It has long been an accepted part of pop/rock culture folk memory that Wire's 3 “seminal” 70’s “EMI” albums wrote the book on the definition of art-pop/rock/punk (choice of 2nd element depending on decade) and have influenced many a generation of the young and artistically ambitious of our culture. Yet for those too young or un-hip to have seen the band live in the 70’s access to the band as a live entity has remained, until recently, the province of dodgy or long out of print bootlegs.

The situation has in part been rectified by the 2004 release of the WIRE: On The Box :1979 DVD chronicling the band a few months before the recording of 154. Now we have WIRE: Live at The Roxy (1977) and WIRE: Live at CBGB Theatre (1978) the former 5 months before the recording of Pink Flag and the latter shortly before the recording of Chairs Missing.

These 3 releases form an alternative trilogy in which we witness the debut of Wire’s “classic” lineup (in essence the birth of Wire), catch the band on it’s first American excursion and see as well as hear the maturity that would drive such superlative reviews for “154”.

Previously only available as part of the super exclusive WIRE:1977-1979 box set, the live double album completes that alternative trilogy. As one canny bootlegger dubbed the experience – Take a Terrifying Trip to the Past……