Pink Flag

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Pink Flag
Studio album by Wire
Released December 1977
Recorded September–October 1977 at Advision Studios
Genre Art punk, punk rock
Length 35:37
Label Harvest
Producer Mike Thorne
Wire chronology
Pink Flag
(1977)		 Chairs Missing
(1978)
"Reuters"
Sample of "Reuters" from Pink Flag
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Pink Flag is the debut studio album by English post-punk band Wire. It was released in December 1977, through Harvest Records.

It has been widely acclaimed and considered influential by critics.

Contents

Album cover [edit]

The sleeve concept is credited to B.C. Gilbert and Graham Lewis. The cover is a photo by Annette Green of a flagless flagpole with the pink flag painted on.

Reception [edit]

Critical [edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 5/5 stars[1]
Pitchfork 10/10[2]
Robert Christgau A[3]
Wireviews favorable[4]
The Needle Drop (10/10)[5]

Upon its release, Robert Christgau called it a "punk suite" and praised its "simultaneous rawness and detachment" and detected a rock-and-roll irony similar to but "much grimmer and more frightening" than the Ramones.[3] Trouser Press called it "a brilliant 21-song suite" in which the band "manipulated classic rock song structure by condensing them into brief, intense explosions of attitude and energy, coming up with a collection of unforgettable tunes".[6] In its retrospective review, Allmusic awarded the album five stars out of five, opining that it was "perhaps the most original debut album to come out of the first wave of British punk" and also "recognizable, yet simultaneously quite unlike anything that preceded it. Pink Flag's enduring influence pops up in hardcore, post-punk, alternative rock, and even Britpop, and it still remains a fresh, invigorating listen today: a fascinating, highly inventive rethinking of punk rock and its freedom to make up your own rules."[1]

Influence [edit]

Although the album was released to critical acclaim,[7][8][9][10] it was not a big seller. The album was listed at number 410 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003[11] and music journalist Stuart Maconie described it as "extraordinary" by the standards of the time at which it was produced.[12] Pitchfork ranked Pink Flag number 22 in its list "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s".[13]

The album's wide-ranging influence is exemplified by the number of bands which have covered its songs. R.E.M. reworked "Strange" on their 1987 album Document. Henry Rollins (as Henrietta Collins & The Wife-Beating Child Haters) covered "Ex Lion Tamer" on the 1987 album Drive by Shooting. Other notable covers include Minor Threat's version of "1 2 X U" on the Dischord Records compilation Flex Your Head (1982), Die Kreuzen's cover of the title track on a 7" single in 1990, and Firehose's version of "Mannequin", which appeared on its Live Totem Pole EP in 1992. Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine also did a cover of Mannequin which was included on their 1992 single Do Re Me so Far so Good. Elastica also used a riff similar to that of "Three Girl Rhumba" for their song "Connection". The New Bomb Turks covered "Mr. Suit" on their 1993 album Destroy Oh Boy! and noticeably slowed its tempo. The hardcore band Ampere also released a cover of "Mr. Suit", which can be heard on their split LP with Das Oath. "Reuters" was covered by Irish alternative metal group Therapy?, as a B-side to their Troublegum album, also by Scrawl. The Minutemen also drew influence from this album, borrowing from it the approach of recording and releasing briefer songs. The Lemonheads covered "Fragile" on their 2009 album Varshons. Moneybrother covered "Mannequin" on his 2006 album Pengabrorsan (the lyrics and title were translated into Swedish). Graham Coxon has also cited the album as an influence on his latest album A+E.[14]

Track listing [edit]

All songs written and composed by Bruce Gilbert, Graham Lewis, Colin Newman, and Robert Gotobed, except as indicated. 

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Reuters"   3:03
2. "Field Day for the Sundays"   0:28
3. "Three Girl Rhumba"   1:23
4. "Ex Lion Tamer"   2:19
5. "Lowdown"   2:26
6. "Start to Move"   1:13
7. "Brazil"   0:41
8. "It's So Obvious"   0:53
9. "Surgeon's Girl"   1:17
10. "Pink Flag"   3:47
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
11. "The Commercial"     0:49
12. "Straight Line"     0:44
13. "106 Beats That"     1:12
14. "Mr. Suit"     1:25
15. "Strange"     3:58
16. "Fragile"     1:18
17. "Mannequin"     2:37
18. "Different to Me"   Annette Green 0:43
19. "Champs"     1:46
20. "Feeling Called Love"     1:22
21. "12 X U"     1:55

The bonus tracks were removed from the 2006 remastered reissues, because, according to the band, they didn't honour the "conceptual clarity of the original statements".[15]

Personnel [edit]

Wire [edit]

Additional personnel [edit]

  • Kate Lukas – flute on "Strange"
  • Dave Oberlé – back-up vocals on "Mannequin"
  • Mike Thorne – production

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b Steve Huey. "Pink Flag". Allmusic. Retrieved 8 February 2012. 
  2. ^ Joe Tangari (5 May 2006). "Wire: Pink Flag". Pitchfork. Retrieved 8 February 2012. 
  3. ^ a b Robert Christgau. "Wire". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 8 February 2012. 
  4. ^ Craig Grannell (1998). "Reviews - Wire: Pink Flag". Wireviews. Retrieved 11 October 2011. 
  5. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBXwpNHHKtA&feature=plcp
  6. ^ "Wire". TrouserPress.com. Retrieved 8 February 2012. 
  7. ^ Colin Larkin (1994). All Time Top 1000 Albums. Enfield: Guinness Publishing. p. 236. ISBN 0-85112-786-X. "Abrasive and disjointed, these 21 tracks exude a fury impossible to ignore and one enhanced by their very brevity" 
  8. ^ Paul Du Noyer (1998). Encyclopedia of Albums: 1,000 Best-Ever Albums. Bristol: Dempsey Parr. p. 170. ISBN 1-84084-031-5. "The artily unintelligible lyrics and dense production marked Wire out as a sort of New Wave Roxy Music" 
  9. ^ Robert Dimery (2005). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. London: Cassell. p. 420. "The most original album of punk's first wave... The resulting sound was far colder and more brutual than anything else around at the time" 
  10. ^ NME (January 2006) 100 Greatest British Albums Ever! - 'Pink Flag' was placed no.83;
  11. ^ "410". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 8 February 2012.  Text " Pink Flag " ignored (help)
  12. ^ Stuart Maconie (2004). Cider With Roadies (1st ed.). London: Random House. p. 108. ISBN 0-09-189115-9. 
  13. ^ "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s". Pitchfork. 23 June 2004. Retrieved 6 March 2012. 
  14. ^ Q (magazine) April 2012 issue
  15. ^ Villeneuve, Phil (11 April 2006). "Wire Reissuing First Three LPs and Early Live Recordings". ChartAttack. Retrieved 2 September 2012. 

External links [edit]

Wire
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilation albums
EPs
Related articles
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