by the predictable flood of musical, stylistic and lifestyle imitators. Style is easier to adopt than to generate substance, and this period was one of several where the originals provoked a trendy stampede."







http://www.pinkflag.com/














1. "Practice Makes Perfect" Bruce Gilbert, Colin Newman 4:11









2. "French Film Blurred" Graham Lewis, Newman 2:34








3. "Another the Letter" Gilbert, Newman 1:07

4. "Men 2nd" Lewis 1:43









5. "Marooned" Gilbert, Lewis, Newman 2:21










6. "Sand in My Joints" Lewis 1:50









7. "Being Sucked in Again" Newman 3:14











8. "Heartbeat"  Newman 3:16

9. "Mercy" Lewis, Newman 5:46









10. "Outdoor Miner" Lewis, Newman 1:44

11. "I Am the Fly" Lewis, Newman 3:09











12. "I Feel Mysterious Today" Lewis, Newman 1:57

13. "From the Nursery" Lewis, Newman 2:58









14. "Used To" Gilbert, Lewis  2:23










15. "Too Late" Gilbert 4:14








'Chairs Missing' 
full album

Practice Makes Perfect 0:00

French Film Blurred 4:11

Another The Letter 6:45

Men 2nd 7:52

Marooned 9:36

Sand in My Joints 11:57

Being Sucked In Again 13:48

Heartbeat 17:02

Mercy 20:18

Outdoor Miner 26:05

I Am the Fly 27:49

I Feel Mysterious Today 30:58

From the Nursery 32:56

Used To 35:55

Too Late 38:19

(bonus tracks 42:33)