MANIC STREET PREACHERS Best Album Poll

I'm going with the popular choice - Know Your Enemy

haha i actually liked that album. Much better than the one before it and the one after it.

I think it's a fantastic record. Actually, I have no clue what would be the popular choice. The debut?

Holy Bible head and shoulders above anything else here, even though Richey decided to channel Daily Mail editorials for some of the lyrics.

The Holy Bible is the popular choice. Unless people have only heard ETMG

Holy Bible and Everything Must Go are both excellent. I really liked TIMTTMY as well. It reminds me of Fall a lot. I'm going with Holy Bible though because the lyrics are so brilliant and thought-provoking.

"prejudice burns / brighter when it's all we have to burn"

1st 3 are unfuckwithable

Ira Robbins likes the lyrics only on The Holy Bible. Just thought you should know

Know Your Enemy. I don't understand why people don't like that record.

for some reason i never gave that one a chance

Gold Against The Soul is very underrated.

Holy Bible.

Never been a huge fan of the debut outside of the singles - I think the second album is better.

Holy Bible is their best.

I do want to defend TIMTTMY though - lyrically awful in places (SYMM) but it features some of their most underrated tracks - especially the atypically beautiful Black Dog On My Shoulder.

Know Your Enemy has some great tracks (the first two singles, "Convalescent") but also their most juvenile lyrics and quite a few throwaway tracks.

Holy Bible, but would take an album that grafted the best halves of their first two albums together over it, if you see what I mean.

Some of the tracks on Generation Terrorists were better in their earlier ep form

which of these LP's would be the best for someone (er, a friend of mine...you wouldn't know him) who relly wants to like the Manics, but finds the 7 or 8 songs he's ever heard by them to be overwrought and undermelodic?

GATS is the big sounding, melodic stadium rock album, so that might be good. Everything Must Go is pretty tuneful as well.

Holy Bible without a shadow of a doubt.

If you don't like "Faster" (from Holy Bible), "A Design for Life" (from EMG), or "You Stole the Sun" (from TIMTTMY), you probably will not like anything by this band. That said, if you're feeling nihilistic, I'd recommend the Holy Bible, which in general really needs to be heard as a whole to understand. If you're feeling contemplative, I'd recommend EMG.

Sleepflower is an awesome song.

Damn, I made a mistake with the poll closing date. Wasn't meant to be so long.

Gold Against the Soul

This is actually really difficult. Generation Terrorists has some good stuff, but doesn't sound particularly nice -they were a more brilliant idea than a brilliant band at that time. The Holy Bible is utterly perfect, but I can't bring myself to listen to it any more so I can't vote for that. Everything Must Go is excellent, Nicky's lyrics only fray slightly at the edges. This Is My Truth I liked for a few listens, but then found it had nothing more to offer - plus it's got SYMM on it, which is unredeemable. I'm surprised they've had three albums since, actually (I did like 'Found that Soul', it was claustrophobic in a good way).

But I'll go with Gold Against The Soul too, I think. I may have been influenced by the photo at the head of this too. It sounds really warm, has some cracking tunes on it (esp 'Sleepflower' and 'Life Becoming a Landslide') and they seemed to be having as much fun as they could at that point. Best of all is the fact that it is a kind of resigned betrayal of everything they'd stood for 'til then.

The Holy Bible is utterly perfect

Richey's pro capital punishment/anti gun control/"political correctness gone mad!" lyrics are pretty risible. But I can grin and bear them, and 4st 7lb, Faster, even Revol, border on a kind of genius and kind of make up for the badness.

kind of, kind of.

WTF people still rate the Holy Bible?

Lifeblood (2004)

Didn't even know this existed.

It's crap apart from the 1st song.

1st album is very long and apart from a few good singles, incredibly boring. Gold Against The Soul is really good with very few bad moments from what I remember. Holy Bible is ace, but can be a little challenging in places. Thought Everything Must Go was annoying and MOR-y, but TIMTTMY was much better, that year's answer to "The Bends". It's a melancholic album but it suited my mood at the time and I played it to death. Listening back though, most of the songs don't achieve very much after the 2 minute mark and go on a bit too long. I love "I'm Not Working", "My Little Empire", "Born A Girl", "Black Dog"... shit I'm gonna bang it on tonight when I get home.

Haven't heard or paid attention to anything after that.

Lifeblood (2004)
Didn't even know this existed

The two singles off it ('Empty Souls' and 'The Love of Richard Nixon') both reached No.2. I read somewhere that they were the two lowest-selling No.2s in chart history

That doesn't say much for the number threes those weeks.

wtf was up with that richard nixon song anyway?

it was very strange. Number two? What was number one, everything else?

Those historic top threes in full:
Eric Prydz 'Call on Me' - 'The Love of Richard Nixon' - Kelis 'Millionaire'
Elvis 'One Night' (taking the historic 1000th number one slot!) - 'Empty Souls' - The Killers 'Somebody Told Me'

WTF people still rate the Holy Bible?

I think I would enjoy it if I played it this evening (even though I won't), which I certainly couldn't say for any of their other records

i guess i'm meant to vote for the holy bible or emg, but generation terrorists is the one i totally fell for at the time, so, that.

I'm very surprised by the love for Gold Against the Soul. There are some good tracks on it, but I find it to be the work of a band that hasn't quite evolved fully yet. The Holy Bible is a dense magnum opus that is unrelenting and uncompromising, and a major artistic statement. It's like the audio equivalent of some 1000 page Russian epic novel that requires your effort and attention, but is rich with stark and harrowing images, and horrific insights into the human condition. EMG is way less angsty, and the songs are more introspective and sometimes forlorn. It makes me think of a quiet Sunday afternoon spent reflecting on memories. Really the work of two different bands, these two albums. I love both of them.

Richey's pro capital punishment/anti gun control/"political correctness gone mad!" lyrics are pretty risible.

I read that interpretation on Pitchfork's review of the album, but I don't think the pro-capital punishment and anti-gun control lyrics are meant literally. I think it's an angry and sarcastic criticism of a hypocritical American mentality on retribution and justice, and a dismissal of the small-headed thinking of the human race in general, one in which he feels the ultimate means of addressing is only through its annihilation ("all I preach is extinction"). The sentiment resembles "kill 'em all and let god sort 'em out," which is not meant literally, and can't really be construed as a pro-capital punishment and pro-weapons message so much as a nihilistic response to the difficulty of correcting society's problems.

What of that 'unreleased' USA mix, the extra disc on the 'deluxe' edition?

... of the Holy Bible, I meant.

Holy Bible (never bothered with the redux reissue; didn't think I needed to) but Lifeblood is the most underrated.

res otm

Holy Bible is the only one I was ever into.

Not sure if res otm or not. I think the lyrics are absolutely sincere - it's just that they're only there to provide examples of the deeper idea - a howl for honesty and against tokenism. I don't think there's a deep commitment to capital punishment as an end to strive for, say, but there is a deep commitment to capital punishment as a logical end IF the purpose of the justice system is moral condemnation. But he takes no view on whether that is its right purpose or not, he just wants a proper facing up to the consequences. The PC stuff is absolutely of a piece, given that its whole purpose is a pretence to avoid consequences

These are pretty contradictory and difficult issues and about as out there as pop music is ever likely to get (it's pretty crazy stuff to try to address in three-minute lyrics - one of those slim Camus books would be a better format than your epic Russian novel I reckon) so it's hard to know what *I* think about it, let alone to work out whether I agree with you. In any case, it's hardly risible.

"Fuck the Brady Bill" is pretty risible. Their idea that gun control would "disenfranchise the black communities who don't have licences. The white rednecks in America do have licences" (Wire) is something of a minority reading.

And "a proper facing up to the consequences" is surely what the string 'em up brigade have always called for. Richey said "it isn't a right-wing song, but a lot of people don't like seeing a rapist get off with a £25 fine". That "but" seems to be doing the same work as in "I'm not a racist but..."

(it's pretty crazy stuff to try to address in three-minute lyrics - one of those slim Camus books would be a better format than your epic Russian novel I reckon)

OTM, the album always struck me as wildly over-ambitious lyrically, even as a moping teen, which is perhaps part of its power.

Sure these are difficult issues. To accept the straw man, no, a lot of people don't like seeing a rapist get off with a £25 fine. But I'm not sure how a song apparently advocating sterilisation, thus occupying the other extreme end of the spectrum which is already well covered in the mainstream media, contributes to the debate. OTOH "all I preach is extinction" is a great nihilistic howl so it succeeds at some level. xp.

I couldn't go at it quote-for-quote xp, but isn't that last bit exactly what I was getting at (taking 'face up to the consequences' to mean facing up to the consequences of your choice)? Namely either be tough on crime and punish properly, or take some other approach like rehabilitation and do that properly - don't say you're tough on crime and then fine rapists/release everyone early/plant bilingual signs around Bosnia

re: quoting, I just had the biog to hand :) But I still don't see how the song differs from a standard right-wing POV. Maybe I misunderstand, but it sounds like you're saying they're aiming for a kind of Modest Proposal - but if that's the case it's not outrageous enough, since their proposal would be deemed quite reasonable by a fair number of people.

I'd forgotten about the intro - it rather suggests the target is the contradiction between the seeking of capital punishment and condemnation of the killer for the same actions, with the nationalism theme suggesting that the distinction is an arbitrary one. Not what I'd had in mind, but maybe the modest proposal is an accurate reading of it

(NB the site I used for the lyrics offers an 'Archives of Pain' ringtone)

How in the hell could you ever think these lyrics, especially on the Holy Bible, are sincere? Was the part of your brain that detects irony cut out through your nose or something? The lyrics are so typically 90s "screw the world and system! humans are animals!" type shit.

It's like listening to Crass - Penis Envy and thinking they're all dowdy, uber-conservative traditionalist women.

Well that's me told

burt stanton straight to the point

burt stanton never suffered from teenage angst

Generation Terrorists is the only one I've ever heard, so I guess I'll vote for it.

Whatever else the Holy Bible's politics are — extreme, experimental, confused, sometimes nuts — they're not ironic. Remember it was in part inspired by visiting Auschwitz, so there's a sincere fascination with stark moral choices, retribution for hideous crimes, and the potential for anyone, under certain circumstances, to do repellent things. The band have talked about reaching the point where extreme left-wing ideas meet extreme right-wing ones. It's not meant to be comfortable or even entirely coherent but it sure as hell isn't ironic.

"Fuck the Brady Bill" is pretty risible.

again, misinterpreted I think. The full lyrics go

"Fuck the Brady Bill / Fuck the Brady Bill / If God made man they say / Sam Colt made him equal"

The "they say" is integral to understand that it's not his own opinion; he's criticizing the irony of America's puritanical values and its religious and moral high horse, and how it contradicts with the apparent attitudes of the people who supposedly espouse those beliefs.

"Yet your morals only run / as deep as the surface"

In other words, Americans talk about being high-minded and deeply religious, but ultimately those religious values are ones that people wear like clothing and wield like weapons. Ultimately, they do not 'trust' God and his plans like they claim to; instead, they believe in their own justice that they can administer themselves through their guns. Any attempt to curb that right to guns reverts American life to the unsettling world that God made, whereas the guns-- in their minds-- provides the equality and justice that their God never could.

Some of the tracks on Generation Terrorists were better in their earlier ep form

Yeah, to me it was all about their early 12" EP's. The album was kindof overblown and overdone, though it had a few good tracks. I quit paying attention to them after GT.

"Everything Must Go" is the most consistent although "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" contains the best songs and is easily the most underrated one.

"The Holy Bible" is the worst, in spite of some great lyrics. "She Is Suffering" is great tho.

HB is the worst?? You're nuts! Every song on that is fucking amazing.

They lack the anthemic quality that Manics at their best have.

Geir Hongro is the resident controversial opinionist. Anyway, I think people are misinterpreting what irony means.

Yes Geir bringing the challops. Incorrect in this case though.

TIMTTMY is the worst Mondeo Pop album of all time

It's not that bad but it does have one of the worst songs ever made The Everlasting

That's not even the worst song on that album (hi dere SYMM)! I'd go for the Holy Bible as the closest they've made to a really good album, but I don't think they've ever made a wholly consistent one.

"The Everlasting" is the best song on the entire album, and possibly the best Manics song ever. A fantastic singalong anthem representing 90s Britpop at its very best!

"She Is Suffering" is, on the other hand, the only track on "The Holy Bible" with sufficient singalong qualities.

Yep, singalongability is exactly what I look for in my nihilistic songs about the holocaust, anorexia, etc too.

I don't look for nihilistic songs. Period.

LIFEBLOOD is 50 % amazing. there's a cult of people who think it's in their top 3 albums. i'm in that cult!

holy bible is great but the debut it is

gt is kind of a masterpiece -- a lot of it is awful, but its sheer ridiculousness stood out at the time (and really would prob stand out at any time). gats has a couple of good songs but aged pretty poorly. holy bible is still surprisingly gritty and exciting as music (james bradfield surely gave his best ever vocals here), and a lot of the lyrics ("yes," "die in the summertime") even stand up as poetry, or something closer to it than most pop lyrics. i never listen to EMG but most of it probably still holds up. liked know your enemy a lot at the time, haven't heard it in years.

Trust Geir to have as his fave manics song the one i hate most.

LIFEBLOOD is 50 % amazing.

can you list the songs you think this of?

It's not that bad but it does have one of the worst songs ever made The Everlasting

whoa, whoa, whoa.... that song's great! the first few times I thought it was forced, but now I find it to be among their best songs, and one of their most affecting.

IF YOU STAND UP LIKE A NAIL

fUCK YOU

God, I remember thinking "I've been too honest with myself, I should have lied like everybody else" was the greatest thing I'd ever heard. I was WAY old enough to know better at that point as well.

There are no bad tracks on the 1st three ablums, I'm gonna vote GT to balance out the contrarianism a bit.

I don't look for nihilistic songs. Period.

WHY THE HOLY FUCK ARE YOU LISTENING TO THE MANICS THEN?

Ailsa otm

I'm a bit amazed at how popular this band seem to be here

but you're delighted about it?

Couldn't be less delighted

These guys sell out arenas in Europe, right? Cause in America they're completely obscure.

I don't pay attention to their lyrics very much, and could care less about their politics. But Know Your Enemy is a great rock album, particularly Epicentre.

I don't pay attention to their lyrics very much, and could care less about their politics.

Yeah I feel this way about the Democrats.

Are they big in mainland Europe or just here in the UK? (stan m to thread?)

i like the way Sean looks in that photo. He looks like he's about 12 years old.

V big in Thailand apparently.

Funny you should say that, as I was in Thailand several years back and heard one of their songs playing out of someone's car. at the time, I thought it very odd.

I remember reading an article about them about 14 years ago with them visiting Thailand and mass hysteria and arm cutting occurring amongst their fans. Pretty fucked up.

And Richey visiting a prostitute

yes that's right ham shandies all round!

Even better is how Nicky looks like Shirley off EastEnders in that photo.

dunno who that is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Carter

It is pretty uncanny:

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:JfT_AndWpk4K7M:http://static.whatsontv.co.uk/images/0836_103919_116883.jpg

x-post!

i see the resemblance

nicky's way cuter though. i saw them in concert once and nicky made both me and my female friend swoon!

one of the last times I saw them he wore angel wings

one of the nights at the barrowlands on the know your enemy tour.

he was wearing a feathered boa when I saw him.

oh he probably had that too. He definitely had one on his mic. That gig was 1999 it seems.

Are they big in mainland Europe or just here in the UK?

The "Everything Must Go" album sold well here, as did also "This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours". Before that they didn't mean much.

Before that they didn't mean much.

you mean when they were great.

I'm glad I did make this poll last longer now.

So Manics.........

Manics at Hull Adelphi 1991 - incendiary. Ruffled Ritchie's hair and haven't washed my right boot since.Can't reach it as strapped in zimmer.

Would've loved to have seen them then.

My mate saw them at King Tuts in 91

he told me he saw them quite a few times back then.

More convinced than ever that I know Fer Ark IRL.

Have you asked him?

bump

Listened to the 1st 3 albums this evening. Still sound great, even if GT is a bit overlong and the ep versions of songs were better.

http://www.thisisyesterday.com/pics/last_gig.jpg

idea that 'the holy bible' was ironic, courtesy but stanton, is adorable.

Nice pic

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

I remember the same story in RAW or Kerrang and they didn't seem that bothered, they asked how old the girl was and he said not particularly young (prob his age) I suppose the shock may have been because they thought the manics wouldnt approve of groupies and read books and drank tea on the tourbus.

Bankoksucker Blues- new handle right there!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I suppose the shock may have been because they thought the manics wouldnt approve of groupies and read books and drank tea on the tourbus.

IIRC, the other manics did feel that way and were privately horrified at what richey had done but didn't want to call him out in public -- similar to the '4 real' incident.

Well maybe. It's years since I read that article.

C'mon ILX Manics fans get those votes in. I'm sure there's more out there than we think.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I think that's the order I'd rank them.

Suits me too.

Huge number of votes!

It was a lot, yes. I knew there was secret manics fans on ILM!

i guess i'm meant to vote for the holy bible or emg, but generation terrorists is the one i totally fell for at the time, so, that.

― CharlieNo4, Monday, 1 September 2008 14:35 (1 month ago)

As an addendum to this, I've just been reminded that my version of GT is the US release, with (I think) a substantially different track listing/order. Yes, Wiki agrees with me at least.

I've actually never knowingly heard the UK version, and I'm wondering if my perception of the Manics would have been substantially different had I done so. I understand the US version removed all the vocal snippets and some potentially contentious songs, so what am I actually missing out on? Should I invest, after all this time?

I've also still got the longbox my CD came in, which I suppose makes it collectible nowadays - no examples on eBay for comparison purposes, sadly.

http://theloveof.atspace.com/US-GT-longbox.gif

You should buy it, yes.

I have the pic disk of GT and i always wish i had picked up the reissued ltd pic cd that came out a few months later (probably after Motorcycle Emptiness was a hit). It sat in (the original) Missing Records in Glasgow for about a year at £9.99.

Send Away The Tigers really was a decent album. Maybe the new one will be better than could be expected.

Gold Against The Soul deserves a deluxe reissue.

Also last week people were surprised the Manics were so high in a revived ILM albums of all time poll, so this poll proves there's still LOADS of manics fans around.

there aren't many polls get 121 votes

Sometimes lurkers turn out in droves for polls

LOADS of manics fans around.

Not in America. They're completely obscure here, which is surprising because we like big stadium anthems. I always thought somebody should cover A Design For Life on American Idol. That would help.

didn't see the poll in time to vote but would have gone for holy bible, because the north american version of said album netted me $450 on ebay when i sold it in 2002

daaaaaaaaamn. that's for sure the right time to cash in.

holy shit!

Would have voted for Gold Against the Soul.

a) how'd I miss a Manics thread b)Lifeblood is totally underrated

nah Lifeblood was very poor apart from the opening track.

i only have 'everything must go' and it hasn't encouraged me to discover anything else by this band. it's the epitome of a record that leaves me cold. the music seems to reflect the frumpy cover art - the vocals are bland, the delivery clumsy, the songwriting pedestrian, and there's a general sluggishness to the songs that prevents them from assuming the anthem-like grandeur that was so obviously intended. not particularly bad, just really mundane.

"everything must go" is possibly my least fave (up until "this is my truth" after which I paid no attention) for all the reasons you mention charlie. i like "this is my truth" but each song goes on a bit too long and doesn't really go anywhere after the initial verse and chorus.

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/rank-your-records-manic-street-preachers

"There are some crimes on this album, undoubtedly."

This interview's been around awhile but I am just reading it for the first time. JDB surely one of the few rock songwriters who calls out one of his own albums for being "too rockist."

I've been relistening to some of the old albums since I found a trove of them cheap recently - I often wonder if people who think the debut is so great have tried relistening to it in its entirety. It cries out for a real drummer and a severe edit. (It's crazy how they went from a drum machine in '92 to Sean Moore's beastly work in '96.)

There is a pretty decent album inside KYE if you ditch "My Guernica," "Wattsville Blues," "Miss Europa Disco Dancer" and "Baby Elian" (surely their most short-sighted attempt to be timely). I like to think of it as their Machina - overlong, questionably produced, following up their divisive melancholic turn with a strained "return to rawk" style, complete with a blustery first single touring resurrection in the lyrics ("Found That Soul" vs. "The Everlasting Gaze").

Lastly, Everything Must Go is a much weirder album than I remembered. Blackly bittersweet but with a million coats of polish. Insane how productive they were then - must have been 30+ polished songs out of those sessions.

I need to give Lifeblood another try; I wonder what brad would think of it. "I Live to Fall Asleep" is the most sophisti-pop they ever got, along with "Black Dog On My Shoulder." So anyway, still my favorite band ever

Even though I know the Holy Bible is the best, This Is My Truth is the one that came out at the right moment for me.

Everything Must Go and Journal For Plague Lovers are the only Manics albums I still listen to regularly in full, and I have more time for Gold Against The Soul and Lifeblood than most people.

I've listened to both Generation Terrorists and This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours in the last couple of days - the former I thought was mostly horrendous, and the latter I found as utterly boring as I did on release. I haven't felt the urge to listen to The Holy Bible or Know Your Enemy in years, and Send Away The Tigers, Postcards From A Young Man, Rewind The Film and Futurology, I think I only gave a couple of spins to and haven't heard them since.

Last time I listened to TIMTTMY, the songs seemed to go on for at least 2 minutes too long. Great tunes, but knock a verse/chorus off.

The problem isn't with the length of the songs, more the songs themselves... it doesn't help that the album has a really samey sounding production throughout, either, and that (combined with the slower tempos) is what really makes it a slog.

It could be the production. Feels like most of the songs do what they need to within the 2-3 minute mark and then continue on with very little variation for another 2-3 minutes. The Everlasting is pretty but it lives up to its name. Think I remember an short article in Select at the time talking about how single run-times were getting longer. The late-90s were definitely a time for that.

I need to give Lifeblood another try; I wonder what brad would think of it. "I Live to Fall Asleep" is the most sophisti-pop they ever got, along with "Black Dog On My Shoulder."

i've been meaning to listen to lifeblood for yearrrs. maybe i'll do it today

meanwhile out of morbid curiosity I will listen to its 16 (!) b-sides

oh btw i have investigated since this thread was last bumped and i really love lifeblood

the most recent two albums are both fantastic

Yesssss

New album again before long apparently

that's great bc the world has taken the shape of a manic street preachers album

Haha yeah the line about "misguided tweets" was mocked but seems prophetic now

there's so much sad facebooking!

http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/trip-ticks-1/

libraries gave us power
then work came and made us free

futurology is ridiculously good imo

oh yeah I forgot to report on those 16 Lifeblood b-sides

they were mostly quite bad

that's great bc the world has taken the shape of a manic street preachers album

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Thursday, January 19, 2017 8:23 PM (one month ago)

last time i heard archives of pain i felt a bit creeped out to realize that two of the ppl mentioned in the chorus (zhirinovsky, le pen) had endorsed DJT

woah

It seems that the older I get, the more ridiculous this band seem to become.

I find the lyrics of archives of pain pretty disgusting already

Futurology has grown on me to the point where it's now one of my favourite things they've ever done. That and Journal For Plague Lovers are essentially my two go-to Manics albums these days. I no longer listen to any of the first three.

I've always felt like a very atypical Manics fan for naming Gold Against The Soul as my favourite album of theirs, one of my best friends tends to joke that I usually go against the consensus and it's mainly based on this. I'm actually very surprised to see how many votes it got here!
(My atypical Manics love goes somewhat futher though: apart from favouring GATS, two Manics singles I really don't like all that much are Faster and Your Love Alone Is Not Enough - both are massive fan favourites. Oh and I like Lifeblood a lot.)

That said, since Futurology I'm not sure anymore which of the two I really think is their best. Futurology is amazing throughout, it keeps throwing awesomeness at my ears.

I'd name Gold Against the Soul as my personal favourite of the first three too, tbh. These days, though, I'm pretty much all about their work from Everything Must Go onwards, even one or two of those albums aren't great.

GATS has some p weak moments but the highlights hold up far better for me than most of GT, which i find v hard to stomach now apart from "motorcycle." much prefer the earlier versions of "you love us" and "tennessee."

GT obviously has some great songs but it sounds like shit and my god is it a slog

otm

"Sounds like shit" is a bit harsh... some tracks suit the production, such as 'Natwest-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds', and others would have been better if they'd been produced more like the stuff they did for Heavenly. The problem that I have with the debut is that they didn't have enough great material for a double album. There's about 10-11 tracks on there that still hold up, but I'm not likely to dig out as often these days because I've heard it too much and the later Manics stuff sounds fresher to me.

rerecordings are usually a dumb cash-in but I would listen the hell out of an album consisting of new recordings of their 10-12 best songs from that era

Yeah, I would too.

I've got to say, sometimes when I think about the Manics' discography, I'm a little impressed - they've made tons of albums and explored as many different approaches to their sound as possible while still sounding like themselves. I just wish I didn't sometimes find their lyrics cringeworthy.

It's amazing how many of their fans still act as if the Manics are all leopard print and eyeliner when that phase of the band lasted barely a couple of years.

I'd rank the "three piece" records like this:

Everything Must Go
Journal For Plague Lovers
Futurology
Lifeblood
Send Away The Tigers
Rewind The Film
Know Your Enemy
Postcards From A Young Man
This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours

Journal for Plague Lovers is a mother of a rock record. I played that to death when it came out.

The problem I have with (relatively) recent Manics is that often Wire's lyrics are so howlingly bad, they kill entire songs stone dead. Lifeblood and (obviously) Plague Lovers being exceptions. Half of Tigers is OK, but the bad half is so appalling that I can only ever think of it as their worst album overall

I agree, although I try to ignore the lyrics when listening to this band in general. Richey's lyrics could be howlingly bad too, just in a different way. There's plenty of stuff on the first three LP's that's atrocious and/or really silly.

I listened to William's Last Words a bunch today. Mostly the Underworld remix, which I prefer, but the lyrics are pretty good on that one.

Indeed, but about two thirds of a page of nonsense had to be cut out to get the lyric down to that.

Turrican's ranking matches my own fairly well. I think I'd swap Futurology with Everything Must Go for 1st/3rd spot & I think I'd put Know Your Enemy a little bit higher. KYE is messy and would have been better with less songs on it, but there's some really great stuff on it.

I usually don't dislike their lyrics but like PaulTMA I'm also divided on Tigers, I think half of it is great (Indian Summer and the last three songs especially - Imperial Bodybags wouldn't have been out of place on Gold Against The Soul!), half not so much.

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours is the only album I think is pretty bad. It bores me, there's too much drone on it and not enough energy to make up for it. Few songs from that album are highlights.

Postcards also feels like it's somewhat autopilot & overall not too overwhelming, although it gets massive bonus points from me for the guest appearance from my all-time favourite singer Ian McCulloch.

I decided to order the 5 manics albums I never bothered with on CD from amazon marketplace really cheap as after Know Your Enemy (which i loved at the time, indeed saw them both nights at the barras on that tour) I never bought any bar Journal. All based on turricans rankings of a few being better than KYE and even the rest as being better than timttmy. The completest in me needed them.

I only really ever listen to the first three though unlike him. So it will be nice rediscovering them. (I listened to them on spotify or whateever when theb came out.)

Is it worth looking for a deluxe CD issue of generation terrorists? I already own the og CD, LP and Pic Disc( i passed up the CD pic disc version in Missing Records instead of the vinyl one at the time)

I wish gold against the soul would get the vinyl treatment as I bought the 'Gold' CD at the time.

It's clear that this band are really at their best when they try to please themselves instead of the masses or Cult of Richey dickheads.

i didn't know what to expect w/Futurology when my brother insisted i check it out, but it's great, just an excellent rock album.

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours is the only album I think is pretty bad. It bores me, there's too much drone on it and not enough energy to make up for it. Few songs from that album are highlights.

To say I was disappointed with this album when it first came out is an understatement - I like some of it more now than I did at the time, but it's still my least favourite album of theirs.

'If You Tolerate This...', 'Black Dog On My Shoulder' and 'Tsunami' are my three favourites on that one.

I have the exact same favourites from TIMTTMY! 'You're Tender And You're Tired' is quite alright and 'Born A Girl' is pretty. I also like 'The Everlasting' but I already think the album starts off in a bad way with two ballads, even if both are good.
The rest, I find mostly pretty dull. 'I'm Not Working' is the best example of why that album is Not Working for me.

TIMTTMY sounds like the work of a seriously depressed band, which I think is what makes it so divisive. "I'm Not Working," "Be Natural" and "SYMM" are the most obvious examples of this - pure spaced-out directionless bloat with no sense of purpose. (I like all of these qualities but I can understand why people don't go to the Manics for them.)

'S.Y.M.M.' has some neat chord changes, but it has an awful set of lyrics and the chorus is dreadful. A bit of a cop out not calling it 'South Yorkshire Mass Murderer', which is what it was originally written as.

It's hilarious and strange in retrospect that local police took apparently issue w/ the song (before they heard it, I can only assume) since the lyrics are basically just one long shrug, it sounds like Bradfield was forced to make them up on the spot

I hate the everlasting. Always hated it when played live too

I liked 'The Everlasting' the first time I heard it, but every subsequent listen has been a slog and it's their worst album opener precisely for this reason. Another neat set of chord changes, though.

'S.Y.M.M.' is more about trying and failing to write about something, rather than what the song is supposed to be about. The lyric is one huge cop out with added excuses.

Another weird thing about that album is how openly virtuosic JDB's guitar-playing is throughout compared to a lot of their other material - those elaborate leads and solos on "My Little Empire," "Black Dog...," etc. Most of their albums since have been comparatively power-chord heavy for the most part.

I'm looking at the tracklisting on the back of my copy of This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours and it's actually incredible how much this is making me not feel like listening to it.

I always felt SYMM should have been an instrumental, save for the 'chorus' lyrics. Not attempting to lyrically address the enormous subject, just to make a statement. I don't mind the music at all, but those verses are just abysmal.

This thread is making me remember how great Tsunami is. For that reason alone, TIMT can never be my least favourite.

All of their albums have great stuff on 'em, though. Just so happens that This Is My Truth... has the least amount of great stuff.

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

I was really enjoying Broken Algorithms as thinking it gave off some genuine Generation Terrorists vibez, but then I realised it basically steals from the melody of Spectators Of Suicide. Still, one of the better ones

I hesitate to say Nicky Wire is the weak link in the band as his efforts as a music writer are increasingly impressive (bet it was his idea to release demo CDs with every deluxe edition) but his lyrics have largely been utter mince for 20 years, really wish he could rediscover some self-awareness

I'm not sure what the press photos for this are meant to communicate.

What a miserable bastard The Wire has turned out to be

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/12/manic-street-preachers-jobs-meaning-jeremy-corbyn-doesnt-understand-that-resistance-is-useless

what music writing has he been up to of late?

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.

Well, I like Send Away the Tigers and even have time for a couple of tracks on Postcards... so I'll probably like this. The older I get, the more I realise that the Manics lyrics were always a bit pony, even when Richey was in the band (a couple of exceptions on their third album aside) ... I'm more interested in JDB's guitar playing and inimitable voice.

Listening to Resistance Is Futile for the fifth time at the moment. I'm really loving it! It's classic energetic Manics. I'd agree that the overall sound approaches that of Send Away The Tigers/Postcards For A Young Man but also with a good deal of Everything Must Go and a nice occasional dose of Generation Terrorists/Richey-era.

SATT and Postcards have never been my biggest favourites - I certainly like them but was never overwhelmed (despite the inclusion of a duet with my fave singer Ian McCulloch on the latter).
I think the new one impresses me more than those two albums already.
I'm not -as- blown away as I was, and still am, with Futurology - but I'm pretty sure that this one will end up high in my Manics albums ranking.

They were strangely fascinating on "Sunday Brunch".

lmao i missed that this came out last month

i only just started but "I'd agree that the overall sound approaches that of Send Away The Tigers/Postcards For A Young Man but also with a good deal of Everything Must Go and a nice occasional dose of Generation Terrorists/Richey-era" is promising, i'd be really into a more balanced version of postcards

I tried with it a few times but I can only seem to get into the singles and the opener, but I'll keep at it intermittently

so far... i'm extremely unsure about it lol

I still haven't heard it yet!

i can never trust my first impressions of records when i'm listening to them at work, but something about it isn't clicking even though it's obv packed with hooks

i like the anchoress duet a lot though

"hold me like a heaven" is pretty awesome too, i don't think they've ever written a ballad like it

my favorite song atm though is "sequels of forgotten wars," which uncoincidentally is the song that sounds like it belongs on futurology

oh wait, on third listen: this is actually all pretty great, it's def a more balanced postcards but it also makes me think of what lifeblood would sound like if it were more aggressive, lotta textural synths

One month in and I'm still listening to 7 out of 12 tracks (only 1 on in the 1st half), which is unheard of for recent Manics albums/me. Second half of the album is just fantastic. Of course, none of of these songs are in the live set.

Hmm. I'm not taken with the new one on first listen - I'm hoping it'll improve.

I am mightily impressed. After lots of listens over the last month, I'm pretty sure my Manics top 5 albums is now:
1. Futurology
2. Gold Against The Soul
3. Everything Must Go
4. Journal For Plague Lovers
5. Resistance Is Futile

It sounded far better on third listen, and I agree that the back half is stronger. Ultimately, though, I feel roughly the same about this album as I do about Postcards and would rank it the same at the moment. It may grow further - I hope so.

First half save for International Blue is very Postcards 2. That earlier album is not exactly my least favourite (Tigers has lower lows) but it just feels so watered down and forgettable. I'm taken with the better songs on the new album due to getting some genuine pre-TIMTTMY feelings from something like In Eternity.

so they covered In Between Days when i briefly caught them at a festival last week, and it was....pretty great. still always weird to see a 6 person band up there nowadays though...

i also realised that it had been 20 TWENTY YEARS since the first ever gig I went to, which was one of the first shows of the This Is My Truth tour in Bournemouth with Catatonia.

TWENTY YEARS.

Yeah, I saw them on that tour too! I seriously thought this band were done circa the Greatest Hits collection and Lifeblood, as much as I love that record. That they rebounded back so strongly is amazing to me - the last 11-12 years of their career have been strong, IMO.

the new remaster of TIMTTMY replaces "Nobody Loved You" with "Prologue to History," and while I guess I should be offended by the revisionism, it's an undeniable upgrade, even if I'd also have swapped in "Black Holes for the Young" where "You're Tender and You're Tired" sits.

anyway Brad maintains the ability to anticipate how I hear things a few months in advance cause RIF now sounds like another strong album when I was sure it represented a step down. so I remain thinking their consistency is sort of ridiculous at this point.

oh, and for anyone out there still looking for hidden gems, the recent b-side "Mirror Gaze" should have been on the album proper, and not only because of its great opening lyric "I've made some sense of emptiness / I've learned to love me less and less" and its clear debt to "Blinded by the Light". (the Wire-sung "Concrete Fields" is surprisingly good too)

for some reason I keep forgetting Rewind the Film exists and then it knocks me out every year when the weather starts to cool

also "the endless parade of old Etonian scum line the front benches, so what is to be done?" is extra satisfying at the moment

https://i.imgur.com/CO4c4nE.jpg

I know it has...some detractors on here...but every year I like TIMTTMY more. it's their Up - overlong and eternally grey. which i love

nah, it's mostly crap.

I also quite like it. It's probably two songs too long but the sustained sullen mood it hits makes it stand out among the four Manics albums I've heard

been really digging the late records lately...mostly pretty sad/weary songs by aging dudes who know/sense that things are pretty unlikely to change drastically for the better in their lifetimes. I made a lil playlist of the best post-JFPL stuff for the curious

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4NZ4Po28IbM49eefsOIJAx?si=663f94e2bbf34c0e

Oh that's handy, i haven't heard the last one at all. Futurology was remarkable for a band so long in the tooth, can't think of any bands from that era who have pulled something that good off in the last ten years, i was properly amazed.

of the post-JFPL albums I'd go

Rewind the Film
Postcards From a Young Man
Futurology
Resistance is Futile

a couple decent b-sides in this period as well. they should pester underworld to produce their next one.

I am surprised Gold Against The Soul did as well as it did because it is my favorite Manics album and I thought my vast minority was more vast than that.