The Manic Street Preachers

[ARC]

They pissed in the face of Acid House, on bands like The Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses et al.

Both the Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses are FAR superior bands to the Manic Street Preechers.

"Generation Terrorist" doesn't even come close in quality to "Pils N' Thrills N Bellyaches" or "The Stone Roses".

Of course, New Order/Joy Division pisses on everyone. 

[hebbesy]

Anyone in the US heard of them and any UK fans on here, realy loved up to Everything Must Go, Lifeblood is a cracking Eleagic Pop album very shiny.

By far the most horrific album from 94/95 was The Holy Bible, and as a fan I do believe Richey is still alive but dont think he will ever come back.

New album according to James Dean Bradfield is due out in May / June. Also anyone a fan of Manics should check out JDB's solo album cracking little number full of heartfelt songs and great tunes.

[Izzy]

The guys dead - u dont leave ur passport and credit cards in ur hotel - drive to a notorious spot for suicides and live happily ever after....

First 2 albums are great - but terribly produced, need a remastering, and soon!

Holy Bible is just a bit to depressed to listen to, its a bit too angst ridden to apreciate musically though artisitically its a triumph

Everything must go was fine but after that - no thanks

[Mr. Dick Purple]

So was is it? Brit pop, pop rock, hard rock?

[Tj]

By far the most horrific album from 94/95 was The Holy Bible

  I love that album.

[Izzy]

By far the most horrific album from 94/95 was The Holy Bible

  I love that album.

I think the poster means horrific in  its tone not in its musical quality - it is a horrifying listen - but that was their intention

[hebbesy]

Yep thats what I ment I love the feel of the album when listening to it, also when you next get a decent storm put the "The Intense Humming Of Evil" on this adds a whole new effect to the song.

For the poster who was asking what style Manics are well here goes:

Generation Terrorists - Rock / Punk
Gold Against The Soul - Rock with a grunge feel
The Holy Bible - Rock with gothic lyrics
Everything Must Go - Brit Pop / Indie
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours - Indie
Know Your Enemy - Pop Rock (trying to regain the rock album)
Lifeblood - Elegaic Pop (good album needs a few listens)

The Holy bible is one of my favourite albums ever written its so disturbing and lyrically hits you and sucks you into the mind of someone who is not right with himself or the world. As the lyrics in Faster go "Maybe ive been too truthful with myself, I should have lied like everyone else"

[NicoRourke]

I've always loved the 'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours' reccord and especially the song 'Everlasting'.

I'm not familiar with the 'Holy Bible' one, but after what you've all wrotte, I'm gonna check it out !

[hebbesy]

I would absolute class album, I was surprised to see some American responses seeing as the band actually cant be bothered with America, plus the controversy they gained with songs such as Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart, Baby Elian and the first western band to play Cuba. Also during the recording of the solo of You love Us Richey was apparantly egging James on to play it faster than Slash.

Was thinking its a shame that Manics dont join GnR on the Chinese Democracy tour in Europe next year as both bands will have albums to produce, Lifeblood tour was hardly a sell out around Arenas, but the Past Present Future tour was a success in smaller clubs.

Like with guns, the Manics shoudl try to get back some lost fans as they have been quoted that the next album will be 3 minute punk pop blasts and by linking with GnR they could potentially gain new fans if they are playing anywhere near the qulity of the Past Present Future I think the GnR fans would "tolerate" this.   

[Bad Cover Version]

'A Design For Life' still gives me goosebumps the way it did back in '96. That song sounds utterly HUGE.

[Jim]

Holy Bible is just a bit to depressed to listen to, its a bit too angst ridden to apreciate musically though artisitically its a triumph

You what? Err... Do you vote conservative?

Holy Bible was far and away the Manics defining moment.

[Izzy]

Holy Bible is just a bit to depressed to listen to, its a bit too angst ridden to apreciate musically though artisitically its a triumph

You what? Err... Do you vote conservative?

Drunk again?

Artistically its a triumph but i cant say its much fun to listen  to

[Jim]

Holy Bible is just a bit to depressed to listen to, its a bit too angst ridden to apreciate musically though artisitically its a triumph

You what? Err... Do you vote conservative?

Drunk again?

Artistically its a triumph but i cant say its much fun to listen  to

lol, no, actually. Well, not when I posted that. But I am a bit now.

While it may not be fun, or an easy listen, there is still a ton of enjoyment to be had from it. Naturally, the term 'enjoyment' has a sick spin to it......

I think that now is as good a time as any for me to say that, in my opinion, while there was correlation between Richey's dissapearance and the Manics fall, there isn't all as much relation between the two. I think that latter manics albums have just been more 'mature,' at least in approach, and that would have come anyway. Hearing a 40 year old James belt out Bible wanabee songs, clearly written in youth, would just be even more embarrasing.

I also think that James Dean Bradfield is as important, if not more so, than Richey was to the first three albums. Sure, Richey did most (all? I'm not a manics expert) of the lyrics, but without James' vocals they would have less than half the impact; if you read them without the song they take a completely different form. It is James' voice that adds that venom and disillusion that makes the first three albums work.

Example? 'Cool - groovey - morning - fine / Tipper Gore was a friend of mine / I love a free country / the stars and stripes and an apple for mommy.' Lyrically it's good, but with James Dean Bradfield behind it it's enough to give you chills.

[hebbesy]

Lyrics were roughly 50/50 split between Richey and Nicky up to the Holy Bible when it was 70/30 to Richey, although Ifwhiteamerica quoted above was written by Nicky.

You can tell the differencing between lrics on Holy Bible between Nicky and Richey as the lyrical content is far more supressed from Nicky as he had just gotten married. I think it was This Is Yesterday and Ifwhiteamerica were purely Nicky.

The whole album was recorded in a small studio inside Cardiffs redlight district on ageing equipment they didnt even have a tv in the studio as they did not want to be distraccted.

During the build up to the recording they visited Hiroshima, Dachau and Auschwitz.

They also used the wording on the door to a German concentration camp within the lyrics to Intense Humming of Evil "Arbecht Meicht Frei, A transport of invalids" roughly translates as "Work for Freedom".

Regarding the poster who mentioned James importance to the first 3 albums I would have to agree with this, one the best British guitarists/Lead vocalists of my generation.

To be fair it wasnt just Richey who had problems, James was a well known Alcoholic, Nicky had his gambling problems and Sean is a shopaholic.

As you could tell along with GnR, Manics are one of my more favoured bands of recent times.

[badapple81]

I didn't know that one of my fave bands are back with a new album! Just last year I read somewhere that when James Dean Bradfield was doing his solo stuff, that he said he is giving ppl a rest from the Manics for a while. Anyway I'm glad they are back. This is their new single:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJjMcKDDCeY

It's really catchy.

[badapple81]

Holy Bible is just a bit to depressed to listen to, its a bit too angst ridden to apreciate musically though artisitically its a triumph

You what? Err... Do you vote conservative?

Drunk again?

Artistically its a triumph but i cant say its much fun to listen? to

lol, no, actually. Well, not when I posted that. But I am a bit now.

While it may not be fun, or an easy listen, there is still a ton of enjoyment to be had from it. Naturally, the term 'enjoyment' has a sick spin to it......

I think that now is as good a time as any for me to say that, in my opinion, while there was correlation between Richey's dissapearance and the Manics fall, there isn't all as much relation between the two. I think that latter manics albums have just been more 'mature,' at least in approach, and that would have come anyway. Hearing a 40 year old James belt out Bible wanabee songs, clearly written in youth, would just be even more embarrasing.

I also think that James Dean Bradfield is as important, if not more so, than Richey was to the first three albums. Sure, Richey did most (all? I'm not a manics expert) of the lyrics, but without James' vocals they would have less than half the impact; if you read them without the song they take a completely different form. It is James' voice that adds that venom and disillusion that makes the first three albums work.

Example? 'Cool - groovey - morning - fine / Tipper Gore was a friend of mine / I love a free country / the stars and stripes and an apple for mommy.' Lyrically it's good, but with James Dean Bradfield behind it it's enough to give you chills.

I'm actually not a big fan of pre Everything Must Go Manics. A few songs yes. I think Izzy made a point earlier about the production too.

Everything Must Go was brilliant, I enjoyed This Is My Truth too.. occasionally Know Your Enemy comes out for a play (ordinary album) and their most recent, Lifeblood was an enjoyable listen. IMO, Lifeblood is really the sound of a band at peace with the world, relaxed and just enjoying the music. I think with the previous few albums they were really wrestling with what they were about and how they felt. Certainly the impression I got.

Anyway, this new single is a really good listen.. looking fwd to this album.

This was an interesting read from their myspace..

The Manic Street Preachers have been through a process of destroying what we are.

All great bands do that, but ever since Everything Must Go and This Is My Truth we've been trying to reduce ourselves to a pile of rubble. So, for Send Away The Tigers, we've been listening back to Everything Must Go and even the youthful idealism of Generation Terrorists, placing ourselves back at being 18 or 21 again, and reconnecting with all the things that made us so excited back then. Cynicism is brilliant. But it gets to a point where it's not helpful when you're in a band.

Send Away The Tigers isn't a high concept album, but the theory behind it is important. We've written about 30 songs for this album, and we've been fiercely editing this time because in the past we'd perhaps put too much on some of our albums. These are the best ten songs. It's short ? 38 minutes. When we started this album it was the three of us, in a rehearsal room, making a right old racket. Sometimes you have to learn from your own past. James playing huge guitar solos without me and Sean going, "Stop wanking!" We just felt liberated.

We began writing for the album in late 2005, and began recording in earnest in March 2006 with Dave Eringa. The album was recorded at Stir Studios in Cardiff and Grouse Lodge in County Westmeath in Ireland, finished in November 2006, and then mixed in California by Chris Lord-Alge (Green Day, My Chemical Romance).

[TWT]

This album was billed by the band as being a 'natural successor to Appetite For Destruction' when they were working on it. That hasn't turned out to be the case, it's more of a natural successor to the Manics' own Everything Must Go, but the riff to Autumnsong is undoubtedly a natural successor to Sweet Child O' Mine's 

[Izzy]

off to see them later this month, havent picked up the new album cos...well.....they've been crap for about a decade, yeah i'll stick with that reason.

[hebbesy]

I Love The Manics,

Bought "Send Away The Tigers" Saturday and its been on repeat. I think sometimes people dont get the Manics. Lifeblood is a very underrated album had it been recorded by anyone else it wuld have beeen deamed a brilliant record. With the Manics history they do struggle to live up to the previous works and with all the history behind the band its sometimes hard to think that the band themselves new which direction musically to go.

Also with regards to Richey he did have cash was withdrawing ?250 a day for 2 weeks or so up untill his dissapearence (sp) in 1995. Anyone with an interest in the band should check out www.foreverdelayed.org and also the book Everything by Simon Price, an interesting read but sometimes a little bit to self viewed.

Anyone im purchasing tickets for The Foum gig in kentish town May 29th. I also mentioned taht I hoped that the Manics and GnR toured Europe / UK together this year but looks unlikely.

Alex

[badapple81]

When a band talks about going back to their old school roots or that this is their best album for years etc etc.. I rarely believe it and usually the lack of belief is justified.

I just got the album today and upon my first listen, I am very impressed! Kinda a fusion between their pre Everything Must Go work and post Everything Must Go work from what I've heard so far. Indian Summer could easily fit on Everything Must Go.