Music / Chairs Missing

I remark, I am mesmerized, by my own beat, like a heartbeat.

Chairs Missing is the sophomore effort by Wire, released in 1978. It is by far a New Sound Album—while its predecessor Pink Flag was proto-Hardcore Punk, this album found the group eschewing their original Miniscule Rocking approach for more fully-formed and slower-paced fare, with lyrics that dealt with psychological rather than political themes.

As with its predecessor, the album was very well-received upon release, and has been considered one of the pioneering Post-Punk albums. It also spawned the band's biggest hit, "Outdoor Miner," which as a single was expanded from the original album version and almost charted as it was one of their poppiest songs to date.

Tracklist:

Side One

1. "Practice Makes Perfect" (4:11)
2. "French Film Blurred" (2:34)
3. "Another the Letter" (1:07)
4. "Men 2nd" (1:43)
5. "Marooned" (2:21)
6. "Sand in My Joints" (1:50)
7. "Being Sucked in Again" (3:14)
8. "Heartbeat" (3:16)

Side Two

1. "Mercy" (5:46)
2. "Outdoor Miner" (1:44)
3. "I Am the Fly" (3:09)
4. "I Feel Mysterious Today" (1:57)
5. "From the Nursery" (2:58)
6. "Used To" (2:23)
7. "Too Late" (4:14)

We are the tropes on the, tropes on the, trope list!

• Bound and Gagged: Mentioned (metaphorically) in "Being Sucked in Again."
• Epic Rocking: By Wire standards up to this point, "Mercy" is an epic at 5:46.
• Intercourse with You: "Practice Makes Perfect" has overtones of this, but the tone of the track and some of the odder references imply something much more sinister.
• Madness Mantra:
  • "Practice Makes Perfect" has "Waiting, waiting, waiting for us... Waiting, waiting, waiting for us...". Colin only repeats it louder and more unhinged each time.
  • "Heartbeat" also repeats its chorus line "Like a heartbeat" all throughout the latter half of the song.
• Miniscule Rocking: While not to the extent of predecessor Pink Flag, there are still songs that run under two minutes, "Another the Letter" being the shortest at 1:07. "Outdoor Miner," being a brisk 1:44, was rerecorded and extended to 2:51.
• New Sound Album: This album is far more interested in developing musical ideas than its predecessor Pink Flag, with songs more in the vein of its tracks "Strange" and "Reuters." Nonetheless, it still paid tribute to it on songs such as "Another the Letter," "Sand in My Joints," and "Too Late." The longest track "Mercy" even has a bridge, which had not been found on any of their songs before.
• Non-Appearing Title: "French Film Blurred", "Men 2nd", and "Outdoor Miner"^note though it gets close with the line Face worker, a serpentine miner.
• One-Word Title: "Marooned", "Heartbeat" and "Mercy".

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