Wire - Read and Burn 03

There's no stopping Wire
at the moment. Following the blistering assault of
Send
and previous
Read and Burn volumes,
Read and Burn
03 is something else again. Taken from recordings of their
new album these four tracks exist on their own terms and will not
form part of the new album, so say the label. Right from the
get-go '23 Years Too Late' catches a series of disparate lyrical
shreds by Graham Lewis, with passages of prime Wire. It's almost
a Burroughsian cut-up travelogue - and you can't help but notice
the numeric reference in the title. The sardonic vocal delivered
deadpan over flickering percussion and oscillating synths, is
contrasted with Colin Newman's sneering vocal and that prime
shouty-punky type thing Wire do. It's a wonderfully bewildering
track that, as far as I'm aware, really doesn't compare with
anything they've done before. Both 'Our Time' and 'No Warning
Given' are more familiar Wire offerings, with moments of melody
amidst the warm fuzzed post-punk experimentation. The guitars on
both are far lusher and layered than the caustic sheen of the
previous
Read and Burn volumes. And that's maybe the real
change here, as otherwise 'Our Time' is harnessed to taut
clinical rhythms and a lumbering bassline, amidst light
electronic treatments and wonderfully controlled guitar buzz and
Colin Newman's typical sneery vocal. 'No Warning Given' is a much
more uptempo, in a punky kind of way. The guitars are beautifully
layered, bursting into those melodic guitar strum choruses that
Wire craft so well, while Newman lays down a fine vocal melody. A
contemporary take on Wire
Plays Pop, maybe? The warm,
fuzzed guitar seemingly hovers over a lowdown jaunty bass line
that jostles with the clinical snare and cymbal of Gotobed's
drumming. 'Desert Diving', the final track, is something of a
slow burner; an evolving melodic pop oriented thing hinging
around come clipped guitar riffs.
Read and Burn 03 is a welcome change from the recent spate
of Wire reissues, and, as I said, none of these tracks are
scheduled to appear on the forthcoming Wire album. 30 years on
and still continually delivering the goods. You can't say fairer
than that. Great stuff. For more information go to
www.posteverything.com