MANIC STREET PREACHERS Best Album Poll

Yes, SYMM as an instrumental except for the chorus, that would have been much, much better. When I was 18 I thought they were being clever by (more or less) putting in words that there actually are no words for something so vile. But I grew to dislike those verses quite a bit, "trying and failing to write" sounds like an appropriate assessment.

I'm reminded of the last time I saw them live, James sat down with an acoustic guitar for a couple of songs solo. First, 'A Sudden Welsh Heart'. He then told the audience that he would give us three options and he'd play the one for which we'd cheer the most:
1. Life Becoming A Landslide
2. Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky
3. The Everlasting
Of course, how this goes is that the cheering increased in order, so it came down to The Everlasting. I -do- like that song, but I was incredibly disappointed, it was the least interesting thing for him to play by far.

hate that song so much. life becoming a landslide is one of my fave songs but luckily they played it live when i saw them in 96

Love 'Life Becoming a Landslide' and 'Small Black Flowers...', really can't sit through 'The Everlasting' these days.

Holy Bible was my ultimate angst album in high school. To me the lyrics "got it" more than anything like Nine Inch Nails or whatever else, as far as 90s angst music goes.

Maybe Richey Edwards went Heath Ledger Joker, because that's some fucking intense shit on that album

The lyrics to The Holy Bible looked so deep and meaningful when I was in my mid teens. Nowadays huge portions of that album sound really silly lyrically.

thread is inspiring me to pick up a bunch of their post TIMTTMY albums, the only ones I've really heard were Futurology and Know Your Enemy. The latter didn't do it for me nearly as much as the former, but i keep seeing cheap copies of a bunch of the others. Journal For Plague Lovers is the most intriguing one.

the Europhilia of Futurology makes it a bit of an arm's-length record for me

huge portions of that album sound really silly lyrically.

the bonkersness of this record is what makes it great.

the Europhilia of Futurology makes it a bit of an arm's-length record for me

― Simon H., Sunday, October 22, 2017 4:47 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is one of the reasons why the record is so great.

Between The Clock And The Bed doesn't half sound like Genesis

I don't think it sounds like Genesis at all... which Genesis songs does it remind you of?

not a specific track more a feel... the Phil Collins era just after Peter Gabriel left when it still sounded like PG era. Its not a diss though. I like early Genesis

love green’s vocal on that song so much. one of my favorite songs about depression

I like his vocal on it too, and I hate Scritti Politti.

new album out in April

http://www.manicstreetpreachers.com/wp-content/themes/manic-street-preachers/assets-splashpage-nov2017/images/packshot-manicstreetpreachers-resistanceisfutile.jpg

That Thailand article xp had the quite brilliant headline Bangkoksucker Blues. The NME didn't even use it properly, they threw it away as the tagline on the masthead

I read it again a couple of years ago. Disturbing as the cutting stuff was, it was striking to me now how prudish the tone was. The band sleeping with groupies was a scandal, and Richey's visit to a brothel ('it was just paid masturbation, really') was like the end of the world. I was aware that we're supposed to have become a more sexualised culture over the past decade, but I didn't realise that we started off as the 50s midwest

― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 25 September 2008 17:56 (nine years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, lighten up, visiting Thailand and going to a brothel, thousands of Western men do it every year, where's the harm in it?

Any idea what approach they're taking for the new one? Hoping it's not another attempt at a big rock record.

idk maybe they’ll nail that this time

last album their best since EMG i reckon. didn't care that much for the previous 3 or 4.

there's a trailer, the snippets sound EMG-esque

I got this from their mailing list...

"It's the first album to be recorded at the band's new Door to the River Studio in Newport.

Say the band - "The main themes of 'Resistance Is Futile' are memory and loss - forgotten history - confused reality and art as a hiding place and inspiration. Musically the album is obsessively melodic and in many ways references the naive energy of 'Generation Terrorists' and the orchestral sweep of 'Everything Must Go'. After delay and difficulties, the record has come together really quickly over the last few months, there has been a surge of creativity and old school hard work.""

Sounds like they were having trouble searching for a direction... either that or it was problems with the new studio.

News of this latest album has got me re-listening to Everything Must Go and thinking about that period of the band in general. Just remembering how much 'A Design for Life' just leapt out of the speakers whenever it was played on the radio (which was a lot) - particularly the chorus, which just sounded incredibly powerful. Of course, Richey going missing was still very fresh in everyone's minds - the album was only released the year after he'd gone missing and people were still very optimistic about him turning up somewhere, and I recall a few alleged sightings appearing in the music press.

To say this period must have fucked with the bands heads just a little bit is quite possibly an understatement - up to this point, Nicky and Richey were doing a lot of the press, and now JDB had to start doing a lot more press - and in some interviews from this period, you can see he's kinda reluctant at that stage.

Anyhow, the record still sounds great to me, and I'd forgotten just how much I love the back half of the album in particular - 'The Girl Who Wanted to Be God', 'Removables', 'Interiors' and surprisingly 'Australia' which I thought I'd burned out on, but now sounds utterly awesome - do they even do this one live anymore? They should!

Some of the older Manics fans that were around during the first act of their career were a touch miffed about the band carrying on without Richey, particularly when the album went onto become so successful and the band weren't their secret anymore. Fuck 'em.

EMG is one of my favorite-sounding rock records - bright, colorful, dynamic. Just the right amount of gloss.

I don't know if "gloss" is the right word, I agree - it sounded OTM to me in 1996 and still does, whereas Generation Terrorists sounded like it had aged rapidly even by 1996 - very plasticy. Amazing to think the record was only four years old by that point, too!

*but I agree

“interiors” is sometimes my favorite manics song

definitely go for EMG. Be My Baby drum sounds on the title track elevate it imo

All songs on Everything Must Go are good to great, right?
I saw JDB on one of his rare solo performances (from when he did that solo album), he included three Manics songs in his set, I remember 'No Surface All Feeling' was one of them - amazing to hear live.

I'm very excited about their upcoming album, seeing as I'd probably name their last one as my favourite & I love both EMG and GT.
It strikes me as a bit strange to have the album title and the cover design revealed as well as all formats it's going to be available in, a whole five months before it's actually out. Can't wait!

I'm v confused as to wy neither TIMTTMY or KYE are on Spotify (at least in Canada). What if I want to listen to uh "Baby Elian"?

"interiors" is sometimes my favorite manics song

― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Wednesday, November 22, 2017 11:48 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's a great track - one I often forget about until I'm listening to it and then it's like "why am I not listening to this more often?" ... it would have made a great single, if they hadn't already released four of 'em.

New single "International Blue" is out. It's not very encouraging, but I don't think they've released an encouraging first single since JFPL

And of course the single has grown on me

The tracklist boasts a mix of promising and uhh less promising titles

1. People Give In
2. International Blue
3. Distant Colours
4. Vivian
5. Dylan & Caitlin
6. Liverpool Revisited
7. Sequels of Forgotten Wars
8. Hold Me Like a Heaven
9. In Eternity
10. Broken Algorithms
11. A Song for the Sadness
12. The Left Behind

I'm looking forward to this album. Also, I think they're planning something for the 20th anniversary of ...Truth...?

"international blue" is great

I was reading somewhere recently that they're planning to throw a few Lifeblood tracks into the set for the tour, which of course would be great - 'Empty Souls' alone deserves to be a staple of their set, IMO - but given what Wire can be like in interviews, we'll see.

Also, I think they're planning something for the 20th anniversary of ...Truth...?

I would happily buy a 2cd reissue with the excellent b-sides tbh

Oh, to think of the album that could have been - the one with 'Prologue to History' and 'Montana/Autumn/78' on it.

According to Nicky Wire, there's more from the This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours era in their archives than any other era. Loads of unreleased stuff, apparently.

That's not at all surprising, considering how wide-ranging the album material is

Wonder if there's anything else from the Howard Gray sessions - that's who they should've done the album with.

International Blue is a pleasant surprise, I was dreading more Postcards For A Young Man / Send Away The Tigers stodge. Best song since JFPL.

I flippin' love Lifeblood, me. I wish they would announce what rarities they play in advance, like they did with 'Natwest...'. Was denied the WTF moment when I saw them last, when it made an apparance.

*NOT announce.

new track "Dylan and Caitlin" is a duet w/ The Anchoress. It's alright - I really like "Distant Colours" though

Anyone heard the new one in full yet?

I have. tbh though I liked the singles in isolation, I'm not very taken with it as a whole just yet

Hmm. I haven't heard it yet but that description doesn't bode well!

It's another one of those Send Away The Tigers / Postcards For A Young Man cheesy 'pop'-reboot albums but far more likeable than either of those. But then again to me all of their albums after Lifeblood with the exception of JFPL have been ultra-disposable so who knows if it'll be one to return to. I'd would say though that International Blue is by far their best tune in nearly 10 years