I spent a bit of time in the basement, and was able to dig up their first LP, the 1977 punk minimalist masterpiece Pink Flag. (Twenty-one songs in less than 36 minutes!) I bought it at a used record store in the late '80s. It didn't come with the original sleeve, but the one it came with is completely appropriate.
Here's the cover of my copy of Pink Flag:
And here's the inner sleeve. Nothing but lyrics:
The 15 words that make up the lyrics of "12XU" encapsulate Wire's approach at the time:
Wire was originally on Harvest Records, the same label as other artists that were in many ways the opposite of them, such as Pink Floyd and Deep Purple:
And I'll finish this post up with a video of Wire performing "Heartbeat." Though it isn't a Pink Flag track, it is the earliest Wire video I could find, and from their 1978 follow-up Chairs Missing:
