Chairs Missing [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Wire

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 11, 2006)
• Original Release Date: August 1978
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Pink Flag
• ASIN: B000ENC7L8
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #71,552 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
By the time of their sophomore effort, Wire had notched plenty of live gigs off the incredible strength of their debut Pink Flag. Where its predecessor had been awash in herky jerks and jagged guitars, Chairs was rife with what must've seemed like downright longform musical essays. The dirge-like "Mercy," after all, clocks in at an unheard-of five minutes and 46 seconds, and the synth-surrounded "Another the Letter" is the only song that spans just over a minute, sirening and getting nervy and portending 1979's third Wire outing, 154. It's a silly phrase given the stature of Wire's debut, but compared to Pink Flag (see how silly it is to compare things to Pink Flag?), what's here is diffuse. It's also brilliant: claustrophobic and rich in post-punk detail, furious and floating, anthemic ("Sand in My Joints") and pop-laden ("Outdoor Miner"). And now it's back, in a gatefold digipak, remastered and rich in color. --Andrew Bartlett

Product Description
UK remastered pressing. Wire's 3 Harvest released album's in the 70's are often referred to as a kind of accelerated development Triptych. The dfferences between the reductive minimalism of 1977's Pink Flag and the layered baroque (albeit still minimalistic) of 1979's 154 show a staggering turn over of ideas, yet each album remains iconic. 1978's Chairs Missing represented perhaps the biggest conceptual leap made during this period of Wire and was widey misunderstood at the time yet it remains, to the band and production crew Wire's favourite 70's album. If Pink Fag proposed an almost cut & paste approach to deconstructing rock history Chairs Missing proposed something more radical, a definite futurism with much less influence from it's antecedents. Chairs Missing was at once more stark and more lush than it's predecessor and has exerted it's own influence on the course of cultural history having laid down one of the earliest (if not the earliest) blueprints for the genuinely post-punk aesthetic. Emi. 2006 --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chairs Missing is incredible; and if you don't have it, you really should, April 15, 2006

By	Aquarius Records (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

In 1978, being qualified as "the Pink Floyd of the New Wave" might have come across as something of an insult; and by today's artistic strategies of rampant revivalism such a pithy remark may ring true to many a listener. That statement was, in fact, the critique prescribed to Chairs Missing, Wire's second album, as the album decelerated the pogo punk minimalism found on their first album with an increasing use of experimental production. In hindsight, Chairs Missing is the perfect transition between the high-strung velocity of Pink Flag and the staggering gloominess of 154; yet most transition records have a clunkiness about them, like a lanky teenager not quite able to fit into his sunday best. But Chairs Missing is miles above the average transition album.

To many a listener, Chairs Missing stands as the ultimate Wire album, with near perfect pop songs alternating between anthemic punk and eccentric production techniques (i.e. atonal synth drone, staccato guitar chops, overdubbed guitar distortion, etc.). Where Pink Flag kept many of the songs under a minute and half, Chairs Missing is downright baroque in its presentation of 3 minute tunes. The genius of Chairs Missing is how Colin Newman, Robert Gotobed, Bruce Gilbert, and Graham Lewis manage to steer through the diverse songwriting landscape, in how the album's opening track "Practice Makes Perfect" transitions from a delicate prance for jangled guitar into a precise expression of menace, in how "Outdoor Miner" creates the catchiest, Beatlesque chorus you'll never be able to sing back to yourself given the complexity of its rejoining, nonsensical syllables, in how jaggedly clean the guitars of Newman and Gilbert attack each other, in how Lewis' bass is fluid and effortless, in how this run-on sentence seems to have lost its way trying to fathom the complexity of Wire.

If you believe that the length of my reviews directly correlate to how good the record actually is, then I have failed as I would need to write a f-cking a book about how stunning this album is. Yeah, Chairs Missing is incredible; and if you don't have it, you really should.

5.0 out of 5 stars Indie History 101, December 26, 2008

By	Kevin P. Mccarthy "Art School Loser" (Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you do not know what this title is and you are reading this review, then you are not that cool...just kidding (maybe you were born after it came out). Consider that in the late 70s early 80s pop music was a mix between hair bands, post disco pop drivel, and maybe some english synth bands ( a la duran duran). Wire was part of a post-punk movement that is influential amongst indie bands today. Consider the context of Joy Division--early New Order, early Cure, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, the Buzzcocks and you can see where Wire fits in. While Colin Newman and crew did not release too many albums, there was a precision and technical perfection that was lacking in punk releases yet not as extreme as some of the artier edges of alternative music. I must say that one of my all time FAVORITE songs is Outdoor Miner. This release is ethereal, powerful, interesting, and beautiful-but-edgy. When it came out it was lost (see the above context statements), yet it is timeless. Current bands like the Editors, Interpol, even TV on Radio owe as much a debt to Wire as Joy Division. Highly recommended to the kiddies as well as their parents (egads are we that old?).

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic in your collection..., October 27, 2007

By	Music Geek (Gainesville, FL) - See all my reviews

Those of you who hold punk music in high esteem know only too well the invaluable role that Wire and "Pink Flag" have played in shaping the genre. And though I could never give enough credence to the likes of "12XU," this classic punk-rock headbanger does not even approach the full gamut of musical treasures that Wire has imparted over the years. "Chairs Missing" is the perfect case in point. Perhaps marking the most courageous and innovative leap from one style of music to another, "Chairs" (the follow up album to "Pink Flag") is replete with provocative and downright alluring musical textures that are sure to please. No individual claiming to love punk should be without this classic. And for those of you who are curious about punk, getting "Chairs" for your collection is no-brainer. After all, when you're talking about a staple classic, such as "Chairs," making the choice to get this CD is easy.
Enjoy!