In 2020,
Wire fans were lucky enough to get not one but two potent reminders of the band's consistent greatness. The first was that January's
Mind Hive, which proved their political statements and sharply honed post-punk were just as relevant then as when they formed over 40 years prior. The next was
10:20, a collection of reimagined rarities and live favorites that felt just as fresh, even though its recordings spanned the 2010s and its material stretched all the way back to 1978's
Chairs Missing.
Wire took a similar approach and also struck gold with 2013's
Change Becomes Us, which found them revisiting songs they'd played live in 1979 and 1980. This time, the particulars of each track are more complex;
Wire wrote the slow-burning "He Knows" in 2000 when
Bruce Gilbert was still a member of the band, it became a staple of their live show in 2008, and the recording that appears here dates from 2010 sessions with
Laika's
Margaret Fiedler. No matter how convoluted the histories of these songs are, they all make the most of
Wire's evergreen strengths. "German Shepherds," originally from 1989's
It's Beginning to and Back Again, is a fine example of their slanted guitar pop, as is "The Art of Persistence," a circa-2000 rarity that wouldn't have sounded out of place on either
154 or
Mind Hive. The band's blazing punk is as vital as ever on the
Chairs Missing leftover "Underwater Experiences," while
Fiedler adds her six strings to the triple-guitar onslaught of "Burning Boy" (originally from
A Bell Is a Cup…Until It Is Struck), and the 1985 vintage "Over Theirs" is remade with the slow, ominous grind
Wire perfected years later. Other standouts include "Small Black Reptile," which the band transforms from synth pop into something in between psych-rock and shoegaze (and boasts some of
Colin Newman's most playfully deadpan vocals) and "Wolf Collides," an eerily poignant
Silver/Lead outtake that's just as compelling as anything that ended up on the album. Hearing
Wire riff on their past and present so brilliantly makes
10:20 both a dream come true for longtime fans and a surprisingly good introduction to their music for newcomers.