Never a band to stagnate, Wire have consistently reinvented themselves with each and every release in their long career. This new disc puts them in an interesting situation, given that they have been reduced to a trio with the departure of guitarist Bruce Gilbert. This is a similar situation to the post-
Manscape era, when Robert Grey (then Gotobed) left the band. That time, however, they became Wir and released material that, while sharing parallels to Wire, had a different feel entirely. In some ways, perhaps they should have done something similar with this album because, though it is a wonderful work with few shortcomings, it doesn't FEEL quite like Wire.