The Ideal Copy

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The Ideal Copy
The Ideal Copy cover
Studio album by Wire
Released April 1987
Recorded 1986
Genre Post-punk
Length 63:18
Label Mute Records
Producer Gareth Jones
Professional reviews
Wire chronology
154
(1979)		 The Ideal Copy
(1987)		 A Bell Is A Cup...Until It Is Struck
(1988)

The Ideal Copy is a 1987 album by the English rock group Wire. It was the first full-length recording following the band's hiatus of 1980-1985. (The band had recorded and released the Snakedrill EP in 1986 after reuniting). Mute Records released the album.

Wire had used electronic instruments on the albums Chairs Missing and 154, but following their hiatus, Wire more openly embraced the use of sequencers, synthesizers, and drum machines. This prompted music critics to compare The Ideal Copy to groups such as New Order.[1][2] One critic, Kirk Fillmore, further compared the electric bass's sound on the single "Ahead" to that of New Order's Peter Hook, though bassist Graham Lewis had played in such a style on previous Wire albums.[3] Indeed, journalist Richard Grabel pointed out that "New Order and any number of other synths-and-guitars bands took cues from late-70s Wire," suggesting that "things [had] come full circle."[4]

Contents

[edit] The album title

The phrase "the ideal copy" is repeated throughout the song "Ambitious." Graham Lewis, in a Creem interview, stated "the ideal copy" ultimately refers to DNA, "but Bruce [Gilbert] had a dream about it and decided we had to take that out of the song".[4]

[edit] Track listing

All titles written by Wire (Lewis/Newman/Gilbert/Gotobed).

  1. "The Point of Collapse" – 3:18
  2. "Ahead" – 4:53
  3. "Madman's Honey" – 4:23
  4. "Feed Me" – 5:50
  5. "Ambitious" – 4:00
  6. "Cheeking Tongues" – 2:02
  7. "Still Shows" – 4:00
  8. "Over Theirs" – 5:18

In addition to the eight album tracks, the compact disc and cassette configurations appended the Snakedrill EP in its entirety, along with three concert recordings:

  • "A Serious of Snakes" – 4:53
  • "Drill" – 5:05
  • "Advantage in Height" – 3:05
  • "Up to the Sun" – 2:50
  • "Ambulance Chasers (Live)" – 3:02
  • "Feed Me (Live)" – 4:27
  • "Vivid Riot of Red (Live)" – 2:28

The UK CD edition on Mute Records (CD STUMM 42), in addition to the eight album tracks, appends a different version of Ahead, as well as the Snakedrill EP and the three concert recordings:

  • "Ahead (II) - 3:29
  • "A Serious of Snakes" – 4:42
  • "Drill" – 5:03
  • "Advantage in Height" – 3:02
  • "Up to the Sun" – 2:42
  • "Ambulance Chasers (Live)" – 2:55
  • "Feed Me (Live)" – 4:28
  • "Vivid Riot of Red (Live)" – 2:22

[edit] Personnel

[edit] References

  1. ^ Davis, Michael. Record review. Creem September 1987: 21
  2. ^ DeRogatis, Jim & Neate, Wilson. Wire. Trouser Press. Retrieved on 25 February 2005.
  3. ^ Fillmore, Kirk. Record review. Façade June 1987: 4
  4. ^ a b Grabel, Richard. "Wire of the Tastiest Kind." Creem September 1987: 31+