Read & Burn 03 + – (RSD26)

Released at the end of the initial period of Wire’s third act — after Send and before the band’s post-Bruce Gilbert reinvention — Read & Burn 03 never quite received the attention it deserved.

The opening track, “23 Years Too Late”, with its tour-narrative text and motorik rhythm, stands as one of the band’s finest achievements of any era in the view of both core fans and the band themselves — a rare point of agreement.

The original EP, the third in the Read & Burn series and the only one not compiled onto Send, marked the last non-historic release by the original Wire line-up of Colin Newman, Graham Lewis, Bruce Gilbert, and Robert Grey, and has never previously been properly issued on vinyl.

This 2026 edition restores the original four tracks and expands the release with three additional recordings. While some material originated during the 2001–2002 sessions that produced Send, others carry a more unusual history.

“23 Years Too Late” began life as a heavily transformed cover of the 1970s Wire single “Dot Dash”, performed under the name Dip Flash as part of Iain Sinclair’s London Orbital, staged at the Barbican in London on 25 October 2002 — an event celebrating the city’s M25 motorway. That previously unreleased original version now appears here as a bonus track.

Meanwhile, “Desert Diving” evolved from a version of the Chairs Missing track “Heartbeat”, performed live at The Garage in London during Wire’s concert series there in May 2000.

The additional material is completed by the original version of “Our Time” and an alternate mix of “Desert Diving”. The CD and digital editions also include the 3:17 edit of “23 Years Too Late”, which serves as the lead promotional track.