154 (album)

154
Studio album by Wire
Released	September 1979 (1979-09)
Recorded	(1979-04-00) (1979-05-{{{day}}})April – May 1979
Studio	Advision Studios, West London, England, United Kingdom
Genre	Post-punk[1] art punk[2] avant-pop[3]
Length	44:41
Label	Harvest
Producer	Mike Thorne
Wire studio album chronology
Chairs Missing (1978) 154 (1979) The Ideal Copy (1987)
Singles from 154
"Map Ref. 41°N 93°W" Released: 26 October 1979

154 is the third album by the English post-punk band Wire, released in 1979 on EMI imprint Harvest Records in the UK and Europe and Warner Bros. Records in America. Branching out even further from the minimalist punk rock style of their earlier work, 154 is considered a progression of the sounds displayed on Wire's previous album Chairs Missing, with the group experimenting with slower tempos, fuller song structures and a more prominent use of guitar effects, synthesizers and electronics.

The album is so named because the band had played 154 gigs in their career at the time of the album's release. The unusual title of the track "Map Ref 41°N 93°W" was based on a guess of the centre of the American Midwest by bassist and singer Graham Lewis; the location of these coordinates is coincidentally close to Centerville, Iowa.^[4]

Following the album's release, a falling out with the band's record label, EMI, as well as creative differences led to their breaking up in 1980,^[5] making 154 the band's last album up until their eventual reunion in 1985 and subsequent release of The Ideal Copy in 1987.