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Chairs Missing by Wire

    Wire is a London Art Punk outfit. In addition to the standard four piece band they have a piano and synthesizer player. The album that we are reviewing was released on September 8th, in 1978.

    The songs were written either by guitarist and vocalist Colin Newman, guitarist B.C. Guilbert, or bassist and vocalist Lewis (yes, he is only credited with one name).

    The thing that makes Wire an art punk band rather than a regular punk band is their de-emphasis on the classic stuff of punk, that is drinking, fighting, and defying authority, and the emphasis is instead on strange lyrics and the usage of synthesizer, and guitar or studio effects.

    The first track off of side two Mercy is a stand-out track with its dark sounding ominous bass. The brooding atmosphere on this track is excellent. It reminds me of London Calling because the dark imagery of disaster used in both songs. In one “London is drowning, and I live by the river”, in Mercy it isin the other “...snow storms forecast imminently in areas
Dogger, Viking, Moray, Forth, and Orkney”.

    One stand out track is “I Am the Fly”. There are excellent chorus-drenched guitars on this song as the lead singer describes the in which they are “...the fly in the ointment”, and they do things flies do like crawling through “air pellet” holes in glass windows. There is a certain playfulness to this song that shines through.

    Another stand-out track that is good, but seems to come and go too fast is “Another Letter”. It has an excellent schizoid sort of synthesizer and frantic bass. The lyrics and tempo are quick. The lyric “You suddenly find things getting life-size” happens near the end of this song, implying things were not life-size before. This surrealness is something that sets this song apart from the others. The music historian Piero Scaruffi has described this album as a whole as surreal, and I agree. The synthesizers and the lyrics on this album are surreal, and that's what makes this album a strong overall album.

    An additional stand-out track is Outdoor Miner. That leads with the lyric “No blind spots for leopard's eyes, can only help to jeopardize, the lives of lambs the shepherd cries”. If these gentle lyrics are any indication this is one of the softer songs on this album. The keyboard, guitar and bass do there part and do not get in the way. This makes for a pleasant song that outlines the subtle eccentricities of the lead vocalist's vocals.

    There are many stand-out tracks on this album, and there are many tracks that you will simply like if you like punk rock. This album has some good tracks on it, but I could not possibly mention all of them. I think it is worth listening too. You probably want to bring up the lyrics page online so you can understand the lyrics though. Because of the great lyrics and usage of synthesizer I'm giving this album an 8 out of 10.

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