WireBest Wire Albums Ranked

Pink Flag

pitchfork

10

“Wire were born at the dawn of punk, but they became the quintessential art band. In the three closing years of the 1970s, the English quartet had one of the greatest opening runs of any band, shifting to post-punk before punk began to go stale and forging three masterpieces in a creative furnace so hot it burned out by the end of 1980. Those albums-- *Pink Flag*, *Chairs Missing*, and *154*-- stil”

Pink Flag

pastemagazine

9.5

“Few, if any, other rock bands experienced the rapid, exponential artistic growth that Wire did over the course of three years and three groundbreaking, masterful albums. That was evident from the start of their peerless early run. The band went into the studio all of seven months after recording their 1977 debut, the agitated and spiky Pink Flag, to lay down the tracks for its follow-up, 1978’s Ch”

Read & Burn 02 - EP

pitchfork

8.6

“What band could have released not one, not two, but three historic albums (in as many years), each so different from the one that came before, simultaneously spelling out the brittle aesthetics of England's burgeoning punk movement and, in nearly the same breath, eclipsing them while the rest of the pack was still busy learning to tune their guitars? What band would be willing to then walk away fr”

Change Becomes Us

pitchfork

8.2

“For their tenth album, the great British art punk band returns to the material that they would have recorded for the album that never ended up following 154, their third LP. Originally heard in muddy, difficult live recordings, the 13 songs on Change Becomes Us sparkle.”

Wire On the Box: 1979

pitchfork

8.1

“The first-ever official live document from brilliant 70s art-punks Wire is finally released on this CD/DVD set, which captures their 1979 performance on then-West Germany's "Rockpalast" show.”

Mind Hive

loudandquiet

8.0

“With the exception of perhaps only the Fall, who else of the class of ’77 so ruthlessly refused to rub shoulders with their own past? Since that smirking group of art school idealists emerged with Pink Flag they’ve left the job of sounding like Pink Flag entirely to younger imitators – which they have done, with aplomb, ever since. Instead Wire have spent their career doing what all great bands do”