McCarthy I Am a Wallet Import 2LP & 45rpm 7" Vinyl (Color Vinyl)

Expanded reissue, originally released in 1987. By the time McCarthy appeared on the NME's C86 cassette they had already been playing together for a couple of years and released two excellent singles. Their debut 7", In Purgatory, and the indie masterpiece Red Sleeping Beauty are both included on this release. The following year McCarthy released the brilliant Frans Hals before unleashing their debut album, I Am a Wallet. Now recognized as an indie pop masterpiece it has gone on to achieve cult status, receiving praise from the likes of Nicky Wire (Manic Street Preachers) as one of the most important albums of the '80s. McCarthy is known by today's indie acolytes as the band that spawned Tim Gane and Leititia Sadier (who of course went on to form Stereolab).

I Am a Wallet is a seamless album reminiscent of the Byrds. Wonderful, if slightly twee, jangly guitars with complex and rarely rhyming lyrics, Malcolm Eden's strident left-wing political views are manifest on I Am a Wallet. Cloaked in pretty guitar and propulsive drums, Eden sets about attacking the pillars of the day: MPs, Prince Charles, Fleet Street, religion, the response to AIDS, and on almost every song, capitalism. The horrors and inequalities of the capitalist system are laid bare for all the see. The system which enables some to get rich at the expense of others is reviled and attacked.

Pressed on red vinyl and presented in gloss-laminated gatefold sleeve. This double album set contains the original LP plus 13 bonus tracks taken from their first four singles and the re-recorded version of "In Purgatory," which originally appeared on the Pink compilation EP, It Sells or It Smells (1986), plus bonus 7", a reproduction color vinyl copy of McCarthy's first 7", In Purgatory. All three tracks have been remastered from the original master tape and presented in a wraparound sleeve, just like the incredibly rare "Wall of Salmon" original. Also includes 20-page, 12x12" full-color booklet containing all the lyrics and packed full with photos, many previously unpublished, and press clippings and other memorabilia. Introduction by Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers and track-by-track commentary by Malcolm Eden. 8x10 black-and-white press photo. Reproduction European Tour poster "The Well of Loneliness."

...if you're looking for perfect pop, you would be hard-pressed to find better than this album.