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elcome to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blog. The aim of this blog is to introduce the readers to music that is out of print, commercially unavailable, released under a creative commons license, or with approval by the featured artist. The majority of the music posted here would be considered underground. Don't let that fool you into thinking that the music featured here might be any less enjoyable than that of the mainstream artists you hear on the radio, as this couldn't be further from the truth. Please keep in mind that the majority of the artists that appear on this blog, along with their respective record labels, are not wealthy and need your support. If you enjoy the material that you find here, please support the artists/labels by purchasing their material afterwards. If you are an artist/label that would prefer to have your material removed from this blog, simply leave me a comment, and I would be more than happy to promptly remove the offending post. In addition to running this blog, I also work on a few other projects during my spare time. You can find links to those, as well as a few other important links associated with Digital Meltd0wn in the menu bar above.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Wire - Pink Flag


In most circles, Wire is considered one of the original art-punk bands. Their style matched up with the punk aesthetic: minimal musical experience and a penchant for short, direct songs. But while the punk movement is generally credited with trying to distill rock music down to its essential elements, Wire came from a more extreme angle.

Rather than starting with bombastic '70s rock and tearing it down, Wire started with the most basic elements of music and built musical structures without antecedent. They approached making music like art students building primitive sculptures with guitar and drum sounds instead of toothpicks and glue. As their career progressed, the band moved on to making more and more elaborate sculptures, but in the beginning, there was Pink Flag: 21 songs in under 36 minutes. Raw, varied and uncompromising, it stands as one of the more powerful debut albums of the '70s.

The record's spread can make it hard to sum up. There is no unified statement made, merely a collection of concepts that is impressive for its sheer weight. Though the punk era was one of grand statements that made people re-think what rock and roll was about, Wire does that here simply by playing its heart out. It can be abrasive, but Pink Flag's density and widely varied smorgasbord of musical ideas make it a landmark album. (Year of Release: 1977)

Track List:
1. Reuters Listen
2. Field Day For The Sundays
3. Three Girl Rhumba
4. Ex Lion Tamer
5. Lowdown Listen
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 Listen
20. Feeling Called Love
21. 1 2 X U
22. Options R [*]

[*] - Re-Issue Bonus Track

Download: Wire - Pink Flag (54.9MB)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do think Pink Flag is an uncredible album, but I already have it! Thanks for uploading it anyway.

Anonymous said...

I've always wanted to listen to this album and now you've given me the opportunity to do so. Thank you!

And thank you for your good taste.

Anonymous said...

One of the best records still around from the punk era, and it hasn't got old at all... let these young people know. Although some recent music is worth too.

Anonymous said...

Great Post! Been looking for this one. Thanks Big!

Anonymous said...

Excellent! Still got the vinyl & bought "On Returning", but it doesn't have the title track which has always been a favourite. Denkuvell - Thanks! Andy