Read & Burn 03 PLUS – PF16LP / PF16PLUSCD / PF16D
LP
Side One
23 Years Too Late – alternate intro (9:46) // Our Time (4:33) // No Warning Given (5:26)
Side Two
Desert Diving (5:31) // Our Time (original mix) (4:23) // Desert Diving (alt mix) (5:32) // Dip Flash (7:20)
CD / digital
23 Years Too Late – original intro (9:44) // Our Time (4:33) // No Warning Given (5:26) // Desert Diving (5:31) // 23 Years Too Late (24 Years Later Edit) (3:17) // Our Time (original mix) (4:23) // Desert Diving (alt mix) (5:32) // Dip Flash (7:20)
Deconstructing the narrative whilst remaining two steps ahead, Wire are both the mavericks and yet the outer limits of a certain kind of pop. Their endless reinvention and longevity underlines their innovation and yet only Wire can revisit their own past and make it still sound like a future shock.
For Record Store Day, they curated their own museum and revisited 2007’s Read and Burn 03, the third EP in a series started in 2002 – the first two instalments of which had been partly compiled onto the Send album (2003) and later released on the PF456 Deluxe vinyl/book collection (2021).
The album, now entitled Read & Burn 03+, which has not been properly released on vinyl before now, is also distinguished as the last non-historic release by the original Wire lineup of Colin Newman, Graham Lewis, Bruce Gilbert and Robert Grey. This 2026 version brings the original four tracks and adds three more.
Releases like this used to be the core of the Record Store Day experience: deep cuts, curveballs and chances to release lesser-known moments in catalogues. Wire’s music defines this hidden gem collector’s cut status with its timelessness. And each Wire release from whichever period somehow still sounds like ‘the now’ because the band always seemed to create in an everlasting present, with this EP being the last hurrah from the original lineup – the ultimate art-rock fab 4.
One of the more overlooked moments in the band’s career, Read & Burn 03+ is a timely reminder of the riches to be found in Wire’s deep cuts. In 2007, the band were already thirty years into their creative adventure and had taken full advantage of carving out their own space for a creative freedom and playful deconstruction of their own sound.
Read & Burn 03+ is both memory and a future nostalgia and a constant template of what can be done with rock music – and is now almost a decade later than 23 years too late…
JOHN ROBB MCR 2026
Read John’s full text and check out Colin’s essay, Some Words about 23 Years Too Late.
Wire in 2003, photographed by Alex Vanhee in Antwerpen during the tour for which they were 23 years too late.
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