[.ca] A Bell Is A Cup Until It Is St

money spine paper lung:
A Bell is a Cup is clearly Wire's most accessible album. Chock full of pop ditties with danceable rhythms and shimmering guitars, it roughly fit the late eighties landscape of pop music in the UK. There are no assaultative guitars, no punk-propelled drums on ABIAC. The songs are pop sugar, but not so simple. The lyrics are often bizarre and obtuse (of course!), and even the themes are hard to discern. Just as angular, weird, and incomprehensible as their first 4 full-length albums, ABIAC is a smoother listen, and very enjoyable at the same time. A few of these tracks you may have heard on other Wire albums. A warning-- "The Finest Drops" herein is outshone many times over by the version on the IBTABA album a few years later. "Come Back in Two Halves" is one of the quartet's finest few minutes, and the magnificent single "Kidney Bingoes" is perhaps their best known song, and one of their best. The bonus tracks, such as the live version of "Drill" (the best, in my opinion) and the remarkable "Pieta" are not jetsam from wasted studio time, but marvelous tracks that help balance out the work as a whole. With only a few disappointing tracks, such as "The Finest Drops" and "The Queen of Ur" (you might need amphetamines to stay awake during this one, folks), A Bell is a Cup (ABIAC) is one of Wire's finest albums, and worth more than a few listens. Also, fans of Wire-- if you haven't seen a CD called WHORE, which is a 21-song tribute to Wire, you really should. It's worth it... Wire songs interpreted by various rock and pop bands in many styles. Only one of the songs from ABIAC is on WHORE, but for fans of both Wire's early period in the late 1970s and their smoother pop period in the 1980s, WHORE is a good bet to please. ken32

The Best Wire. Buy it.:
This is very accessible, even catchy stuff for Wire. It's not the punky early Wire, nor the overly clinical sound of later albums. This is their best, in my opinion, and a lasting artifact of solid 80s art-rock.

Strange and wonderful:
This album works for me, taking me to strange and wonderful places. Wire's sound is quirky and unique. Listening to this music in the right setting is like taking a good medicine that leaves you with only beneficial side effects -good memories and intriguing dreams.

I shift the blame to the worm in the bottle:
I bought this Wire album after hearing the song "Kidney Bingos". I bought it on the same day as "The Ideal Copy" this summer while on a trip to England. Songs that amazed me the most were "Silk Skin Paws", "The Finest Drops", and "Kidney Bingos". I also like the "The Queen Of Ur And The King Of Um" and "Pieta". This is a very wise purchase for me and I'm definately checking out all the other albums. I still don't have "Chairs Missing" "154" or the new one "Send".

Essential 80s album:
Wire - an important though unsung new wave group (in other words they were musically and lyrically brilliant but did not sell as many records as, say, Rod Stewart) that made an impact with the release of their debut, Pink Flag in 1977. They were jaggedly new wave but also sophisticated and had an ear for melody. After three albums, they disappeared for a while and resurfaced in the mid-80s with a string of stunning records and a more polished sound. The first of which was the celebrated The Ideal Copy and the second, the even more refined A Bell is a Cup. A Bell received a lukewarm reception from the music press who complained that the band was becoming diluted and commercial. This is a tragedy because I believe it is their best record, their crowning achievement, and one of the best albums of the 80s, right up there alongside Depeche Mode's Black Celebration, and XTC's English Roundabout etc. The sound is deep and dark and sometimes bleak but always beautiful, thought-provoking and immensely rewarding. All the songs are great, but in my view, Free Falling Divisions, Queen of ER, Kidney Bingos and Public Place are masterpieces of melody, arrangement and wordsmithery. And on this splendid CD version you get extra toons to take the running time up to 74 minutes. Good value!!

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