A Bell Is a Cup

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A Bell Is a Cup… Until It Is Struck
File:WireABellIsACup.jpg
Studio album by Wire
Released May 1988
Recorded December 1987
Studio Preußen Tonstudio, Berlin, West Germany
Genre
Length 44:17
Label Mute
Producer Gareth Jones
Wire studio album chronology
The Ideal Copy
(1987)The Ideal Copy1987		 A Bell Is A Cup… Until It Is Struck
(1988)		 IBTABA
(1989)IBTABA1989
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars[1]
Rolling Stone 4/5 stars[2]
Robert Christgau B+[3]

A Bell Is a Cup… Until It Is Struck is the fifth studio album by the British post-punk group Wire.

Critical response

In 1989, the Trouser Press Record Guide described the album as:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

…a stylized set of dreamscapes and consciousness streams… It's arguably Wire's most ruminative album, and while immersion in it won't, as 'Silk Skin Paws' suggests, 'wring your senses' – that's more a job for Chairs Missing – it will twirl your lobes a time or two.[4]

However, in a later edition, Trouser Press held a more critical view, writing:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Wire stayed the dance-pop course with diminishing results on A Bell Is a Cup.[5]

At the time of the album's release, Wire faced accusations that they had abandoned their earlier rough-edged sound for a softer, more refined style.[6] Graham Lewis dismissed such criticism:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

This is a fallacy… When [Wire's early albums] were released, they were considered more polished than other records at the time. Every record that's been made, the same criticism of being less abrasive has been levelled at it. The abrasion is actually in the content – both lyrics and sound.[6]

Allmusic gave the album a laudatory review, describing the record as: <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

…arguably Wire's best album and certainly its most accessible… a work of modern rock genius.[1]

Track listing

All tracks published by Stainless Music.

All songs written and composed by Wire. 

No. Title Length
1. "Silk Skin Paws"    
2. "The Finest Drops"    
3. "The Queen of Ur and the King of Um"    
4. "Free Falling Divisions"    
5. "It's a Boy"    
6. "Boiling Boy"    
7. "Kidney Bingos"    
8. "Come Back In Two Halves"    
9. "Follow the Locust"    
10. "A Public Place"    

The CD version appends the following tracks:

No. Title Length
11. "The Queen of Ur and the King of Um" (alternative version)  
12. "Pieta"    
13. "Over Theirs" (live)  
14. "Drill" (live)  

Musicians

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ [1] Archived 2 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.


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