NOTES:
Colin Newman: Vocals.
Bruce Gilbert: Guitars.
Graham Lewis: Bass.
Robert Gotobed: Drums.

Produced by Mike Thorne.
p. 1977 c. 1989 EMI Records, Ltd.

The Sex Pistols? Who are they? Pink Flag marked the debut of Britain's now-
legendary Wire.  Although lost in the shuffle of the more popular "punk" acts (even though the band has earned some notoriety recently for letting Elastica sample their songs), Wire stands out as being quite an interesting and influential band - with real British accents.

Pink Flag, their rawest album to date, runs the gamut of pure punk, experimental rock, and even soft rock - but the main reasons to pick it up are: 1.) You'll find yourself humming the songs to yourself for days; 2.) You'll realize that the lyrics (if you can actually figure out what Colin Newman is singing) are intelligently written;  3.) You'll begin to spot the band's influence upon the modern music scene; and 4.) It rocks.

Wire's greatest strength is pushing two and three-chord melodies to the absolute limit, rivaled only by, perhaps, The Ramones. Punk addicts will admire  "1 2 X U," "Surgeon's Girl," "Mr. Suit," and "It's So Obvious" - all of which the band run through at lightening speed. Pink Flag is not without its surprises, though. Take "Strange" (which R.E.M. covered on 1987's Document LP) with its heavily distorted, hypnotic guitars and eerie flute passages, the affecting lite-rock balladry of "Fragile" and the undeniably catchy instrumental "The Commercial."

The record's other high points lie in Newman's hilarious lyrics. They range from the nonsensical "Three Girl Rhumba" ("Think of a number/Divide it by two/Something is nothing/Nothing is nothing"), to the witty "Lowdown" ("Another day from A to B/Again avoiding C, D, and E/Because E is where you play the blues") - and thankfully, there is little talk of anarchy. Plus, producer Mike Thorne cranks Bruce Gilbert's guitar into the mix so high that it's hard to hear much of anything else - Rock and Roll.

Salute.