Pink Flag

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Pink Flag
Studio album by Wire
Released	December 1977
Recorded	Advision Studios, September & October 1977
Genre	Punk rock
Length	35:37 (original album and 2006 re-issue) 39:31 (1994 re-issue)
Label	Harvest/EMI 11757, Pinkflag
Producer	Mike Thorne
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Pitchfork Media (10.0/10) link Robert Christgau (A) link
Wire chronology
Pink Flag (1977) Chairs Missing (1978)

Pink Flag is the first album by the band Wire, released in 1977. It features what is perhaps punk rock's first instrumental song, "The Commercial". Although the album was released to huge critical acclaim, it was not a big seller. In 2003, the album was ranked number 410 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The sleeve concept is credited to B.C. Gilbert and Graham Lewis. The cover is a photo by Annette Green of a flagless flagpole with the pink flag painted on.

Contents 1 Influence 2 Track listing 2.1 Side one 2.2 Side two 2.3 CD reissue bonus tracks 3 LP sleeve credits 4 Personnel 5 External links

[edit] Influence

The album's wide-ranging influence is exemplified in the number of bands that have covered songs from it. R.E.M. reworked "Strange" on their 1987 album Document. Henry Rollins (As Henrietta Collins & The Wife-Beating Child Haters) covered Ex-Lion Tamer on the 1987 album Drive By Shooting. Other notable covers include Minor Threat's version of "12XU" on the 1982 Dischord compilation Flex Your Head, and fIREHOSE's version of "Mannequin," which appeared on its Live Totem Pole EP in 1992. Elastica also used a riff similar to that of "Three Girl Rhumba" for their song "Connection". The New Bomb Turks covered "Mr. Suit" on their 1993 album Destroy Oh Boy! and noticeably slowed it down. The Amherst, Massachusetts hardcore band Ampere also cover "Mr. Suit". It can be heard on their split LP with Das Oath. "Reuters" was covered by Therapy? as a b-side to their Troublegum album.

[edit] Track listing

All songs were written by Bruce Gilbert, Graham Lewis, Colin Newman & Robert Gotobed, except as indicated.

[edit] Side one

1. "Reuters" – 3:03
2. "Field Day for the Sundays" – 0:28
3. "Three Girl Rhumba" – 1:23
4. "Ex Lion Tamer" – 2:19
5. "Lowdown" – 2:26
6. "Start to Move" – 1:13
7. "Brazil" – 0:41
8. "It's So Obvious" – 0:53
9. "Surgeon's Girl" – 1:17
10. "Pink Flag" – 3:47

[edit] Side two

1. "The Commercial" – 0:49
2. "Straight Line" – 0:44
3. "106 Beats That" – 1:12
4. "Mr. Suit" – 1:25
5. "Strange" – 3:58
6. "Fragile" – 1:18
7. "Mannequin" – 2:37
8. "Different to Me" (Annette Green) – 0:43
9. "Champs" – 1:46
10. "Feeling Called Love" – 1:22
11. "1 2 X U" – 1:55

[edit] CD reissue bonus tracks

1. "Dot Dash" – 2:25 [1994 reissue]
2. "Options R" – 1:36 [1989 reissue, 1994 reissue]

Extra tracks have been removed from the 2006 remastered reissues, because, according to the band, they didn't honour the "conceptual clarity of the original statements".

[edit] LP sleeve credits

• VOCALS--COLIN
  Black Hair
• GUITAR--B. C. GILBERT
  Blue Eyes
• DRUMS--ROBERT GOTOBED
  6' 3"
• BASS--LEWIS
  9 st. 6 lbs.

[edit] Personnel

• Colin Newman - vocals
• Bruce Gilbert - guitar
• Graham Lewis - bass
• Robert Gotobed - drums
• Kate Lukas - flute on "Strange"
• Dave Oberlé - back-up vocals on "Mannequin"
• Mike Thorne - producer

[edit] External links

• The Making of Pink Flag