I Am a Wallet is the debut studio album by English indie pop band McCarthy. It was first released in November 1987. After recording three singles, "In Purgatory", "Red Sleeping Beauty" and "Frans Hals", I Am a Wallet demonstrates jangly guitar pop reminiscent of The Byrds. While this form of indie pop was widespread in '80s underground Britain, McCarthy brought left-wing politics to the genre. Religion is attacked in "God Made the Virus", while the return of Victorian values espoused by Margaret Thatcher is compared to medieval oppression in "In the Dark Times". Johnny Dee of Underground magazine gave the album a 3/3 review, naming it as his favourite record of the year. I Am a Wallet has since been described by Nicky Wire as "the most perfect record, a Communist manifesto with tunes". On the album cover of the 2007 re-release he writes that McCarthy "are partly to blame for the realisation of the Manic Street Preachers". James Dean Bradfield rated I Am a Wallet as his top British album of all time. The cover art features Georg Grosz's painting Widmung an Oskar Panizza (The Funeral). Track listing "An MP Speaks" – 2:10 "Monetaries" – 1:57 "The International Narcotics Traffic" – 2:25 "The Way of the World" – 2:28 "Antinature" – 1:42 "Charles Windsor" – 1:38 "The Vision of Peregrine Worsthorne" – 2:50 "The Well of Loneliness" – 2:29 "The Wicked Palace Revolution" – 2:32 "God Made the Virus" – 1:40 "The Funeral" – 1:51 "A Child Soon in Chains" – 1:46 "In the Dark Times" – 1:44 "The Procession of Popular Capitalism" – 3:07 Re-releases In 1989, the album was re-released on CD with four bonus tracks from The Well of Loneliness EP. The track listing is: "An MP Speaks" "Monetaries" "The International Narcotics Traffic" "The Way of the World" "Antinature" "Charles Windsor" "The Vision of Peregrine Worsthorne" "Unfortunately" "Bad Dreams" "Someone Worse Off" "Antiamericancretin" "The Well of Loneliness" "The Wicked Palace Revolution" "God Made the Virus" "The Funeral" "A Child Soon in Chains" "In the Dark Times" "The Procession of Popular Capitalism" In 1999, the album was re-released on CD with "Banking, Violence and the Inner Life Today". The track listing is: "An MP Speaks" – 2:10 "Monetaries" – 1:57 "The International Narcotics Traffic" – 2:25 "The Way of the World" – 2:28 "Antinature" – 1:42 "Charles Windsor" – 1:38 "The Vision of Peregrine Worsthorne" – 2:50