Some days Wire are my favourite band ever. First heard at the height of punk, this album has been with me ever since. The simple arrangements, short songs and uncompromising lyrics made Wire feel the most punk of all the punk bands. But listening now, they clearly aren't. The songs are far more layered and varied than I thought at the time.
Opening with the forceful Reuters - a whole 3 minutes, don't get used to these long songs - we get through Field Day For The Sundays in under a minute, before hearing the famous riff that Elastica stole in Three Girl Rhumba Every song here is an old friend and they fly by, nothing lasting long enough to get dull. Brazil is a great 41 seconds and It's So Obvious captures the zeitgeist (sorry, I had to) in a mere 53 seconds ("this is '77, nearly heaven") before the epic title track. There's time for a little instrumental break (The Commercial) to set us off on the second half. Mr Suit - pure angry young punk, even down to Colin Newman's fake cockney, then it's down a level for the Velvet Underground influence Strange.
Fragile is a gentle minute, while the acerbic Mannequin lasts twice as long as we head to the climactic 12XU.
This CD release also includes the two sides of the single Dot Dash, which don't really fit the album, and were removed from later releases at the band's insistence.
23 songs in just under 40 minutes. Value for money in anyone's book. No wasted repeat verses, get to the point, then go. Don't like this song? There's another one in a minute.
5* - I'm going to ignore the two bonus tracks - without those the original album is flawless. A classic.
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