Chairs Missing

Updated on Sep 21, 2024

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Released August 1978 Chairs Missing(1978) 154(1979) Release date August 1978 Genre New wave/post-punk		Length 42:27 Artist Wire Label Harvest Records Producer Mike Thorne

Recorded 1978 at Advision Studios, London, England, UK Similar Wire albums, Post-punk albums

Wire chairs missing 1978 full album

Chairs Missing is the second studio album by English rock band Wire. It was released in August 1978. The album peaked at number 48 in the Uk albums chart.

Although it features some of the minimalist punk rock of the band's debut Pink Flag, it features more developed song structure (taking some cues from 1970s prog-rock, psychedelia, and art rock), keyboard and synthesizer elements brought in by producer Mike Thorne, and a broader palette of emotional and intellectual subject matter. The title is said to be a British slang term for a mildly disturbed person, as in "that guy has a few chairs missing in his front room". The single "Outdoor Miner" was a minor hit, peaking at number 51 in the UK singles chart.

In 2004 the US record label Words-on-Music released A Houseguest's Wish, a CD tribute album to the band consisting solely of 19 different versions of the Chairs Missing track "Outdoor Miner".

Wire french film blurred

Critical reception

In their retrospective review, Steve Huey of AllMusic gave the album five stars out of five and wrote "The arty darkness of Chairs Missing, combined with the often icy-sounding synth/guitar arrangements, helps make the record a crucial landmark in the evolution of punk into post-punk and goth, as well as a testament to Wire's rapid development and inventiveness." BBC Music called the album a "glorious avant-pop coup" and (referring to the 2006 edition of the album) "the most satisfying of the three reissues [the others being Pink Flag and 154]." Pitchfork listed Chairs Missing as 33rd best album of the 1970s. NME listed the album as the 394th greatest album of all time.

Track listing

*The bonus tracks on the 1989 and 1994 reissues were removed from the 2006 remastered reissue because they, according to the band, didn't honour the "conceptual clarity of the original statements".

Personnel

Wire

Colin Newman – vocals, guitars

Bruce Gilbert – guitars

Graham Lewis – bass guitar, vocals

Robert Gotobed – drums

Additional personnel

Kathryn Lukas – flute on "Heartbeat"

Mike Thorne – keyboards, synthesizers

Production

Denis Blackham – arrangement

Chris Blair – cutting engineering

Tim Chacksfield – project co-ordination

Andrew Day – reissue design

Bruce Gilbert – arrangement, concept

Robert Gotobed – arrangement

Annette Green – photography

Paul Hardiman – engineering

Graham Lewis – arrangement, concept, original sleeve design

Colin Newman – arrangement

Brian Palmer – art direction

Phil Smee – packaging

Ken Thomas – assistant engineering

Mike Thorne – arrangement, production

Songs

1Practice Makes Perfect4:07
2French Film Blurred2:35
3Another the Letter1:08

References

Chairs Missing Wikipedia

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