Both audio and video are culled from Rockpalast, a German television program that spotlighted the band for a full hour at the end of the '70s. Faced with a studio audience filled with feathery-haired teens who look as if they wish ABBA were on the bill, Wire-mates Colin Newman, Graham Lewis, Bruce Gilbert and Robert Gotobed rip through "Mercy" and over a dozen more jagged, rigorous compositions. Later they sit for an interview with host Alan Bangs, whom the players treat with smooth contempt. After Bangs recalls a moment when Lewis "dryly" informed an audience member that the group didn't play requests, Lewis tells him that "accurately" is a more appropriate adverb, because "we're not a jukebox."
After a similar exchange, Bangs mutters, "I knew this would be difficult." A quarter-century later, his exasperation remains as vivid as the music.
