#25
Wire
"Chairs Missing"(1978)
Thinking back, I'm fairly positive this was the first album I ever owned that was synth heavy. I milestone record in my case, as I used to be one of those douchebags that liked "Who's Next", but shunned all synthesizer use since I was mostly exposed to bad 80's synth pop. That being said, Wire's large departure here from their first album, "Pink Flag", isn't just in the use of synthesizers. It's a darker atmosphere, a more focused album, and it doesn't sound nearly as ramshackle as their debut. This could have been a completely different band, the only evidence of any "Pink Flag" sound on the noisy "Sand In My Boots".
During 2006, this was my favorite Wire album. WHile that has changed, what has not is the fact that this is a FANTASTIC album. I read an interview somewhere where one of the guys in Wire was saying how they tried to sneak something interesting into each of the songs. That's my favorite thing about it, while the songs stand up on their own, they're peppered with all sorts of experimental ideas. Take "Practice Makes Perfect", a classic post-punk song complete with angular guitars, an aesthetic that goes beyond punk, and these creepy tape loops of people laughing at the end, which make the song for me. Then there's "Outdoor Miner", the pop song of the album (Each Wire album has a great pop song-Pink Flag had 'Mannequin', 154 had 'Map Ref'...) which completely throws the listener off in the middle of a very dark, moody album.
Joy Division's, "Unknown Pleasures" seems to be agreed upon by most as the official influence on gothy post-punk, but this album came a year before it, and explores the same dark sound, albeit in a different way. "Chairs Missing" can be gloomy, yes, but the great thing about Wire is that gloom isn't the only thing you can hear on this album, theres a whole range of emotions, which is what kept "Chairs Missing" in my CD player so often. This is a classic album, and ought to be sought out by any fan of post-punk, Joy Division, Goth Rock, or any music fan in general.
89/100