Description
A glimpse into Wire’ s working practices, when Wire play live there are different 3 classes of pieces that are performed, new songs, old songs and “new old” songs. The latter often involves taking something that existed on a previous release and reworking it, very often evolving a stage highlight from it. There also pieces that have never seen a major release but for some reason never fitted on an album. The best of these ideas were recorded in 2 sessions one relating to Red Barked Tree but recorded in 2010 and another relating to Wire’ s latest album Mind Hive released in 2020. Incidentally celebrating the decade Matt Simms has been with the band. The album divides in to two halves the 2010 side & the 2020 side hence the title.Tracks 1 to 4 were recorded in the latter part of 2010 and feature contributions from both Margaret Fielder of Laika – who had been performing guitar duties with Wire on live dates the previous year – and Simms, who was on the point of becoming an official member of the band.Track 1 ‘Boiling Boy’ first appeared on 1988’ s A Bell is a Cup… Until it is Struck. ‘Boiling Boy’ has gone on to become perhaps the most played Wire song ever. Throughout the ’ 00s, it became one of the acknowledged highlights of Wire’ s live sets.Track 2 ‘German Shepherds’ is another late ’ 80s Wire song that has developed a second life on stage. The recording is also notable in that it includes vocal contributions from Newman, Lewis and Fielder. Track 3 ‘He Knows’ was developed back in 2000 when Bruce Gilbert was still with the band. It emerged in a reinvigorated form in 2008 when it became a staple of Wire’ s live show. This is the only studio recording to have surfaced. Track 4.’ Underwater Experiences’ was demoed for the band’ s sophomore album Chairs Missing, but in the end was omitted. Having lay dormant for a couple of years, the song later appeared in two fast, abrasive, contrasting versions on Wire’ s notoriously confrontational live album Document And Eyewitness, and a fifth iteration surfaced on 2013’ s Change Becomes Us. However, the song has never sounded quite as it does here.Tracks 5 to 8 were recorded more recently with the longestablished line up of Newman, Lewis, Grey and Simms. Track 5 . ‘The Art of Persistence’ arrived fully formed when Wire reconvened in 2000. But it was previously only available as a rehearsal room runthrough on long deleted EP The Third Day or as a live version on Legal Bootleg album Recycling Sherwood Forest. Track 6 ‘Small Black Reptile’ originally appeared on the band’ s 1990 album Manscape. Of all the reimagined songs on 1020, this is the one that has traveled the furthest. Whereas the original was a skeletal and arch computerdriven pop song, this new version sees the composition retooled as a piece of melodic rock. Track 7 ‘Wolf Collides’, with its warm synth tones and spindly lead lines, sounds as if it deserves to be sitting regally on side two of 1978’ s Chairs Missing. In actual fact, it was written in 2015 and became a stalwart of that year’ s live set. This version was recorded for inclusion on 2017’ s SilverLead but was omitted due to lack of space. Track 8 ‘Over Theirs’ is the climax of the continuing reassessment of Wire’ s 1980s output. Although the song appeared on The Ideal Copy and has been an intermittent component of the group’ s live shows since 1985, its true power had never been properly harnessed in the studio – until now. 1020 is that rare thing an album that not only serves as a musthave for longterm fans and completists, but paradoxically also the perfect introduction for anyone new to the band.
