WIRE - PINK FLAG (180g LP)

Originally released on Harvest in 1977, Pink Flag is perhaps the most original debut album to come out of the first wave of British punk. Exhibiting severe art school damage, Wire careens at breakneck speed through 21 songs in 36 minutes to create an album that has influenced bands for nearly thirty years. 180 gram audiophile vinyl.

There are myriad details that illustrate why Wire's 1977 debut is bulletproof--or at least wildly compelling. There's the count of tracks--21 to be exact--the snare-cracked pulsing roll of 'Reuters,' which sports one of punk's greatest first lines: 'Our own correspondent is sorry to tell of an uneasy time, that all is not well.' There's the six songs that last under a minute (and at least that many more that last under a minute and a half), all of them urgently poised on Colin Newman's deadpan urgency--a laconic riposte to the shouting that in '77 was already central to punk. There's album closer '12XU,' which Minor Threat would make anthemic in their short hardcore-forging career. Pink Flag was made after Wire had played a mere 15 gigs, honing their sound in the atelier of the Clash, Sex Pistols, Ramones, etc. without sounding a smidge like anyone else. Importantly, it's the band itself that got rights to remaster this flawless gem, in a cool gatefold digipak with a fascinating liner essay. That's something you don't see many punks do.

1. Reuters 
2. Field Day for the Sundays 
3. Three Girl Rhumba 
4. Ex Lion Tamer 
5. Lowdown 
6. Start to Move 
7. Brazil 
8. It's So Obvious 
9. Surgeon's Girl 
10. Pink Flag 
11. Commercial 
12. Straight Line 
13. 106 Beats That 
14. Mr. Suit 
15. Strange 
16. Fragile 
17. Mannequin 
18. Different to Me 
19. Champs 
20. Feeling Called Love 
21. 12XU