154

Rating

Album: 154
#	Song Title		Time
1)	I Should Have Known Better	More Info...	0:04
2)	Two People in a Room	More Info...	0:02
3)	The 15th	More Info...	0:03
4)	The Other Window	More Info...	0:02
5)	Single K.O.	More Info...	0:02
6)	A Touching Display	More Info...	0:07
7)	On Returning	More Info...	0:02
8)	A Mutual Friend	More Info...	0:04
9)	Blessed State	More Info...	0:03
10)	Once Is Enough	More Info...	0:03
11)	Map Ref 41°N 93°W	More Info...	0:03
12)	Indirect Enquiries	More Info...	0:03
13)	40 Versions	More Info...	0:03

Album: 154
#	Song Title		Time
1)	I Should Have Known Better	More Info...	0:04
2)	Two People in a Room	More Info...	0:02
3)	The 15th	More Info...	0:03
4)	The Other Window	More Info...	0:02
5)	Single K.O.	More Info...	0:02
6)	A Touching Display	More Info...	0:07
7)	On Returning	More Info...	0:02
8)	A Mutual Friend	More Info...	0:04
9)	Blessed State	More Info...	0:03
10)	Once Is Enough	More Info...	0:03
11)	Map Ref 41°N 93°W	More Info...	0:03
12)	Indirect Enquiries	More Info...	0:03
13)	40 Versions	More Info...	0:03

Performer Notes

Wire: Colin Newman, B.C. Gilbert (vocals, guitars); Graham Lewis (vocals, bass); Robert Gotobed (drums).
Additional personnel: Hilly Kristal (vocals); Tim Souster (electric viola); Kate Lucas (alto flute); Joan Whiting (English horn); Mike Thorne (keyboards).
Like its predecessor, 1977's CHAIRS MISSING, 154 finds Wire moving away from its punk roots toward darker, more experimental horizons. There is less overt anger and insolence than in the past, and in its place is plenty of dark weirdness. Truly disturbing at certain points, this album is a challenging listen. This is not a record to slap on while you clean up the house.
Beginning with the sinister "I Should Have Known Better" a song that has so little to do with the same-titled Beatles song that it really is scary, 154 follows with the shambling, atonal "Two People in a Room" and the choppy, robotic guitars of "The 15th." The fiendish "A Touching Display" sounds like music for a primitive rite, while on "A Mutual Friend," close British Invasion-flavored harmonies collide with harsh, dangerous-sounding guitar chords. The highlight here, and arguably the most incredible song in Wire's book, is "Map Ref. 41 N, 93 W." Words fail to conjure the otherworldly majesty of this track. It may be some kind of twisted cartographer's love song, but it could also be the backing music for a love scene between two artificial intelligences. What can you say? A stunner.

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone - "By the time they set off to record their third album 154, Wire continued to mature and settle more comfortably into a stately, post-punk sound that wound keyboard textures and a thoughtful austerity into their pop framework."

Q (9/94, p.131) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...less New Wavey, in parts industrial-grim...The Cure had a copy of this one..."

Uncut (p.106) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "154 is glorious -- banks of synth hang high over the album like trails of purple cloud at sunset. It's fully blown, fully realised..."

Magnet (p.91) - "154 picks up the gauntlet laid down by David Bowie and Brian Eno's first two Berlin recordings..."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.116) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his one's a classic....While some groups were wondering where post-punk would lead to, Wire had already got there..."

Mojo (Publisher) (10/99, p.130) - "...a record that improves with age....here the uneasy abstraction of their subject matter...is perfectly matched by the the magnetic attraction of their three principal voices...balanced to great effect as they would rarely be again..."