The Ideal Copy


The Ideal Copy is the fourth studio album by the English rock group Wire, released in April 1987 by Mute Records. It was the first full-length recording following the band's hiatus of 1980–1985 . The Ideal Copy peaked at number 87 in the UK albums chart.

Background

Wire had used electronic instruments on the albums Chairs Missing and 154, but following their hiatus, Wire more openly embraced the use of sequencers, synthesisers, and drum machines. This prompted music critics to compare The Ideal Copy to groups such as New Order. 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. 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 come full circle."
In May 1988, The Ideal Copy became the first popular music recording to be commercially released on DAT format.

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|Bruce had a dream about it and decided we had to take that out of the song".

Lyrical content

Typical of Wire, the album's lyrics include a wide range of cultural references.
"Madman's Honey" refers to mad honey, honey produced by bees using pollen from grayanotoxin-containing plants, particularly Rhododendron, produced traditionally in Nepal and the Black Sea region of Turkey. The song also includes references to Nemrut Dağı, a mountain in Turkey with a rich archaeological history, the ancient Turkish settlement of Urfa, and the fishpond at Balıklıgöl in neighboring Harran. The line "Master, cut the stone out, my name is Lubbert Das", is taken from Cutting the Stone, also called The Extraction of the Stone of Madness or The Cure of Folly, a painting by Hieronymus Bosch completed around 1500.
The tracks, "Up to the Sun", and its live version, "Vivid Riot of Red", are a partial performance of an incantation against jaundice from the late Vedic scripture, the Atharvaveda:

Critical reception

said the album was a "stunning comeback picking up where 154 left off while also reflecting the strides made by the members' solo work" and that the album was "experimental and forward-thinking". Trouser Press felt that, "for the first time, Wire no longer sounded ahead of its time: New Order had already done this sort of thing better." And while the album has its moments of tunefulness, they wrote, "mechanical sameness is no substitute for the old diversity."
Stereogum ranked it 6th in their 2015 "Wire Albums from Worst to Best" list, writing, "what mostly defines the album is the updated, late '80s sheen that blankets every song, and with mostly satisfying results... Glossy, in this case, doesn't necessarily denote commercial, however, and one dynamite single doesn't stop Wire from making the rest of the album uniquely – and accessibly – weird. As peculiar and sometimes frustrating as Wire's second act would become, it certainly started out strong."

Track listing

All titles are written by Wire.
;Bonus tracks
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.
The UK CD edition on Mute Records, in addition to the eight album tracks, appends a different version of "Ahead", as well as the Snakedrill EP and the three concert recordings.
;Notes
;Wire
;Production