154 (Remastered)

iTunes Review

After Wire’s thrilling, punk-rooted debut, Pink Flag, and their more complex Chairs Missing, they issued album number three in 1979, the multi-textured 154. There are many glorious things about 154, but the careful weaving of Colin Newman’s sinister guitars with the moody, brooding synths of “fifth member” and producer Mike Thorne feels like a stroke of master genius, even several decades later. The powerful “A Touching Display” feels like a miniature Bergman film, all towering shadows and taut suspense that eventually unspools in a beautiful, blistering gale of sound. It’s the showstopper here, but the tense, punk energy on “Two People In a Room” and the airy, pop-colored “The 15th” and “Map Ref 41 Degrees N 93 Degrees W” are inarguable high points in Wire’s early catalog (ok, we admit the breezy, sardonic “Blessed State,” the pulsating “On Returning,” and “Single K.O”’s understated animus are also career pinnacles). The band’s art-school heart beats loudly on tracks like “The Other Window” and “Once Is Enough,” giving the record a different kind of edge. Wire’s first three albums are simply brilliant, essential and unmatched.