It’s just two songs in one video, but they’re two of the greatest songs ever. Wire are usually discussed in the context of their 70s albums (which deserve the praise they get, mind you). However, I’ve grown really fond of their 80s work, which gets a lot of crap for having really dated production and perhaps not taking as many risks as the 70s stuff. First, yeah the production is dated but it’s not nearly as dated as some other bands from that era. Second, Wire made albums like Chairs Missing when there was no precedent for stuff quite like that. Post-punk as a whole didn’t really exist until Wire came around. By the time they were making albums again in the late 80s, post-punk had come and gone, and new wave was in full swing (or had perhaps gone as well as something I- I’m not gonna finish this diatribe. Just listen to it. Just because a band isn’t constantly breaking new ground doesn’t mean they become bad. One thing remains perfectly clear, Wire stayed good.
I saw them live on March 10, 2020, right before everything closed. Completely worth it.
