They only had the one hit, a minor one at that, in the form of the pychedelic-pop of 'Outdoor Miner'. Soon after that they released the frankly terrible live album, Documents, that effectively ended the first phase of Wire, a group of artful individuals that sprang on to the punk scene with their Pink Flag album of 1977, a work that along with subsequent albums Chairs Missing and 154, are considered minor classics of the era. However, the sheer bloody mindedness of releasing Documents, after those three great albums, is still a head scratcher, made only more perplexing by the band's decision to re-issue it just last year: time has not improved it! For a band that are notoriously reluctant to play their back catalogue, it was an odd decision to do that, except if only for the reason that they half-admitted to it being poor by reworking and vastly improving some of the songs for their 2013 Change Becomes Us album – the title says it all!

 

Yes, a band of contradictions sometimes, one who can seem slightly off-hand at times, but one who have been hugely influential despite their relative lack of commercial success. It's those bands who have directly pinpointed Wire as an influence, that has perhaps inspired original members Colin Newman, Graham Lewis and Robert Gotobed (now known as Robert Grey) to keep going, and even to enjoy a mini-reniassance. Their artistic capital has helped them win huge respect, further fuelled by their almost invariable refusal to play the obvious fan favourites from yesteryear (the aforementioned 'Outdoor Miner' and '12XU', 'I Am The Fly', 'Three Girl Rhumba' et al), thus perhaps denying themselves more money and fame. Instead, and as always, Wire have remained largely true to their non-commercial principals, and Wire, the album, is a solid, and sometimes excellent addition to their catalogue.

 

With a finger on the pulse, but bringing in old school religion into the equation, opening track, the rhythmic Can-lite 'Blogging' reads like some kind of naive Gang of Four-ish socio-political commentary as Newman reels off a list of modern day social media/internet terminologies and brands; 'buying online', 'Blackberry hedge fund', 'site-heavy traffic', 'selling on Ebay', 'new Apples divine', with the ear-catching couplet: "Blogging like Jesus, tweet like a Pope," as good as any introduction to newcomers of the band.

 

Throughout Wire's songs there is an underlying metronomic groove that they lock into, as on 'Shifting', and 'In Manchester', while the relatively gentle psychedelic pop of 'Burning Bridges' is a reminder that Wire are an eclectic band, pop rubbing shoulders with a sometimes harsh soundscape. The short and sweetly melodic 'High' – a song that deserves more – also harks back to Wire's early days and occasional penchant for being a little brutal with song lengths.

 

From here on in, Wire take a darker turn, beginning with the vaguely nightmarish 'Sleep-Walking', seven and a half minutes of Wall-esque gloom and doom, a trance-like industrial dirge for much of it, with background voices adding to the general menace of the piece. The much shorter and pacier 'Joust & Jostle' recalls an early, more punky Wire, as does 'Octopus', which also harks back to those late '70s days, 'Boys Don't Cry'-era Cure coming to mind.

 

It doesn't always work well, some of the material here is a little turgid, while Newman's voice, although possessing a certain icy and detached quality, is a little one-dimensional at times. The edgy hotness of early Wire is long gone, and Graham Lewis rarely contributes these days.

 

Set closer, the eight minute 'Harpoon', is heavy and punishing, entering Swans territory, albeit a little faster than the titanic slow-motion trance-dirges of Gira and co. The fact that they shared the stage at the end of last December's Wire-curated Drill:Brighton festival may have influenced this song, but whatever the case, it's another audio demonstration that Wire, a band of sexagenarians (minus the much younger, and recently recruited Matthew Simms, who embellishes the material here with some tasteful and thoughtful guitar textures) haven't toned down that much since their late '70s art-punk heyday.

 

Wire are almost unique amongst the '77 brigade. They have garnered huge respect for their artistic bearing, rarely looking back, never indulging in pandering to the fans. And, seemingly enjoying this recent spur of creativity, and perhaps wondering how they even made it this far, Wire are still wired for action.

Jeff Hemmings