''Chairs Missing'' is the second studio album by English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is co ...

. It was released on 8 September 1978 by

Harvest Records Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969. History Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music, and to compete with Philips' Vertigo ...

. The album peaked at number 48 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. Although it features some of the minimalist punk rock of the band's debut ''

Pink Flag ''Pink Flag'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Wire. It was released in November 1977 by Harvest Records. The album gained Wire a cult following within independent and post-punk music upon its initial release, later growing to be hi ...

'', ''Chairs Missing'' contains more developed song structure (taking some cues from 1970s

prog-rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

psychedelia Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic dr ...

, and

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

), keyboard and synthesizer elements brought in by producer

Mike Thorne Mike Thorne (born 25 January 1948) is an English record producer, arranger, composer, engineer, and musician. He started playing the piano at the age of 10. After studying physics at Hertford College, Oxford, in the late 1960s he worked as a ta ...

, 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 "Outdoor Miner" is a song written by Colin Newman and Graham Lewis, and performed by the English post-punk band Wire. It was released in January 1979 as the band's fourth single (reaching number 51 in the UK singles chart) and appeared on their s ...

" was a minor hit, peaking at number 51 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Critical reception

In a 1979 Trouser Press review, Jim Green said, "Wire are disconcerting, laconic yet eloquent in fragmented visions, jarring even at their most accessible. They disdain cliche, pushing out the limits of rock; the easy way is too boring." He continued, "Their stripped-down rhythms take on the quality of being familiar yet somehow alien, just as their bleak lyrics lift the everyday from its context and illuminate its ironies." Green concluded that " u have to listen for yourself." In their retrospective review, Steve Huey of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

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 Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...

and goth, as well as a testament to Wire's rapid development and inventiveness."

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio ...

called the album a "glorious

avant-pop Avant-pop is popular music that is experimental, new, and distinct from previous styles while retaining an immediate accessibility for the listener. The term implies a combination of avant-garde sensibilities with existing elements from popular ...

coup" and (referring to the 2006 edition of the album) "the most satisfying of the three reissues

154 Year 154 ( CLIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Lateranus (or, less frequently, year 907 ''Ab urbe cond ...

'']." In 2004 ''Pitchfork (website), Pitchfork'' listed ''Chairs Missing'' as 33rd best album of the 1970s.Accolades archived
at

Acclaimed Music Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, dec ...

. Retrieved 12 May 2018. In 2013 ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' listed the album as the 394th greatest album of all time.

Legacy

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".

Track listing

Credits adapted from the 2018 Special Edition.Chairs Missing (2018 Special Edition)
. Discogs.com. Retrieved on 5 May 2019. All music written by

Colin Newman Colin John Newman (born 16 September 1954) is an English musician, record producer and record label owner. He is best known as the primary vocalist and songwriter for the post-punk band Wire. Early life Newman was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire ...

, except where noted. All lyrics written by

Graham Lewis Graham Lewis (born Edward Graham Lewis, 22 February 1953) is an English musician. Lewis is the bassist with punk rock/post-punk band Wire, a band formed in 1976. Biography On Wire's first studio album Graham Lewis was credited as ''Lewis''; ...

, except where noted. *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".

2018 Special Edition

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the 2018 Special Edition.Chairs Missing (1994 reissue)
. Discogs.com. Retrieved on 5 May 2019.Chairs Missing (2006 reissue)
. Discogs.com. Retrieved on 5 May 2019. ; Wire *

– vocals, guitar, backing vocals, arrangement *

Bruce Gilbert Bruce Clifford Gilbert (born 18 May 1946) is an English musician. One of the founding members of the influential and experimental art punk band Wire,Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 180-182 he branched ...

– guitar, arrangement, concept *

– bass, vocals on "Sand in My Joints", backing vocals, arrangement, concept, original sleeve design * Robert Gotobed – drums, percussion, arrangement ; Additional personnel and production *

Kathryn Lukas Kathryn Lukas (Kate Lukas) is a contemporary flute performer and teacher. She is Professor of Music (Flute) at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. She has taught at the Guildhall School of Music and recorded contemporary flute reperto ...

– flute on "Heartbeat" *

– production, keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals on "Being Sucked in Again", arrangement *

Paul Hardiman Paul Hardiman is a British record producer. He worked with Lloyd Cole and the Commotions (on their debut ''Rattlesnakes'') and Lloyd Cole's solo career. His other production credits include Chris de Burgh's most commercially successful albums '' ...

–

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Ken Thomas – assistant engineering * Annette Green – photography * Brian Palmer –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in Theatre, theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

* Tim Chacksfield – project co-ordination (1994 reissue) *

Phil Smee Philip Lloyd-Smee is an English music journalist, designer and record collector, most widely known for designing music album covers and his Bam-Caruso music label, best known for the Rubble series of albums. Much of Smee's design work was done f ...

– packaging (1994 reissue) * Chris Blair – cutting engineering (1994 reissue) * Andrew Day – design (2006 reissue) *

Denis Blackham Denis Blackham (born in 1952) is an English music mastering engineer. He began his audio mastering work in 1969 at IBC Studios in London, and later worked for Polygram, RCA, The Master Room, Nimbus Records, Tape One and Porky's. In 1996 he set ...

–

Remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

ing (2006 and 2018 reissues) *

Nick Glennie-Smith Nickolas Glennie-Smith is an English film score composer, conductor, and musician who is a frequent collaborator with Hans Zimmer, contributing to scores including '' The Rock'' (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound), the 2006 histori ...

– engineering (disc 3, 2018 reissue) *

Jon Wozencroft Jon Wozencroft (born 1 June 1958, in Epsom, England) is a graphic designer, author and instructor. Wozencroft founded Touch, an independent multimedia publishing company. Between 1982 and 1986 Touch "released around 15 products, concentrating on p ...

– art direction, layout (2018 reissue) * HQ – layout (2018 reissue) * Malka Spigel-Newman –

photo restoration Digital photograph restoration is the practice of restoring the appearance of a digital copy of a physical photograph which has been damaged by natural, man-made, or environmental causes or simply affected by age or neglect. Digital photograph r ...

(2018 reissue) *

Jon Savage Jon Savage (born Jonathan Malcolm Sage; 2 September 1953 in Paddington, London) is an English writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, ''England's Dreaming'', published in 1991. ...

–

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the record sleeve, sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner n ...

(2018 reissue) *

Graham Duff Graham Duff (born 13 April 1964) is an English writer, actor and producer. He was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, and lives in Brighton. He graduated from the University of Brighton. His work for TV and radio is typified by intricate plotting ...

– liner notes (2018 reissue) * Craig Grannell – booklet editor (2018 reissue)

References

Informational notes

External links

* *
The making of Wire's ''Chairs Missing'' album
{{Authority control 1978 albums Harvest Records albums Restless Records albums Wire (band) albums Albums produced by Mike Thorne Avant-pop albums