wire: 154

1979's 154 represented the final tableau in Wire's Harvest released '70s triptych and was the first Wire album to be released to a universal set of five star reviews from the British rock weeklies, thus it represented the point when the British 'pop culture establishment' publicly recognized Wire's primacy. '154 makes 95 percent of the competition look feeble' wrote Nick Kent in the NME, 'Wire are achieving a lot of things other--and more recognized--names have been striving for' wrote Chris Westwood in Record Mirror (a paper that had slagged off Pink Flag). 'The album is a musical tour de force' wrote Jon Savage in Melody Maker. Many said it was the album that Bowie and Eno had failed to make with Lodger (as hinted in the RM review), it was on John Lennon's playlist. Without a doubt, even if record sales did not bear it out, Wire had 'arrived.