Pink Flag

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Unsubst-infobox". Pink Flag is the debut album by the British post-punk band Wire. It was released in November 1977 through Harvest Records.Template:Refn The album was critically acclaimed on release, and has since been highly influential; today it is regarded as a landmark in the development of post-punk music.[1]

Critical reception

Template:Music ratings Reviewing in 1978 for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau called Pink Flag a "punk suite", praised its "simultaneous rawness and detachment" and detected a rock-and-roll irony similar to, but "much grimmer and more frightening" than, the Ramones.[2] In a 1978 Trouser Press review, Ira Robbins said that "Wire [push] minimalism to new heights" and that the band "dredges up images of...beat poetry--short fragments of impressions set to music." He further said that the 21 tracks are "not songs...There's no easy structure or meter. Each explores or describes or electrifies or challenges. There's no easy listening." Robbins concluded, "I can't say this is an enjoyable album. Maybe it's just a stupid bit of rubbish. But you won't know unless you find out."[3]

In a retrospective review, Steve Huey of AllMusic opined that Pink Flag was "perhaps the most original debut album to come out of the first wave of British punk" and also "recognizable, yet simultaneously quite unlike anything that preceded it. Pink FlagTemplate:'s enduring influence pops up in hardcore, post-punk, alternative rock, and even Britpop, and it still remains a fresh, invigorating listen today: a fascinating, highly inventive rethinking of punk rock and its freedom to make up your own rules."[4] Retrospectively, Trouser Press called the album "a brilliant 21-song suite" in which the band "manipulated classic rock song structure by condensing them into brief, intense explosions of attitude and energy, coming up with a collection of unforgettable tunes".[5] Pitchfork writer Joe Tangari summarized the album as "a fractured snapshot of punk alternately collapsing in on itself and exploding into song-fragment shrapnel."[6]

Legacy

Although the album has received critical acclaim,[7] it was not a big seller. It was listed at number 412 on Rolling StoneTemplate:'s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2012[8] – jumping up to number 310 in its 2020 edition[9] – and at number 378 in NME's list of the same name in 2013.[10] Music journalist Stuart Maconie described it as "extraordinary" by the standards of the time at which it was produced.[11] Pitchfork ranked Pink Flag number 22 in its list "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s".[12] The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe has cited Pink Flag as an influence.[13] Britpop band Elastica were influenced by Wire; they used a riff similar to that of "Three Girl Rhumba" for their song "Connection".[14] Graham Coxon of Blur cited Pink Flag as an influence on his eighth studio album A+E.[15] Hüsker Dü bassist Greg Norton has listed Pink Flag as one of his three favorite punk albums of all time.[16]

Track listing

Credits adapted from the 2018 Special Edition.[17][nb 1]

All music written by Colin Newman, except where noted. All lyrics written by Graham Lewis, except where noted.

Template:Track listing Template:Track listing

Template:Track listing * The bonus tracks were removed from the 2006 remastered reissues, because, according to the band, they did not honour the "conceptual clarity of the original statements".[19] The tracks were also left off both editions of Pink FlagTemplate:'s 2018 remaster, but can be found on the 2018 deluxe reissue of Chairs Missing.

2018 Special Edition

The first disc of the Special Edition contains the twenty-one tracks from the original album. Template:Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the 2018 Special Edition.[17]

Wire

Additional personnel and production

  • Kate Lukas – flute on "Strange"
  • Dave Oberlé – backing vocals on "Mannequin"
  • Mike Thorne – production, piano on "Reuters", backing vocals on "Reuters" and "Mr. Suit", flute arrangement on "Strange", electric piano on "Options R"
  • Paul Hardiman – engineer
  • Ken Thomas – assistant engineer
  • David Dragon – art direction
  • Annette Green – front and back cover photography
  • Richard Bray – back cover photography
  • Lynda House – back cover photography
  • Tim Chacksfield – project co-ordination (1994 reissue)
  • Phil Smee – packaging (1994 reissue)
  • Denis Blackham – remastering (2006 and 2018 reissue)
  • Jon Wozencroft – art direction (2018 reissue)
  • Jon Savage – liner notes (2018 reissue)
  • Graham Duff – liner notes (2018 reissue)

References

Template:Reflist

Informational notes

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:Wire

Template:Authority control

  1. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
  4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named AllMusic
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Pitchfork
  7. ↑ - Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
    - Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
    - Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
    -NME (January 2006). 100 Greatest British Albums Ever!. Template:Usurped. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  8. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
  9. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
  10. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
  14. ↑ Dimery, Robert, ed. (2011) [2005]. Elastica's borrowing from "Three Girl Rhumba" for 1994's "Connection".
  15. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ a b "Pink Flag (2018 Special Edition)". Discogs.com. Retrieved on 5 May 2019.
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Template:Cite magazine


Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "nb", but no corresponding <references group="nb"/> tag was found

Retrieved from "http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=Pink_Flag&oldid=1142266"