Wire - "Pink Flag"

In an era of hackneyed Chuck Berry riffs, ill informed "political" lyrics, and intense amounts of self destruction, "Pink Flag" emerged as a wake up call. It was a post 70's album before the 70's even ended, a classy and loud, pissed off snarl. It packed surreal (yet oddly intelligent lyrics) with a perfectly balanced sense of production of pace. It was slow where it needed to be, fast where it needed to be, sad and happy only when necessary; it was (and still is) one of the most revolutionary albums ever made. And no-one even noticed when it was first released.
I find it really crazy that an album like this came out of the U.K right around the same time as The Clash, the Buzzcocks, The Damned, and even that dreaded bunch of posers The Sex Pistols. It makes me wonder, why didn't anyone pay attention? Why is Wire scarcely (if ever) mentioned in those retrospective music lists made by Rolling Stone or NME.com? My theory is that it was to ahead of its time. I think, in alot of ways, it still IS ahead of our time. I listen to it and parts of it make zero sense to me; and I love it for that very reason. It packs the speed and intensity that would one day become 80's hardcore with the delicacy and honesty that would manifest into "emo" music later down the line. The distortion is so crunchy and perfect sounding and then it switches to a barebones, raw, clean sound that makes you sit down and listen. It rocks, it rolls, and it speaks. It is such an important album in musical history, and it is really close to my heart. Rites of Spring, Fugazi, Minor Threat, and pretty much every local band in Calgary would not exist were it not for this band and this album. I could really rant on and on about this album but you should just check it out yourself to see what I mean. Enjoy!

1. Reuters
2. Field Day for the Sundays
3. Three Girl Rhumba
4. Ex Lion Tamer
5. Lowdown
6. Start to Move
7. Brazil
8. It's So Obvious
9. Surgeon's Girl
10. Pink Flag
11. The Commercial
12. Straight Line
13. 106 Beats That
14. Mr. Suit
15. Strange
16. Fragile
17. Mannequin
18. Different to Me
19. Champs
20. Feeling Called Love
21. 12XU

DL link here!