The Read & Burn era of Wire gave birth to an unusual song that ran for almost ten minutes. For a band that was prepared to stop a piece as soon as their point was made, “23 Years Too Late” stood out. Graham Lewis introduced the track with poetry informed by a passage through the 90s and psychedelia. The band’s taught, electro-grunge production then took a turn for a cycle that was just shorter than a Wagner opera.
Wire always present the unexpected. So it is that they offer a “24 Years Later Edit,” complete with a video assembled from the forthcoming documentary, People in a Film. The vinyl version appears on Record Store Day.