Wire – The Ideal Copy

This pressing is bomb, stands up to the test of time. Can’t imagine anything later is better. Wire, for the win.

Great sounding Japanese pressing. Flat, quiet. Excellent album too. While not as essential as the first three Wire albums, definitely worth the purchase.

Yep I thought AHEAD was New Order when I heard it on KROQ when it came out. They made an appearance on EARDRUM BUZZ video along with BJORK and others. I had zero idea about how Wire was worshipped by post-punks in their previous incantation. I was only 17(?) when this came out. I owned this and the next but really didn't continue after that. I truly believe those diehard older fans can't stand the band as it evolved. Never listened to the older stuff. Only heard OUTDOOR MINER and I AM THE FLY much much later. This and A BELL IS A CUP are awesome though.

Nice mastering. Underrated album not up there with the first three but on a level with say Bend Sinister after the The Fall's classic period.

I've always played the second side first, as this opens with the one-two punch of "Ambitious" and "Cheeking Tongues" before a most pleasing progression of introspective Newman songs. This is a supremely wonderful album. And I was lucky enough to see Wire on this tour. Famously opening act The Ex-Lion Tamers played Pink Flag note for note, including a longer gap between the album sides! Gotobed had exactly three drums: kick, snare, hat. The Ideal Copy is a supreme achievement.

Compared to the Discovery Systems edition, this is crisper, more open and has a higher output level. The Discovery Systems is excellent but this is just that bit better.

Wonderful album. This release is the one to have, warm balanced sound.

Uninhibited, anything goes, and everything is possible kind of experience. Excellent transfer. A classic! In reference only to the album proper, being the first 8 tracks.

For a band so prone to shifting through the sonic landscape, this album stands out as the one where their experimentation seemed to profit the most. It hits the sweet spot, landing neatly between post-punk and new wave. There are moments so catchy that even the most stoic of human beings can't help but bob their stubborn heads (Ahead), and yet there are also moments so sublime that they almost feel like a dream (Man's Honey). As a teenager, this album was a musical awakening to me. It presented sonic possibilities that I'd never encountered before. It was everything I'd loved about music in one package.

Their most underrated album, no doubt, this and Pink Flag are their very best and shows such astonishing progression, adaptation and slight mutation - truly magnificent !