154

Wire | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1993)
• Original Release Date: 1979
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Restless Records
• ASIN: B000003BGM
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #214,665 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I Should Have Known Better

2. Two People in a Room

3. The 15th

4. The Other Window

5. Single K.O.

6. A Touching Display

7. On Returning

8. A Mutual Friend

9. Blessed State

10. Once Is Enough

11. Map Ref. 41°N 93°W

12. Indirect Enquiries

13. 40 Versions

14. Song 1 [*]

15. Get Down, Pts. 1-2 [*]

16. Let's Panic Later [*]

17. Small Electric Piece [*]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GET WIRED!!, March 15, 2003

By 

PLS "Scanno" (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 154 (Audio CD)

I was blessed to grow up in Oz during this period of great musical evolution. The Saints and Radio Birdman charged the senses in the mid-70's to aspire you to listen to 'great music'. Both bands first three albums fit into this category of 'great'. Not one bad song amongst a plethora of power and energy. Such joy!
Very few bands of any era can boast of such. WIRE is one. An amazing array and combination of sounds and words that evolve over the first three albums that can only be classified as 'GREAT'. Of all three albums, which I bought when they were first released, '154' is in my top 5 albums of all time. Knowing and loving the transition through all three WIRE albums, '154' came as the biggest surprise on first listening. It is a wonderous collaboration between four talented musicians who pushed all the boundaries to produce something so unique that it demanded unlimited listenings to try and work out all the nuances that made this so audio-addictive. The moods, the themes, the riffs, the sound effects, the singing.....the every part of it is wonderous and rare. Open your heart and your mind, play it at all different volumes and times, only then will you realise that it deserves a place in your collection.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS ' NUMBER ' SHOULD BE PLAYED ---, November 4, 2002

By 

Kingreg459@aol (Denver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 154 (Audio CD)

Not without reason is this recording referred
to as 'Post-punk Floyd.'
And as such, headphones plus a well-tempered
E.Q. will reveal many clever audioscapes.

WARNING:

This is not Moby; if you want cutesy synth
pop, get a Casio.

Responses welcome.

I can't recommend this disk more urgently.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 154 still matters in this day and age!, April 24, 2005

By 

Mike (North Bergen, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 154 (Audio CD)

This has to be the first truly great Wire cd, certainly the best
one in their first incarnation. 154 is filled with all the nihilistic, murky, schizophrenic variety that made it their finest achievement. 154 takes a few steps further from Chairs Missing and makes no apologies for where it takes the listener.In a nutshell, 154 takes one to a dreamy, crazy place with many questions and no answers. A place of musical paranoia and lyrical madness. Right from the start, 154 lures the listener into a wonderous, surrealistic soundscape. Even if there are a few cuts that hark back to Pink Flag (On Returning, Two People In a Room) and Chairs(Mutual Friend), the rest is the next step in Wire's intriguing evolution. Maybe some would place "The 15th" and Single KO" as also Chairs-influenced, but I would say that those two are murkier, and less accessible than "Outdoor Miner".

With that said, the rest ventures into unprecedented instru-mentation and novel melodies. Frontman, Colin Newman, shines on "Indirect Inquiries" and "Forty Versions" as well as on "The 15th", my favorite by the way. The meshing of schizophrenic lyrics with twisted guitar licks, bass, and flexible drumming, speaks volumes. Right hand, Graham Lewis, steps forth and takes center on some cuts (Touching Display, Other Window). The album opener, "I Should've Known Better", begins with Lewis singing and not Newman, another indicator that things were really changing.

154 is rather hard to categorize, like the band itself, aside from declaring it post-punk. Basically, it is a surreal blend of Pink Floyd, The Clash, and The Cure. It is an integral piece in the post-punk catalogue. And amazingly, not surprisingly, the cd is still influential and referenced to this day.