Performer Notes

Wire: Colin Newman (vocals, guitar); Graham Lewis (vocals, bass); B.C. Gilbert (guitar); Robert Gotobed (drums).
Additional personnel: Kate Lukas (flute); Dave Oberle (background vocals).
Recording information: Advision Studios, Gosfield Street, London (08/1977); EMI Studios, Church Path, Chiswick, London (08/1977); Riverside Studios, Church Path, Chiswick, London (08/1977); Advision Studios, Gosfield Street, London (09/1977/10/1977); EMI Studios, Church Path, Chiswick, London (09/1977/10/1977); Riverside Studios, Church Path, Chiswick, London (09/1977/10/1977); Advision Studios, Gosfield Street, London (1977); EMI Studios, Church Path, Chiswick, London (1977); Riverside Studios, Church Path, Chiswick, London (1977).
Editor: Craig Grannell.
Introduction by: Jon Savage .
Photographer: Annette Green.
Wire's furious interpretation of punk was encapsulated on this primitive, minimalist debut. Abrasive and disjointed, these 21 tracks exude a fury impossible to ignore and one enhanced by their very brevity. Tracks halt, sometimes abruptly, when the point has been made, creating an ever-changing melange of sound and texture. While generally aggressive, Pink Flag also boasts two wonderful pop songs ('Ex-Lion Tamer' and 'Mannequin'), suggesting that Wire would not be constrained by stylistic expectations. The album's mixture of polemics and pointedness would influence several US groups, including R.E.M., who later covered 'Strange'. Its perceptive urgency grows with time.

Professional Reviews

Spin (p.58) - Ranked #7 in Spin's "The 10 Best Reissues of 2006" -- "These 21 squalling miniatures are post-punk's first great bow shot."

Spin (5/01, p.108) - Ranked #2 in Spin's "50 Most Essential Punk Records" - "...Britain's Ramones....Call it the birth of art-punk: oblique, corrosive, itchy-catchy microsongs by pissy outsiders..."

Q (5/02 SE, p.144) - Included in Q's "100 Best Punk Albums".

Q (9/94, p.131) - 3 Stars - Good - "...as tight and covertly tuneful as The Buzzcocks, minus the hormonal longing....Cheap, but never dumb..."

Uncut (p.106) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "Big-Bang-like in its density, and already pregnant with the possibilities they would later realise....Brilliantly devised..."

Magnet (p.91) - "The distilled melodies, cast-iron guitar tones and ultra-basic rhythms hold up today better than almost anything else from the class of '77..."

Mojo (Publisher) (3/03, p.76) - Ranked #24 in Mojo's "Top 50 Punk Albums" - "...Their debut sounded like nothing before - sparse, nervy, emotionally repressed, full of memorable hooks..."

NME (Magazine) (9/18/93, p.19) - Ranked #31 in NME's list of the 'Greatest Albums Of The '70s.'

NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #77 in NME's list of the 'Greatest Albums Of All Time.'