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CD
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PF 456CD
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"The Wire album Send (PF6) originally released in 2003 was in fact a compilation of material contained on the releases Read & Burn 01 (PF4), Read & Burn 02 (PF5) and new tracks. The original plan had in fact been to simply compile the two planned Read & Burns but the unforeseen runaway success of Read & Burn 01 meant that in spite of the 'band merch only' status of Read & Burn 02 there would be too much duplication if that plan was to go ahead, so an extra four tracks were made and some Read & Burn material was dropped in order to come up with an acceptable track list for Send. Of course these releases were all CDs -- no one thought too much about vinyl at that point. However, there did need to be a vinyl release and as none of those tracks had ever been released on LP a creative solution was sought that would accommodate all of the tracks contained in those three releases (which unhelpfully equals 1.5 standard 12-inch vinyl records). While 2021's solution was 2x10-inches, 2003's solution was a set of fairly brutal edits and the resulting release became PF456 Redux -- 'does what it says on the tin' title which basically lists the catalogue numbers and the process by which they were squashed into a single 12-inch. There was a limited run in 2003 and then the title was never re-pressed, living on as a digital product only. The item remains, nonetheless a curio. Born as much of creative curiosity as necessity and as the full tracks have found their ultimate expression as PF456 Deluxe, an expanded version with a book, it is perhaps fitting that PF456 Redux now finds its new home as a limited CD release."
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2x10"+7"+BOOK
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PF 456DEL-LP
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Last copies, RSD 2021 release. "Following their 1990s hiatus, Wire reformed in 1999, and, after setting up their own Pinkflag imprint, between 2001-2003 released five distinct Wire items: Twelve Times You (PF3; 7-inch vinyl), Read & Burn 01 (PF4; CD EP), Read & Burn 02 (PF5; CD EP), Send (PF6; CD album) and PF456 Redux (PF456 Redux; 12-inch vinyl album. Following the two Read & Burn CD EPs, Wire released the full-length album Send, combining some tracks from both Read & Burn EPs and four unreleased pieces. Since none of the tracks had previously been issued on vinyl, a creative solution was sought to include all of the tracks from Send and the two Read & Burn EPs. This was achieved by some quite brutal edits! Thus the title PF456 Redux is both catalog number and descriptor of the process. However, none of the tracks on PF4, PF5 and PF6 were ever put out on vinyl at full length -- hence PF456 Deluxe, which includes everything from those three releases and Twelve Times You, for good measure. As in many things with Wire, form follows function. This limited-edition version for Record Store Day 2021 comes with a hard -bound book containing text about these recordings and photos from the period."
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CD
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PF 013CD
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"1979's 154 represented the final tableau in Wire's Harvest released '70s triptych and was the first Wire album to be released to a universal set of five star reviews from the British rock weeklies, thus it represented the point when the British 'pop culture establishment' publicly recognized Wire's primacy. '154 makes 95 percent of the competition look feeble' wrote Nick Kent in the NME, 'Wire are achieving a lot of things other--and more recognized--names have been striving for' wrote Chris Westwood in Record Mirror (a paper that had slagged off Pink Flag). 'The album is a musical tour de force' wrote Jon Savage in Melody Maker. Many said it was the album that Bowie and Eno had failed to make with Lodger (as hinted in the RM review), it was on John Lennon's playlist. Without a doubt, even if record sales did not bear it out, Wire had 'arrived.'"
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LP
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PF 013LP
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2021 restock; LP version. "1979's 154 represented the final tableau in Wire's Harvest released '70s triptych and was the first Wire album to be released to a universal set of five star reviews from the British rock weeklies, thus it represented the point when the British 'pop culture establishment' publicly recognized Wire's primacy. '154 makes 95 percent of the competition look feeble' wrote Nick Kent in the NME, 'Wire are achieving a lot of things other--and more recognized--names have been striving for' wrote Chris Westwood in Record Mirror (a paper that had slagged off Pink Flag). 'The album is a musical tour de force' wrote Jon Savage in Melody Maker. Many said it was the album that Bowie and Eno had failed to make with Lodger (as hinted in the RM review), it was on John Lennon's playlist. Without a doubt, even if record sales did not bear it out, Wire had 'arrived.'"
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CD
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PF 012CD
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"1978's Chairs Missing represented perhaps the biggest conceptual leap made during this period of Wire and was widely misunderstood at the time yet it remains, to the band and production crew Wire's favorite '70s album. If Pink Flag proposed an almost cut and paste approach to deconstructing rock history, Chairs Missing proposed something more radical, a definite futurism with much less influence from its antecedents. Chairs Missing was at once more stark and more lush than its predecessor and has exerted its own influence on the course of cultural history, having laid down one of the earliest (if not the earliest) blueprints for the genuinely post-punk aesthetic."
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LP
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PF 012LP
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2021 repress; LP version. "1978's Chairs Missing represented perhaps the biggest conceptual leap made during this period of Wire and was widely misunderstood at the time yet it remains, to the band and production crew Wire's favorite '70s album. If Pink Flag proposed an almost cut and paste approach to deconstructing rock history, Chairs Missing proposed something more radical, a definite futurism with much less influence from its antecedents. Chairs Missing was at once more stark and more lush than its predecessor and has exerted its own influence on the course of cultural history, having laid down one of the earliest (if not the earliest) blueprints for the genuinely post-punk aesthetic."
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CD
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PF 011CD
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"Wire's first three albums need no introduction. They are the three classic albums on which Wire's reputation is based. Moreover, they are the recordings that minted the post-punk form. This was adopted by other bands, but Wire were there first. It has been a number of years since these albums were readily available. The aim with these new vinyl and CD releases is to approximate the original statements as closely as possible, but with remastered audio. The vinyl releases have the same covers and inners as the originals (minus the Harvest logo). The digipack CDs have identical track listings to their vinyl counterparts. These versions should be considered Wire's classic 1970s albums, pure and undiluted. Usually contextualized against a backdrop of two years of the growing cultural importance of punk rock--Wire's debut Pink Flag, released in December 1977 on EMI's progressive label Harvest was in fact was something 'other.' To the keen cultural commentator, the timing and label of its release will register two essential facts about it. Firstly, too late (a year after the Pistol's debut release) to be part of UK punk's first flush and secondly that the band were signaling something beyond punk by their choice of label. Further investigation would reveal twenty-one tracks, some of them clocking in at well under a minute and covering a range of tempi well beyond the buzzsaw rockabilly that had become, even by the second half of 1977, punk's staple."
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LP
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PF 011LP
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2021 repress; LP version. "Wire's first three albums need no introduction. They are the three classic albums on which Wire's reputation is based. Moreover, they are the recordings that minted the post-punk form. This was adopted by other bands, but Wire were there first. It has been a number of years since these albums were readily available. The aim with these new vinyl and CD releases is to approximate the original statements as closely as possible, but with remastered audio. The vinyl releases have the same covers and inners as the originals (minus the Harvest logo). The digipack CDs have identical track listings to their vinyl counterparts. These versions should be considered Wire's classic 1970s albums, pure and undiluted. Usually contextualized against a backdrop of two years of the growing cultural importance of punk rock--Wire's debut Pink Flag, released in December 1977 on EMI's progressive label Harvest was in fact was something 'other.' To the keen cultural commentator, the timing and label of its release will register two essential facts about it. Firstly, too late (a year after the Pistol's debut release) to be part of UK punk's first flush and secondly that the band were signaling something beyond punk by their choice of label. Further investigation would reveal twenty-one tracks, some of them clocking in at well under a minute and covering a range of tempi well beyond the buzzsaw rockabilly that had become, even by the second half of 1977, punk's staple."
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3CD/BOOK
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PF 013SE-CD
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"Presented as an 80-page hardback book -- the size of a 7-inch, but obviously much thicker. 1979's 154 represented the final tableau in Wire's Harvest released '70s tripych and was the first Wire album to be released to a universal set of 5 star reviews from the British Rock Weeklies thus it represented the point when the British 'pop culture establishment' publicly recognised Wire's primacy. '154 makes 95 percent of the competition look feeble' wrote Nick Kent in the NME; 'Wire are achieving a lot of things other -- and more recognised -- names have been striving for' wrote Chris Westwood in Record Mirror (a paper that had slagged off Pink Flag); 'The album is a musical Tour de Force' wrote Jon Savage in Melody Maker. Many said it was the album that Bowie & Eno had failed to make with Lodger (as hinted in the RM review), it was on John Lennon's playlist. Without a doubt, even if record sales did not bear it out, Wire had 'arrived.'"
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3CD/BOOK
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PF 012SE-CD
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"Presented as an 80-page hardback book -- the size of a 7-inch, but obviously much thicker. If Pink Flag proposed an almost cut and paste approach to deconstructing rock history, Chairs Missing proposed something more radical, a definite futurism with much less influence from its antecedents. Chairs Missing was at once more stark and more lush than its predecessor and has exerted its own influence on the course of cultural history, having laid down one of the earliest (if not the earliest) blueprints for the genuinely post-punk aesthetic."
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2CD/BOOK
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PF 011SE-CD
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"These are the definitive re-releases. Each album is presented as an 80-page hardback book -- the size of a 7-inch, but obviously much thicker. After a special introduction by Jon Savage, Graham Duff provides insight into each track. These texts include recording details, brand-new interviews with band members, and lyrics. The original album is presented on its own CD, accompanied by discs that feature relevant extra tracks: singles; B-sides; demos; and many previously unreleased songs. All audio has been painstakingly remastered (or, in some cases, mastered for the first time). This stunning set of presentations also includes a range of images from the archive of Annette Green. Wire's official photographer during this period, Green also shot the covers for Pink Flag and Chairs Missing. Promotional and informal imagery -- in colour and black and white -- is featured throughout the books. Most of the photographs have not been seen for 40 years -- and many have never been published anywhere before. Please note: although the three original albums remain available through digital stores and streaming services, the extra tracks from the special editions will not be released digitally. Usually contextualized against a backdrop of two years of the growing cultural importance of punk rock -- Wire's debut Pink Flag, released in December 1977 on EMI's progressive label Harvest was in fact was something 'other.' To the keen cultural commentator, the timing and label of its release will register two essential facts about it. Firstly, too late (a year after the Pistol's debut release) to be part of UK punk's first flush and secondly that the band were signaling something beyond punk by their choice of label. Further investigation would re- veal twenty-one tracks, some of them clocking in at well under a minute and covering a range of tempi well beyond the buzzsaw rockabilly that had become, even by the second half of 1977, punk's staple."
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