“Strange” by Wire

"Strange" turns up on Pink Flag, the debut album Wire released through Harvest in November 1977, cut at Advision Studios in London that autumn with Mike Thorne producing and Paul Hardiman recording. The writing credit goes to all four members: Colin Newman sings, Bruce Gilbert plays guitar, Graham Lewis electric bass and Robert Gotobed drums.

The surprise in the credits is a flute, played by Kathryn Lukas, hardly standard issue for a band paring punk down to the bone. Pink Flag itself crammed in 21 tracks, won critics over right away and has since hardened into a landmark of post-punk; Robert Christgau called the whole thing a punk suite.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.