Wire - "Chairs Missing" (1978)

This album was not easy to find used, neither in Sweden nor here in Montreal. But suddenly one day, in a record store with a main focus on punk, it stood there in the shelf and waited for me. I quickly grabbed it, noted the words 'Colored vinyl on the cover - Wow, even better! - felt that nice combination of joy and surprise, paid and went happily home. The day had suddenly become so much better.

Once home, I put the album on the record player, and got down in my armchair full of expectations. But something disturbed me in the music, It was hard to put the finger on exactly what. There was something in the sound, something strange. I noticed after a while that not a single tone was kept straight, but they all went up and down. I immediately became even more suspicious, should it really sound like this, and got up and observed the record player's arm. It slalomed on the record. A long left turn, iiiooooo, and an as long right turn, oooiiiiii, and then left again. The record was crazily mispressed. The center of the tracks way off target. The day immediately became much worse.

The B-side is flawless, luckily enough, but the A-side's slalom competition makes it quite difficult to enjoy what I hear, the music doesn't sound like it's supposed to, and it bothers me. This was Wire's second album, and they had mixed up the more pure punk with electronic elements, and the word artpunk is sometimes used to describe the music. The listener is offered some relatively simple punk tunes but also dark creations that are more difficult to define. Everything from somewhat boring to more or less amazing.

It's a good album. If I try to ignore the A-side's soundly misfortunes, I understand that also that side is good. But the B-side would still be my favorite. Songs like I Am The Fly and Used To, everyone must love. Especially the latter I've been attached to lately. It feels quite far from punk, and maybe that's why I like it so much. I've never really been a punk lover, and that I like Wire probably depends on the fact that they often move quite a bit from the classic punk to pretty dark places. It's good stuff. Chairs Missing can be recommended, but is probably not for everyone.


Tracklist

Side A
1 Practice Makes Perfect 4:06
2 French Film Blurred 2:35
3 Another The Letter 1:06
4 Men 2nd 1:43
5 Marooned 2:21
6 Sand In My Joints 1:51
7 Being Sucked In Again 3:12
8 Heartbeat 3:15

Side B
1 Mercy 5:46
2 Outdoor miner 1:45
3 I Am The Fly 3:06
4 In Feel Mysterious Today 1:56
5 From The Nursery 3:00
6 Used To 2:21
7 Too Late 4:16