My Top Ten Albums Of 2020

So, 2020 then? A year where nobody was having fun, apart from members of the government at the expense of people’s lives but let’s keep this light, yeah? Despite the troubles, the pandemic had an amazing soundtrack to it. There were so many hours spent cleaning the house to these artists and without gigs that’s as rock n’ roll as things got in my life. Here are my top 10 albums of the year and firstly, my playlist of the year:

10: LIELA MOSS -WHO THE POWER

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“There was always abandon, there was always deception”

The Duke Spirit singer changed direction with immense effect as she used her husky tones for eighties synth tinged doom anthems in place of the bluesy rock. It takes a few listens to fully access the landscapes she has conjured up. Deep bass and heavy drums add to an overall mood of sorrow. That’s not to say there aren’t catchy moments, opener Turn Your Back Around is sublime and Atoms At Me is a relentless anthem. Just don’t think I Think We’re Alone now style eighties.

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9: IDLES – ULTRA MONO

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“Fuck you, I’m a lover”

The Bristol snowflakes continue to be an avalanche. IDLES wear their punk principles on their chest but slay with kindness. Mostly. “Not a single thing has ever been mended / by you standing there and saying you’re offended” Joe growls on the viscous Grounds, Model Village is a fun tirade against small town mentality and The Lover is a gloriously self-indulgent rant against the band’s critics. Nobody is safe from the bands glare, even themselves. While it’s fair to say their verses are getting a bit samey, the musicianship has developed further. Their future is bright but they’re the kind of band that will purposefully fuck it up. Enjoy them while you can.

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8:BUGEYE – READY STEADY BANG

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“Electric fever sensation!”

Bugeye are exactly what 2020 needed. A pop punk disco band that’ll shake off your worries. With their ragged guitars and tinkly keyboards they could just easily be sent from 1995 to come save us. You’ll hear Elastica and you’ll hear Sonic The Hedgehog (yes, Sonic the Hedgehog) but Bugeye’s ability to write an earworm is all their own. Ready Steady Bang is so fun that it could ignite a Britpop revival all of it’s own. Every song is a banger.

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7: THE BLINDERS – FANTASIES OF A STAY AT HOME PSYCHOPATH

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“I am a gentle man of considerable charm and violence”

The Blinders developed their sound with album number two. They got darker, dirtier and grimier but not in the Stormzy sense. A lot of these songs sound as if they were written with the next series of Peaky Blinders in mind. They would and probably will fit into Small Heath perfectly, especially the opening Something Wicked This Way Comes which is only missing a Nick Cave vocal. Mule Track kicks likes one and Forty Days And Forty Nights charges along with all the energy of Arthur Shelby on his way to the drug dealer. Whatever The Blinders plan to to next, it’ll be interesting for sure. Perhaps the Call The Midwife soundtrack?

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6: DREAM NAILS – DREAM NAILS

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“One day we’ll make you pay”

This debut album flies by with ambition and ferocity not often heard. In just 25 minutes Dream Nails fight through issues such as toxic masculinity, sexual abuse, transgender politics and the suckiness of capitalism. To name just some. While there’s justified anger in the likes of Payback, a rage Against The Maschine style assault on the senses and the closer Kiss My Fist (“do you want us your screen / do you want to hear us scream”) there is also a lot of fun at play. Swimming Pool, a pisstake of fifies rock n’ roll being a prime example.

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5: DOVES – THE UNIVERSAL WANT

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“I feel your presence pressing on a nerve”

No band should return with this much splendor after such a hiatus. After eleven years Doves returned to a world very different from 2009. Not just because there’s a pandemic on but because the music industry is unrecognisable from eleven years ago. Yet, with their brand of soothing and soulful anthems Doves just slotted right back in. They felt just like home. Yes, the general formula remains but they’ve excelled themselves with what could be their strongest collection yet. The swirling and atmospheric For Tomorrow might even excel The Cedar Room. It is THAT good. Cycle of Hurt pangs with huge regrets as a beautiful guitar melody floats around it reassuringly. Like a comfort blanket to help with all the hurt. That’s Doves in 2020. WE didn’t just welcome them back, they welcomed us in..

4: FALSE HEADS – IT’S ALL THERE BUT YOU’RE DREAMING

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“The loser leaves in a body bag”

Post punk and grunge combine with exhilarating results. The London trio’s debut is a brash, confident take and injected an energy into a 2020 where EVERYTHING took longer (shopping, working, crying etc). Rabbit Hole is cavalcade of riffs piled on existential angst. Wrap Up is a filthy dirge with added screeching solos. Ink makes it’s mark with an infectious chorus. Fall Around has an almost ditty like quality as they proclaim the Queen to be dead. A riotous album, the kind that some claim aren’t being made nowadays. They are, it’s just not enough people are listening.

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3: JAMES DEAN BRADFIELD – EVEN IN EXILE

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“Bondaged citizens make the best revolutions”

A concept album from the Manics frontman (with lyrics by Patrick Jones) about the Chilean musician, poet and activist Victor Jara. Even In Exile could easily have been a Manic Street Preachers album, in fact let’s just say it’s their official thirteenth album instead of Resistance Is Futile! Bradfield’s voice bring more gravitas to an already huge life story and it is done with affection and compassion. Recalling Jara’s music with a cover of La Partida, his political stance with the solemn There’ll Come A War and his family life on Without Knowing The End (Joans’s Song) – “I lived, I danced, I loved and I fought / This life I had to defend”. Thirty Thousand Milk Bottles is a celebratory stomp despite the subject at hand. Bradfield’s voice sound incredible but it’s worth noting his exceptional guitar work too. Here he does things unheard in the Manics. A resounding musical and political achievement in 2020 and we didn’t get much of the latter did we?

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2: THE BIG MOON – WALKING LIKE WE DO

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“Days like this I forget my darkness”

Walking Like We do is literally a bright light shining in the dark sky so The Big Moon have never been so aptly named. As far as we know they haven’t flashed their bums at anyone anyway. Their second album is like laying down in a silk sheet of musical beauty. Is that a thing IKEA sell? These are lovingly crafted songs, not just in the hooks and melodies but in the lyrical attention to detail. The guitars have been toned down for a more synth based collection but that is not to their detriment. It’s Easy Then has a choir like chant of a chorus and Waves is a relationship breakdown put to a lullaby, Holy Roller has a darker edge involving porno sites and red wine (“I’m gonna start a religion / Something to keep my hands busy”). Barcelona might be the stand out in a packed field of quality. It’s a song about a friend leaving for Spain. The lyrics of “I’m at the party wondering if it’s alright / For me to toast her future and drink heavy for mine” sum up the album succinctly -melancholia and joy together in harmony. And oh, what harmonies.

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1: BLACK FOXXES – BLACK FOXXES

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“THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO GO OUTSIDE!”

Triumph from the jaws of defeat and yet, in the best possible way, it still sounds like adversity. Black Foxxes looked to be over after the three piece lost a bassist and a drummer. Frontman Mark Holley surveyed the ruins and built from the ground. New band members came in and with album number three Black Foxxes have never sounded so vital. Musically there is a spring in their step as they push boundaries. Holley’s words however, are adrift from the new positivity. I Am builds from stark beginnings, an insular anthem howling “I AM ALONE!” before it kicks in and immediately drifts back into the abyss at the end. Sister song Badlands ups the ante, twisting the knife into a self-hate rage fest that pounds and pounds for eight minutes. Each second the guitars feel heavier and the tension more unbearable. The shouted refrain of “Now is not the time to go outside, now is not the time to go outside!” couldn’t be more 2020, In fact, as a mood board of the year just lay these nine songs out. The ambient Panic softly lulls you into a false sense of security before having an electronic meltdown. Swim is fucking glorious. Discordant strums mixed with soothing harmonies that surges into incredible soloing. Pacific is a brass led stunner, Think Morcheeba – until it breaks into a fit that sounds like Nirvana falling down the stairs. The Diving Bell is the final punch to the gut. A nine minute monster that cheekily claims “We can do better” You don’t think they can and then that heavy as fuck moment changes the mood. Black Foxxes will leave you exhilarated and overwhelmed. You’ll love every moment. Stay inside and play loud.

My Top 20 Albums Of 2018

What a year it’s been. Yes, politically its been an utter shit show but musically my ears were treated to some amazing stuff that helped ease the pain. Or add to it in some cases (but then I enjoy that too because I’m a sicko). I really do think the quality this year has been really special and any of my top 5 are worthy of the number one spot, so much so I thought of putting them all in first place but that’s fence sitting of biblical preportions and I’m not religious. What am talking about? Anyway, here’s the list..

 

20: Doe – Grow Into It

A jangly yet punchy second offering from the London trio. It thrives of its indie sensibilities and with plenty of discordant guitars and catchy tunes is a lot of fun.

 

19: Liela Moss – My Name Is Safe In Your Mouth

This debut solo album from The Duke Spirit singer is far removed from the band’s bluesy rock n roll roots. The compositions are soulful and spacey. Its perfect for a listen by candlelight as you lay your head to bed. Let it wash over you.

 

18: Skating Polly – The Make It All Show

Grunge music it’s ok to love. There are still some abrasive moments (‘Camelot’ and ‘They’re Cheap (I’m Free)’ spring to mind) but The Make It All Show has a sense of maturity that runs throughout.

 

17: Spring King – A Better Life 

The Manchester based garage band threw away the keys to their lock up when they split late in the year. It’s sad news because A Better Life soundtracks anxiety with a blitz of frenetic energy. ‘Animal’ might just be the most rocking track of 2018

 

16: Black Foxxes – Reiði

Anyone who has heard Mark Holley’s guttural howl in a live setting knows the power that Black Foxxes thrive on. Sonically, album number two is an even more intense experience than ‘I’m Not Well’. The guitars sound like they’re closing in on you. The livelier moments are a joy, literally in the case of ‘Joy’ and ‘Manic In Me’ but there’s so much more in their canon. This is a sprawling, emotive epic.

 

15: Goat Girl – Goat Girl 

Off kilter and quirky ramblings in a nineteen track debut album (there are some pointless but thankfully short instrumentals). This is a sprawling mess of wonky anthems with plenty of subversive storytelling such as ‘Creep’ which is about one of those pervy guys we’ve all seen on a train. Sometimes harsh and sometimes pretty, it’s like Pink Floyd had an illicit affair with Throwing Muses and this is their baby.

 

14: Shame – Songs Of Praise

If you’re expecting Harry Secombe to make an appearance then you’ll be disappointed, maybe even offended. There are no chiors or prayers but there is blasphemy. Charlie Steen sometimes stops singing because “my voice ain’t the best you’ve heard” and speaks long bizarre diatribes (‘The Lick’). Punk that has a weirdly calm nature.

 

13: Juanita Stein – Until The Lights Fade

Her second album in twelve months from the Howling Bells singer and she has improved on her impressive debut. In places ‘Until The Lights Fade’ is country music put through a sexy instagram filter. It’s confident, melodic and lush. Juanita’s subtle vocals let the songs speak for themselves.

 

12: Slaves – Acts Of Fear And Love

In some ways it feels like a return to basics after the mad extremities of ‘Take Control’. This feels similar to their debut without reaching its highs. Being Slaves though, its still a riot of raucous thrashing about and tongue in cheek lyrics. Maybe if there were more than nine sings it’d be placed higher but either way, Slaves haven’t got a dud song in them.

 

11: She Makes War – Brace For Impact

Melodic, chaotic, grungy and light. ‘Brace For Impact’ is a mass of contradictions full of soul searching. ‘London Bites’ is full of suspense before a killer kick in. ‘Devastate Me’ is the greatest song Courtney Love never wrote. The softer moments are packed with pathos too, such as the lilting ‘Strong Enough’. A fourth album that enhances Laura Kidd’s reputation further.

 

10: Manic Street Preachers – Resistance Is Futile

After the biggest gap between albums in their history, the Manics returned with a pop sensibility. Does it feel like a backward step after ‘Futurology’? Yes. Is it a bad album? No .Even when you take into account they’ve incorporated the bloody millennial whoop into a couple of songs, most notably on the boring ‘Hold Me Like A Heaven’. There are plenty of great moments of course. ‘Liverpool Revisited’ is a lush love note to the city. ‘A Song For The Sadness’ takes the band’s melonchonic DNA to extremes. ”Brokem Algorithms’ could have been embarrassing considering it recalls ‘Generation Terrorists’ while slagging off the internet. Peak Manics? Nah, but it’s still better than most of the stuff out there. Thirteen albums in and refleshingly they still want to try new things.

 

9: Colour Me Wednesday – Counting Pennies In The Afterlife

The political stance of their 2013 debut takes a back seat and in comes a poppier, slightly noisier and more confident sounding band. Jennifer Doveton’s lush voice excels like never before over a summery soundtrack. ‘Boyfriend’s Car’ is all harmonies and uplifting chorus and perfect for a sun drenched road trip. ‘Exposure’ and ‘Take What You Want (And Then Leave)’ are both mellow slices of beautifulness. I think that’s a word. ‘Disown’ might be the highlight as clattering drums make way for a chorus of “I cringe at the memory of you”. While the lack of politics is missed by me personally, ‘Counting Pennies In The Afterlife’ is a band enjoying itself and they need much more time out of the shade.

 

8: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Wrong Creatures

Yes, BRMC are still going. Now that news has filtered through.. ‘Wrong Creatures’ is full of dusky brooding beasts. It’s easy to imagine it soundtracking a retro Netflix drama about serial killers. Lots of lighting of cigarettes and loading of guns could easily be done to ‘Spook’. Nothing is done too quickly here and that’s not to the detriment of the songs at all. It rolls along in its own sweet, morbid time. ‘Ninth Configuration’ and ”Question Of Faith’ are dirty sounding epics with staggering choruses. Whatever happened to their rock n’ roll? It got dark, man. Very dark.

 

7:  Kate Nash – Yesterday Was Forever

An album that probably fell under the radar to all but the most hardcore Kate Nash fans. Released early in the year to little fanfare or promotion, Kate’s first album in five years is ironically her poppiest work to date. There’s a mash up of different styles and the catchiness never relents. Things work best when she’s sdopting her own identity like on ‘Musical Theatre’ and ”California Poppies’. ‘Life In Pink’ is the closest thing to the Girl Talk era by far but with an added eighties power pop chorus. The closing ‘To The Music I Belong’ should be the ‘Thank You For The Music’ of our generation with its affecting soft piano and grand, hypnotic chorus. Kate Nash had released another underrated gem.

 

6: The Fratellis – In Your Own Sweet Time

In a year filled with Brexit and Donald Trump nonsense, respite came in the form of The Fratellis. They brought the party to 2018. In Your Own Sweet Time is a record out of its time. It leans heavily on rock n’ roll history to produce a modern pop classic. These are slinky, funky and flirty classics that will never escape your head once heard. Dismiss your cynicism and dance like no one is watching.

 

5: Reigning Days – Eclipse

A Devon trio doing the work of Muse while they’re holidaying it up in the stadiums of the world. Eclipse may sound like a mainstream rock revorein many ways but nothing feels cynical and there’s a hard edge at the core. For every pummeling riff and shrieking vocal there is unabashed melidim brilliance. inhaler, My Sweet Love and Renegade are full on assaults but there Reigning Days are tunesmiths who would be bothering the charts in a parallel universe that sadly we’ll never live in. Play loud, jump about and enjoy the fuck out of this record.

 

4: The Joy Formidable – AAARTH

A madcap, inventive return for the Welsh trio that is in turns rocking and bizarre in equal measure. ‘Y Bluen Eira’ is punk disco escapism. ‘Go Loving’ is an unpredictable wall of noise. ‘Cicada (Land On Your Back)’ is all medieval chanting and heavy power chords. The quiter moment surprise too. ‘Absence’ is a chilling piano ballad that flows with sheer beauty. Ambitious beyond words, The Joy Formidable have given us their best album yet. Embrace the madness.

 

3: Screaming Females – All At Once

“My life is a glass house, impossible to get out” warns Marissa Paternoster in the venemous opening track but musically their seventh album sounds liberated . ”All At Once’ is an electrifying collection of precise pop songs with hard edged riffs and plenty of soloing. There are unexpected key and tempo changes but they just add to the excitement. ”Black Moon’ is Black Sabbath but a Black Sabbath where bats are safe. ”Chamber For Sleep (Part One)’ skips about like a lost child at an indie disco. A special mention must go out to the stunning ‘Bird In Space’, for it is a flighty (yup) and soaring (yup) piece of understated beauty.  A truly special album that could just as easily soundtrack bright summer days as it could cold winter nights.

 

2: Estrons – You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough

You’d be hard pushed to find a debut album with fiercer intent than this. Even the title has a confident swagger to it’s words. Self-belief runs through Estrons’ veins but it’s not arrogance. ‘Lilac’ opens with chugging bass and crashing feedback and the attitude never diminishes. ‘Body’ is an explosion of sexual energy and ‘Camera’ is a slow burning classic that almost collapses in on itself with the chorus and screeching solo that follows. Singer Tali’s voice battles with an unrelentingly powerful rythym section and everybody wins. This is a powerful opening statement, a pop punk classic in the making. You say this album shouldn’t be this high, I say you’re very wrong.

 

1: Idles – Joy As An Act Of Resistance

The step up from last year’s debut is an astonishing one. It’s records like this that prove albums aren’t going to die any time soon. JAAAOR feels like a complete work, not just songs chucked together, many times they fizzle and crack into eachother. The title sums it up, even through the anger and fully charged attacks there is a joy at play, helped of course by some hilariously oblique wordplay. The colossal   ‘Colossus’ (they have a better way with the pen than me) menacingly stalks you from afar before sticking needles in the back of your neck as it’s hairs stand on end. It then breaks into a FIDLAR style coda. ‘Never Fight A Man With A Perm’ bemoans toxic masculinity in the only way they know how – “You’re not a man, you’re a gland. You’re one big neck with sausage hands”. ”Samaritans’ covers the same topic with class “I’m a real boy, boy and I cry”. Danny Nedelko is the best pro immigration song The Vaccines forgot to write – “He’s made of bones, he’s made of blood, he’s made of flesh, he’s made of love. He’s made of you, he’s made of me, UNITY!”  The album could be in a gallery as contemporary work of art about the state of our culture. It’s angry, loud as fuck and it’s an uncomfortable pleasure from the off. There is one harrowing moment that hurts. In ‘June’ the line “Babies’s shoes for sale, never worn” is fucking heartbreaking, especially when you later find out it has a place in harsh reality. Mostly though you can shout things like “I’M SCUM!” and “FUCK TV!” while trashing you living room or a nearby Conservative club if you’re out and about. This is a masterpiece. Guitar music isn’t dead. Spread the news.

 

Cardiff, Wales. Consider Yourself WARNED! Manic Street Preachers At Cardiff Castle

Cardiff was bracing itself. Threats of rail strikes, forty mile tailbacks heading back along the M4 and a city centre rammed full of two very disparate looks. The combat, eye-liner feather boas wearing adults mixing with a different form of army, thousands and thousands of ten year olds wearing ‘I Love Louis/Harry shirts being ushered by harassed parents. If there was anyone wearing an ‘I Love Hoovering’ shirt just to confuse people then you have my respect. The passers by not knowing what the heck was going on might have thought some kind of twisted apocalypse was occurring. The capital had never seen the like before.

There was a way to escape the teenage takeover and that’s by hiding in a pub. So that’s what we did. Myself and fellow forumers met at the Brewhouse and talked and laughed and started having way too many shots for that time of day. There was also a Manics tribute act providing us with a perfect soundtrack to our pre-gig giddiness. We even had the honour of meeting James Dean Bradfield himself.

We made our way to the Castle around 7ish. Good job we’d been drinking so much already as the queue’s were horrendous. After taking in the rather spectacular surroundings we made our way closer as the support band were playing. I’d never heard them before but nothing about them particularly grabbed me, though to be fair the swirling conditions didn’t help them. I wasn’t too bothered about whether the support was good or not. I was hear for the Manics.

The Holy Bible performed in the sunshine and in such a big open space was always going to be a different experience to the claustrophobic assault on the senses that was the December tour. As James unleashes himself full throttle into Yes it’s clear that us at the front are having the time of our lives and you could almost sense a little bewilderment from beyond our shoulders. IfWhiteAmerica’s guitar slays and we all shout the collective vitriol to Of Walking Abortion. James’ luck with guitars for the night start to go wrong during the furious solo of Archives Of Pain as a string snaps he looks up bemused and says “Guitar’s gone!” but they bluff their way too the end. “That’s his best solo as well!” Nicky mocks with his evil grin. Truth be told, until Revol charges in, the sound is a bit too quiet for my liking. However, as with the Roundhouse shows The Holy Bible live experience really truly starts shattering your soul from song number six. The middle section to Revol is pure guitar porn and by now the groups of drunken lads, who are the only real down point of the night are vying for space down the front.

4st 7ibs, for such a deeply personal song about anorexia really does seem to get universal appeal. Even the butch security guard (who I shall name Bob) in front of the stage is lost in his own world singing along. Good chap. What follows is mesmerising. Nicky continuing to pace the stage as Mausoleum rages and faster almost crumbles under its own intensity. As for This Is Yesterday, it felt truly magical as the sun setting further gave it a more beautiful ambience than its ever had before. Die In The Summertime never fails to slay live, it’s barbed chords and roar are fierce as hell.

Can we, for one moment talk about Mooro? His drumming right now is out of the realm, sounding harder and quicker than ever. His mean marching beat to The Intense Humming Of Evil is sensational. This song, an unexpected high point of The Holy Bible live experience. And so to P.C.P , another powerhouse effort from Sean as James just about keeps in control of the fast paced diatribe.

After a quick interval James is back donning his acoustic flagged by a string quartet and leading a stirring rendition of The Everlasting. Bob, once again singing along merrily. It’s wonderful. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, Bradfield needs to do a show with just him, an acoustic guitar and a string quartet. I’d be there in an instant and blubbing away through the whole damn thing. Motorcycle emptiness has a real power to it and an impressive Walk Me To The Bridge is received so much better than on previous outings.

There are some curve balls on offer. In recent times the band have started to enjoy varying their set up more and Condemned To Rock N’ Roll (or “one long guitar solo” as Nicky puts it) is staggering. To see James tear through the outro with no words to hinder or get in the way. It sounds so kick ass and heavy. Sex, Love, Power And Money is another surprise. It’s great fun but I do feel Futurology has been undersold and overlooked by the band considering how proud they seem to be of it. I fear I’ll never see Let’s Go To War or Black Square live. Removables was another pleasant surprise but the crowd strangely didn’t seem to take to it. Golden Platitudes was the final twist of the night. Dedicated to “anyone with post election blues” (me for sure) it sounded massive and better than on the Postcards tour where they never seemed to quite nail it.

I’m never against a rendition of You Stole The Sun From My Heart because it’s so great to bounce along to. Or would be if the people out of their heads were capable of doing anything other than flailing about and clattering into you. They are the reason my back is in total agony right now. As For Your Love Alone, yeah that can leave the set now please. Thanks.

You Love Us is proceeded by James doing a Hendrix of the Welsh national anthem as ten thousand mostly drunk people tried to remember the words loudly. It was quite a moment. And as James bids us goodbye (“be careful out there, I know what Cardiff can get like on a Friday night”) we are united further with an even more epic than it normally is version of A Design For Life. So pumped up on passion and stirred on to even greater things by the surroundings and sense of occasion. Amid the feedback Nicky vainly throws his bass about and his last attempt seems to land on James’ pedals. Probably with a mix of annoyance and “let me show you how it’s done” Bradfield picks it up and tries to smash it, each crash against the stage greeted with cheers. With a look on his face that says “I’ve committed to this now and thousands are watching” he finally breaks the thing in half and with relief states “toughest fucking guitar in the world”. It’s even funnier than the finale of the Manic Millennium.

And so they are gone, probably for a while as realistically it’ll be a couple or so years until new material surfaces and tours are announced. If they ever happen. After each era I always have a deep fear that it is their last. I’m glad The Holy Bible era is now over so they can start looking to the future again. Was tonight the best they’ve ever played? No, it’s not even the best they’ve played The Holy Bible but as a sense of occasion and importance this will always be a night to be remembered.I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Afterwards we attended the Manic Street Mania aftershow, where my request for Prologue To History wasn’t played, and I, somewhat against my will got dressed in a camo turban. We then went to an “alternative rock” club here all the music sounded like nu metal played by boy bands. I honestly had no idea nu metal was still a thing. Thank God for alcohol. Then onto a club at 3:30am because it was the only one still open. We were offered pills by a very happy man but we decided to stick with the tequila. AT 5;30am, only two of us were left standing but got kicked out of the club (because it was closing not because we were being naughty). Leaving a club drunk and walking into warm, bright daylight is a very odd experience. We then had a discussion with a pigeon which we confused for a seagull. What a wonderful time to be alive.

Manic Street Preachers.
I love you one time.
I love you two time.
I love you three time.
Get pissed.
Destroy.
Tequila. I love you a bit less.
May your God go with with you.

Rank The Albums – Manic Street Preachers – My TURN!

 

Putting Manics albums into an order of preference has always been an idea at the back of my head but the thought of actually doing it has always been way too distressing. That is until the mighty JDB had recently been asked to do it. Amazingly he obliged: http:// http://noisey.vice.com/blog/rank-your-records-manic-street-preachers

It’s always interesting to hear the maker’s own analysis of their own output and the way the perspective will always be different from that of the fans. Jame’s overriding reasoning for his order seem rely on two main factors: The enjoyment of the recording process and critical acclaim. I have so much time for what Jamess has to say but am amazed he’s only just realised that every new Manics album is a reaction to the last(!). Manic Street Preachers exist their own bubble. They are not beholden to the nuances of current music scenes.  I will also disagree with him on this insistence he has that there are only two versions of the band. For my money there are at least six. I believe every album released has an unidentical twin. Bare with me on this one!

The ambitious, overlong mad as fuck Manics: GT and KYE

The back to basics ten song rock stomper Manics: GATS and SATT

The angry and dark Manics: THB and JFPL

The orchestral, more upbeat Manics: EMG and PFAYM

The “welsh folk” Manics: TIMTMY and RTF

The kind synthy Manics: LB and F

But alas, us fans are a fickle lot. Five minutes in the Forever Delayed forum will make anyone see that. For everyone that see’s my list, 99% of them will be howling derision at it. So get the popcorn ready and feel free to throw it at the screen every time you disagree.

 

12: LIFEBLOOD (2004) 

”And in defeat, cling to these words so clear”

THE GLACIAL ALBUM THAT MELTS THE SOUL BUT FRUSTRATES THE MIND 

Perhaps last place is suitable for an album that has the overall feel of the white flag being raised. I was so disconnected from Lifeblood on release. I liked some of the songs but it had the body language of a band slumped over, their fight gone.  Strange to think now but I was starting to hope that they would split rather than limp on. I didn’t even attend a tour in 2005, the only one I’ve not been to since 1998. Truth be told, my situation at the time meant it was impossible, I’d have still gone if I could. Typically everyone recalls that Past, Present, Future tour as a spectacular one!

Lifeblood is not a bad album. Far from it. Someone has to be last. 1985, the lost single (registered trademark) gracefully sweeps and swoons. The Love Of Richard Nixon is a song the band have since disowned and I find that a shame, its strange mix of plinky plonky catchiness combined with earnest political satire work wonders. To Repel Ghosts sounds as big and glorious as a big glorious thing.  Solitude Sometimes Is a jolty take on loneliness impresses and Cardiff Afterlife is a curious, interesting closer.

Where I struggled then but a bit less so now is here: Not much is being said. There’s no anger, no drive, not even a positive will to want life to be better. It’s sat in the corner sulking on it’s own. I Live To Fall Asleep is a perfect example: “When did you become another distant friend?” we are asked. This is exactly how I felt about my Manics. There are two songs so exasperatingly dull I want to shake them by the neck and scream “WAKE UUUP!” Always/Never makes an attempt at funk sleepworthy, bland as it is in tune and lyrical ‘subject’. Fragments too, mumbles on apologetically.  Emily’s line “We used to have answers, now we have only questions, But now have no direction” describes the album in a nutshell.

The sound is pristine and clean, mostly effectively. Like they were trying to wash away the grime. At times though it verges on being just too cold, like looking into its eyes and seeing no soul. Ironically it makes a rather good winter album all told. There are some beautiful moments here, it’s just maybe it could maybe have done with a blood transfusion to help it out a little

 

Glaring B-side omission: Askew Road

Question: Who the hell is Emily? And does Rachel know about her?

Fact: Secretly this is actually jame’s favourite album but he just likes winding up the fans something chronic.

 

11: GENERATION TERRORISTS (1992)

“Love your masks and adore your failure”

THE BID FOR WORLD DOMINATION. IT FAILED SLIGHTLY. 

There are endless reasons why this debut should be last but let’s cover only some shall we? It’s way too long and has too much filler. Two versions of Repeat?! A cover of Damn Dog? Good lord. The soft rock eighties production is another. Where it should have sounded raucous and punky like The Clash it end up like bloody Meatloaf. A lot of the attitude ends up being strangled by the work of Steve Brown.

What saves it however is the sheer ambition and attitude that drives it forward. The tunes, crammed and overspilling with melody and stangely constructed sentances. An album that contains Motorcycle Emptiness and Stay Beautiful just can’t finish last now can it? Or one that has THAT outro to Condemned To Rock N’ roll.

The lyrics, mostly anyway, defy their youth. Motorcycle Emptiness alone contains more deph than many bands achieve in an entire career: “Culture sucks down words. Itemise loathing and feed yourself smiles. Organise your safe tribal war. Hurt maim kill and enslave the ghetto”. While the call of “BLACK HORSE APOCALYPSE!” is funny as hell in Natwest-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds’ there is a rich streak (pun intended) of intellect at play. “They give and take away, repossess and crucify. The more you own the more you are lonelier with cheap desire”. Little Baby Nothing is a feminist power ballad co sung by a former porn star – “Loveless slavery, lips kissing empty. Dress your life in loathing. Breaking your mind with Barbie Doll futility”.  Only this band, eh?

On release, some fans threatened to kill themselves due to their huge disappointment with the album. To be fair, it’s not THAT bad. Just skip a few songs or even better, listen to the demo version they released recently.

 

Best sweary moment: “REPEAT AFTER ME! FUCK QUEEN AND COUNTRY!”

Best narrated speech: “Between the billboard masturbation across highways of metallic isolation there lies the deafening screaming of the millions wiping out the diseased pages of apathy that bleed our innocence…”

The clunky lyric award goes to: “Worms in the garden more real than a McDonalds”

Glaring B-side omission: Democracy Coma

Question: Can the person who decided “why don’t you just fuck off” be censored just.. you know.. FUCK OFF

Fact: Damn Dog is shit.

 

10: REWIND THE FILM (2013)

“There’s too much heartbreak in the nothing of the now”

THE GUITAR WAS PUT TO ONE SIDE AND A BAND FOUND THEIR INNER PEACE

Manics go unplugged. Kind of. Rewind The Film is a subtle and strangely comforting listen.. These are not words normally associated with tem but there’s no need to worry because this isn’t all lovey dovey and soft. It’s an album that questions their own place in the scheme of things and a fear of middle age (which is “somewhere between acceptance and rage) while while looking back with fondness at times past. Stripped back like never before, only one song features an electric guitar.  This is effectively their second “welsh folk” album.

Opening track This Sullen Welsh Heart is heartbreaking. A lullaby full of anguish: “I can’t fight this war any more. Time to surrender, time to move on. So line up the firing squads, kiss goodbye to what you want. You can keep on struggling when you’re alone” It can’t hide its resentment either: “The hating half of me has won the battle easily”. Throw in Lucy Rose’s tender vocals and you have perfection. Show Me The Wonder has the feel a wedding band but.. a great one obviously. There is the obligatory Richey love song, As Holy As The Soil (That Buries Your Skin) crumbles hearts the moment it breaks out with the “Oh I love you so won’t you please come home Oh, it’s been so long, I can’t let go” refrain. The album flows gracefully. Instrumental Manorbier goes through peaks and troughs as high as the valleys themselves. Maturity is not an insult in this respect. There are still targets in their sights. Anthem For A Lost Cause concentrates on the miners strikes and the magnificent Tory Baiting “retro-futurism” of 30 Year War closes things in style, preaching about class war and “the endless parade of old Etonian scum”.

If anything, I wish they’d gone more bare, stripped the smooth production back further and made it more lo-fi. They can’t help it, their natural ear for melody and bigness tends to overtake them. There’s a run of four songs that make up the middle section that sound too polished for what they were claiming to achieve. They even sound like outtakes from PFAYM. I know you’re giving the screen evils right now aren’t you?

No shouting, no solos, no gimmicks. Rewind The Films lays them in new territory. Only two version of the band James? AS IF. Rewind The Film is wonderful. And it’s only number sodding nine. For that I am truly sorry.

 

The clunky lyric award goes to: “I am as tired as John Lennon sang. Conveying exhaustion like no-one else can”

Question: What exactly does Nicky get up to in a hotel room in the middle of nowhere?

Fact: In an attempt to get the “all around the camp fire” vibe for the album the band got stoned and danced naked around one in Sean’s back garden. Sadly Nicky sprained his ankle and moped off to bed.

 

9: GOLD AGAINST THE SOUL (1993)

“There’s nothing nice in my head, the adult world took it all away”

PROJECT BON JOVI IS GO!

So they didn’t split up. they did however grow facial hair. Signifying a more macho Manics than the glitter twin aesthetic of the debut. If anything Gold Against The Soul’s sound is even more American than its predecessor. A deliberate attempt at FM orientated rock.

This is another one of those albums the band themselves are less keen on but forgetting the setlist classics for now there is much to love in the storm of power chords. Mighty opener Sleepflower (or SLEEEEPFLOOOOWEEERR! as it’s known at gigs for the sheer sole purpose of annoying James.) is an electric tale of insomnia: “I feel like I’m losing pieces of sleep”. Gold Against The Soul’s metallic riff and brooding atmosphere rage as an attack on wealth distribution. Lines like “Shareholding a piece of this fucking country” and “dream of new ways to humble the poor” haven’t dated and are just as relevant today. Symphony Of Tourette is from the perspective of a child with the condition set to a heavy as flip backing “Children can be cruel she said so I smashed her in the fucking head”. I was really surprised that James had a dig at the lyrics on album number two.

Even the weaker moments, where things get a bit too eighties are fun. Drug Drug Druggy’s Chili Peppers-esque beat with it’s “Dance like a robot when you’re chained at the knee” always makes me laugh a little. Nostalgic Pushead (eeew) dirides the rich and fashionable. It’s so absurdly tacky you just have to go along with it.

And then there are the classics. The soaring strings of From Despair To Where which is perhaps an early sign of the EMG era. La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh) is a shimmying rock ballad about a war veteran.”Wheeled out once a year, a cenotaph souvenir”. Honestly, who else writes this kind of stuff? Roses In The Hospital (“stub cigarettes out on my arm”) is a song that needs to make a return to the setlist and quick.

So this is where the guilt starts kicking in. I really like this album so number ten feels like a ridiculously low place. It’s time to give Gold Against The Soul some much warranted love. Listen to it LOUDLY today and become a slave to its beat, a slave to its chords and a slave to its melancholic pleasure.

 

Best sweary moment: “We don’t want your FUCKING LOVE”

Glaring B-side omission: Donkeys

Question: SLEEEEEEPFLOWEEEER??!!!

Fact: With reference to Land Becoming A landslide, Richey threw up watching pornography for the first time. He’d be totally appalled by the stuff that’s around today.

 

 

8: SEND AWAY THE TIGERS (2007)

“I never knew the sky was a prison”

BACK TO THEIR ROOTS. WITHOUT THE SHIT PRODUCTION.

The band seem to have more affection for Send Away The Tigers than most of the fans but we should all have a soft spot for it as this might just have been the album that saved the Manics. For that we must be grateful alone. They openly admitted it was a clear attempt to get back to the band they were, to find the voice they lost in Lifeblood. It can be taken as nothing other than a success as it has ignited them to a rich vein of form in the eight years since, both live and on record.

Yes, they are in their comfort zone but my God they’re having fun with it. Anthemic, catchy rock pop songs with plenty of oomph, powerhouse drums and solos galore. This might make it sound throwaway but it’s not. There is rhetoric too. The all out boogie-punk of Imperial Bodybags (“life is numbers, with doggy tags”) being an example. Rendition spits venom at fake revolutions. Russell Brand anyone? It must also be said that JDB’s vocals are ON POINT, mixing the newer high range with plenty of old school bellowing.

With typically Manic humour, A song dedicated to the fans (or rather “freaks”)  is hated to oblivion by the very people it’s aimed at. Ii is something I don’t understand. One crap edit or not, it kicks arse. The hate amplifies to irrational levels for Autumsong. Any thread on the forum, no matter what subject thread is happening will always lead to “AUTUMNSONG IS SHIT!”. It isn’t, it’s a piece of pop perfection. Deal with it.

There is, however that nagging feeling it could have been even better. the b-sides of this era were pretty spectacular and some could have been included (at the expense of, say Indian Summer!). It would have given a different, darker feel for sure and it’s clear the intention was to get themselves back on track, musically and commercially. Was it too a clinical a motive? Maybe. Be that as it is, it is still a fully charged, unashamedly in your face record that deserves more love.

 

Best sweary moment: “People like you need too fuck, need to fuck people like me”

The clunky lyric award goes to: “Now baby, what have you done? Done to your hair, done to your hair, done to your hair, done to your hair, hair!”

Glaring B-side omission: Anorexic Rodin

Question: Seriously though, what have you done with your hair?

Fact: The inspiration for Indian Summer was, in the bands words “To write a new version of Design For Life and make it a bit rubbish”

 

7: FUTUROLOGY (2014)

“I am the sky about to fall in, I am the sea about to part – a tiny piece of malcontent”

ALL HAIL THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTUROLOGY

It is not exactly what was promised but when is it ever when it comes to the Manics? It is neither a”post punk indie disco” or “the final in The Holy Bible trilogy”. Once you get past these blatant lies, what we do have is a band near the peak of their powers, urging forward and challenging themselves when they could easily sit back and switch autopilot on. On each track there seems to be a different mission statement as no two sound alike.

‘Let’s Go To War’ rages that “Working class skeletons lie scattered in museums, and all the false economies speak falsely of your dreams” before a united chanting chorus of bile. ‘Europa Geht Durch Mich’ is filled with a heavy funk of European desires. Yes, the Manics and funk. And it works. ‘Dreaming A City (Hughesovka)’ sees the band in new territory too with a big, dreamy synth and bass orgy.  Sex, Love, Power And Money is borderline hilarious, mixing synths with their early style.

Lyric wise, Nicky Wire is prone to the odd clunker but this is his most clunker free album to date. Just read “free yourselves from the tyranny of objects, purged of all colour, the purest abstraction” from the gorgeous ‘Black Square’ (inspired by a futurist Russian Opera!) and just marvel.  Divine Youth’s synth lullaby complimented by “I sing to myself my civil wars within” and the marvellous “money, it just buys a new way to disguise a freedom you don’t own anymore”.

The influence of Krautrock and the European connection are well integrated and don’t over power proceedings which thankfully leaves it with a clear Manics voice at the core. Indeed, who would have thought an album that features so much Nick Nasmyth would be such a classic?  Futurology surprises on all levels.

 

Best sweary moment: “I bet you felt proud you silly little fucker”

The clunky lyric award goes to: “We’ve all killed some ants. All had broken plans”

Glaring B-side omission: Anti-Social Manifesto

Question: Well do feel proud? HUH?

Fact: Nicky has an unhealthy obsession with bridges.

 

6: THIS IS MY TRUTH TELL ME YOURS (1998)

“No vendettas – just a cherry blossom tree”

BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPES OF (NOT VERY MUCH) DISTORTION

The first album without any contribution from Richey this may be but his absence is an almighty influence in the heart of this record. Not just the obvious references to him, but in the gaps where there were less words to play with. A review at the time mentioned it was actually a harder listen in many ways than The Holy Bible and there’s a certain truth in it. It’s stark in places to the point of desperation. The weary I’m Not Working encapsulates the mood well with “No parachutes no dismal clouds, Just this fucking space”. It’s a morbid, keyboard form of a death march. Born A Girl covers Wire’s desire to feel comfortable in his own skin. There’s more.. My Little Empire’s barren loneliness is distressing. Black Dog On My Shoulder’s strings are both beautiful and heartbreaking, an ode to depression played out to devastating effect.

This is the first time the Manics have left room to breath in songs. The atmosphere washes over you without ever grabbing you by the neck and shaking you. The futuristic one about the Spanish civil war ‘If You Tolerate this Your Children Your Children Will be Next, Ready For Drowning and The Everlasting are all grand but subtle anthems. Jame’s voice at the introduction of the latter is uncomfortably intimate on first listens. His voice sounding like it has never done before, less growl and more soul. The songs have less words, less speed in which to fit everything, allowing them to breath like never before.

There are some rockers too, You Stole From The Sun’s grunge bounceabilty and Nobody Loved You is a monster of a love song to Mr Edwards. It’s difficult to know whether to jump about or cry and then at “It’s unreal now you’re gone, but at least you belong” you realise the best thing is to do both. For all the flaws in South Yorkshire Mass Murderer (cut down to SYMM for silly reasons), Nicky still had good intentions but it’s a shame they were so badly executed. No matter as it develops into a brooding, loud musical masterpiece once James stops singing.

This was my first new Manics album to look forward as I’d only been a fan for a year or so. It will always hold a special place in my heart. It speaks to me, maaaan. The fact that I’ve placed it as low as number six seems fucking ridiculous but this is my list, tell me yours.

 

Best sweary moment: “I’m fucked with being fucked”

The clunky lyric award goes to: “The ending for this song, Well, I haven’t really thought of one”

Best narrated speech: “I will bring the whole edifice down on their unworthy heads”

Glaring B-side omission: Prologue To History:

Question: Let’s be honest, If Nicky really been born a girl he’d never have been able to cope with periods would he?

Fact: The cover shot captures the precise moment James realised he’d left the oven on.

 

5: EVERYTHING MUST GO (1996)

“All I want to do is live no matter how miserable it is”

BACK FROM THE BRINK.

Firstly, here’s a blog post on how I got into the band with this album:

The Intense Humming Of Doctor Robotnik (And How I Fell In Love With Manic Street Preachers)

Secondly, well where do we start? Everything Must Go is so of it’s time and timeless at the same time. It is the sound of a band brushing themselves down and standing tall, claiming victory from certain defeat.

Of course it’s not exactly a happy album as such, but if you choose not to listen to the lyrics the strings and granduer will take you away to a better place. It’s shiny and glistens loudly. Guitars crash and Jame’s wails like a proper hooligan. It is, it could be said.. intensely intense.

Enola/Alone stomps through nostalgia and ushers in hope for the future. James once stormed out of an interview when told it sounds like Bryan Adams fact fans. No Surface All Feeling scales stratospheric heights with self doubt and hate crashing off each other to raging, screeching guitars and pounding drums.  Further Away smashes just how to pull off a love song. It’s so simple with its “the further away I get from you the harder it gets for everyone else” (no, that isn’t rude. Take your minds out of the gutter) but it is intentionally simple.

The one moment it does pause for breath it becomes fragile as hell. ‘Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky’, a song about caged zoo animals who “carry your own dead to swing your tyre tricks”. The need to escape is not one of romance but of desperation because “here chewing your tail is joy”. Removables spits and sputters “No-one made the holes but me, Misery mourns to be devoured. Killed God blood soiled unclean again. Killed God blood soiled skin dead again”

The epic, goose bump inducing working class classic A Design For Life may sadly be why people still refer to the band as ‘Britpop’ but without it we wouldn’t have had the Manics for much longer. Myself and the mainstream fell in love with Everything Must Go. It’s one of the few rock albums that people who drive Ford Mondeos’ and work in middle management own. When you next go to Mr & Mrs Smiths house make sure you take a sneak peek at their music collection. It’ll be right there gathering dust with Travis’ The Man Who. And fair enough really, it’s a masterpiece. And I don’t mean The Man Who…

 

Best sweary moment: “IT’S SO FUCKING FUNNY. IT’S ABSURD”

The clunky lyric award goes to: Yeah, riiiiiiiight.

Question: Who, other than Willem De Kooning sees the interiors like once Willem De Kooning once did?

Glaring B-side omission: Sepia

Fact: There is a small moment in Enola/Alone where James really does sound like Bryan Adams.

 

4: KNOW YOUR ENEMY (2001)

“Run away, run away as fast as you can from anything that needs discipline”

MANICS LOOSE THE PLOT. AND IT’S FUCKING WONDERFUL.

This really is a VERY manics album in many senses. At the height of their success they went into the studio and consciously decide to fuck things up for themselves. They wanted to sound less polished and in doing so sounded more schizophrenic. I grant you, I wan’t in love at first. It took me a while to fully embrace Know Your Enemy. On hearing So Why So Dad for the first time on the Evening Session (yes, we had to wait by the radio for exclusives to be played – the madness!) a friend and myself were almost crying at the horror. We were not expecting THAT. I love the song now but still, don’t EVER mention the video to me.

Another reason why this a very Manics album? It had an agenda. From the striking sleeve imagery to references to free speech, Civil rights, Cuba and the evil of America. Taking these themes all the way to Cuba itself  to launch the album. Meeting Fidel Castro maybe wasn’t the brightest PR move but hey, how Manics is a silly PR move? Very.

In James’ album rankings he described KYE as a malaise? I don’t hear a malaise in the adrenaline of Found That Soul, a sinfully forgotten single. I don’t hear malaise in the scuzzy Dead Martyrs or My Guernica. I don’t hear malaise in the tribute to Paul Robeson. I don’t hear malaise in the USA baiting song for Elián González, with it’s sky scraping chorus.  Elsewhere there is plenty more to love. The forlorn anger of His Last Painting, a song that sounds on the verge of either giving up or kicking off. Ocean Spray, James’ tribute to his mother comes replete with crunching kick in AND sean on the trumpet. What do you guys want?!

The reason why Know Your Enemy suffers from aparrent indifference may be due to the sheer variety and surprises on offer. Wattsville Blues has Nicky cod rapping Mark E Smith style over some beats. Miss Europa Disco Dancer is almost a parody of a comedic parody of disco (“Wake up drunk and fall over!”). That mood somewhat changes on its mumbled outro “Braindead motherfuckers, braindead motherfuckers”.

There’s baffle speak too. For all the over the top ryhming that makes up most of Intravenous Agnostic it still delivers a killer in “brutality is needed in capitalist society”. Plus, the ferocity of the drums and layers of guitars more than make up for it. The Convalescent goes on about Haile Gebrselassie, Kleenex tissues and teletext TV but again, the music covers its flaws.

There are two main criticisms of album number six. There are those that really dislike the rough production but for me, on record the band usually sound more polished than they should and here they sound just brilliant. Fierce, grimy and abrasive. Did people really want a third orchestral album in a row? The second, that it is a mess of ideas. That to me is part of its charm. So many ideas, themes and styles. It’s weakness is also its strength. It sounds more spectacular now than it ever did in 2001.  Is it too long? Of course it is. Is it the Manics being brave and putting their balls on the line? Of course it is. The Manics knew the enemy had always been themselves. This is that glorious realisation soundtracked.

 

Best sweary moment: It’s a tie between “Don’t want useless fuckers knocking at my door. Poxy fucking assholes following me . Don’t you understand that I fucking despise every single living organism?” and “Moral little shit-kickers, liberal asinine pricks”.

The clunky lyric award goes to: “You’d love the chance to eat their food. Even though it has been chewed”

Best narrated speech: “Now let the Freedom Train come zooming down the track. Gleaming in the sunlight for white and black. Not stopping at no stations marked colored nor white. Just stopping in the fields in the broad daylight”

Glaring B-side omission: Locust Valley

Question: Is Marilyn Manson’s arse really scared of cash machines and the Mardi Gras? And if so, why?

Fact: Nicky’s sideburns had taken on their own life-form by this point and were given names – Ricky and Micky.

 

3: JOURNAL FOR PLAGUE LOVERS (2009)

“I am not dead, I demand I know my rights., I know my rights. You cover my illness with flowers and flowers die, flowers die”

RICHEY’S UNSEEN POEMS GIVEN LIFE. 

When the Manics announced that they would be releasing an album containing Richey’s words from THAT scrapbook the initial reaction was one of excitement. Then I got nervous and scared and hid behind the sofa. What if… it turned out to be shit? Clearly full of confidence from Send Away The Tigers the band decided they were in the right place to finally revisit the past.

The most startling thing about Journal For Plague Lovers is not only how, for all the talk of The Holy Bible mark two, they never once slip in self parody and that is one of this album’s greatest victories. Thankfully it is not THB mark 2, for we have to remember they were just turning forty when recording this and it would have been awful if they attempted to recreate it. This is a different sounding beast altogether. Quite how an aging band can sound so ahead of anyone else out there while at the same time using fifteen year old words is a miracle in itself.

So, the lyrics then. It’s been known for years that the poems bequeathed (the word of the 2009) were long, rambling and difficult to edit into songs but edit them they did into a collection of short, sharp stabs punk rock. The tone when Richey’s words are at the forefront is always different. They just give the band a certain edge and urgency that isn’t there at other times. The great thing to notice here is that he was evolving further as a poet. While it’s still a mixture of anger and self doubt there’s a different clarity and tonal shift. God forbid, there are even signs of humour in there with Me & Stephen Hawking, a bizarre take on science: “Herman the Bull and Tracey the sheep. Transgenic milk containing human protein. Their bacteria cheaper than baby food. Attention, today it’s a cow, tomorrow it’s you”. In the hands of any other band this would sound ridiculous as would “we missed the sex revolution when we failed the physical” The sentences at times conjure specatular imagery: “Riderless horses on Chomsky’s Camelot” and “Here is oblivion bathed acid red” being just two.

All this soundtracked to a mix of fueled rock and strings. Before it breaks out full throttle ‘Jackie Collins Existential Question Time chugs along to the sort of moral question that all keeps us all up at night: “If a married man fucks a Catholic and his wife dies without knowing, does that make him unfaithful, people?” This Joke Sport Severed darkly broods (“Jealousy sows rejection with a kiss in silken palms that tear bone from skin”) into a gorgeous orchestral conclusion. James barks “I would prefer no choice. One bread, one milk, one food, that’s all. I’m confused, I only want one truth” as All Is Vanity’s riff hammers your skul . Pretension/Repulsion is a messed up up punk headfuck and it’s joyful. Well, maybe joyful isn’t the right word.

There seem to be references from Richey to the time who spent in hospitals and at the priory. Virgina State Epilatic Colony’ is a narky, sarcastic response “today the doctors allow the illusion of choice” and the disorientated chorus “They wake to strobes and half circled light, confusion lifts with potassium percolate”. The title track recalls the bands old interest in religious iconography: “Only a God can bruise, Only a God can soothe. Only a God reserves the right to forgive those that revile him”  is certainly a line that fuels further those who believe he may have found God in care though interviews from the time suggest otherwise.

And so to my only complaint… Bag Lady is not officially an album track. It is on my version but according to the track listing and the fact they didn’t play it when they toured the album in full means the band don’t consider it anymore than a bonus track. This is madness even by this bands standards, The contrary bastards. Bag Lady is a sinister, almost morbid attack that teeters between arrogance and self hate. It’s evil riffs combined with words that always give me goosebumps “To be morally good are we ready to love? A devil pretending to be a God” are what would definitely make it into my top ten Manics songs list. Don’t worry though, I will not do that as putting albums into an order has been painful enough. And then.. and then the guitar tears to shreds towards the end and I’m “OH MY FUCKING GOD YES!!”.

.. So that is why I love Bag Lady. And Journal For Plague Lovers. It’s a masterpiece from a band who had no right to be in the position to make a masterpiece. They did Richey Edwards the  justice he deserved.  As if we had any doubts, eh? This beauty here dipping neophobia, indeed.

 

Best sweary moment: Already stated!

The clunky lyric award goes to: There isn’t any though it’s thought Nicky’s editing of William’s Last Words reads more like a suicide note than the author intended.

Best narrated speech: “You know so little about me. What if I turn into a Werewolf or something?”

Question: Did Giant haystacks really wrestle in front of 100,000 people?

Fact: Sean actually wrote the lyrics to this album. Richey played drums.

 

2: POSTCARDS FROM A YOUNG MAN (2010)

“This world will not impose its will. I will not give up and I will not give in”

THE CORE OF MANICS FANS HATE IT WITH A PASSION. BUT THEN NOT MUCH PLEASES ‘EM SO…

No, I am not joking. Yes, this is my second favourite album. Postcards is the black sheep of the family, just mentioning it seems to send people out in hives. It is the most hated of them all.  The “one last shot at communication” soundbite seemed to get people’s backs up from the start.  Strange, considering the band have never been shy about wanting commercial success. It was an album I loved pretty much all of from the very first listen. I previously stated the positive affect Everything Must Go had on me but add that ten fold to this album. 2009 and 2010 were bleak times personally. I’ll spare you the details but I definitely didn’t need a new angry/downbeat Manics album at that time and thankfully they didn’t deliver one. It was perfect for me.

There’s lot’s of abuse aimed at Postcards. It’s “lifeless” and “dull” to the critics.  All I can say is – You are listening to it WRONG. It zips along at a wonderful pace. The production also gets stick as being too glossy but to my ears it’s brash and loud. A perfect mix of strings and choirs with fierce sounding guitar crunches and solos. The band’s world weary cynicism still shows through but it’s to a different beat. New dynamics added along with the kitchen sink.

My love for the title track knows no bounds. Some Kind Of Nothingness has a yearning other worldly beauty. Hazelton Avenue take’s Lenny Kravitz’ It ‘Ain’T Over ‘Til It’s Over’ and pushes it over the edge into an ode to finding peace in the solitary.  On first listen to I Think I Found It I was concerned that James had joined a hippy commune or worse… the big man himself. So positive sounding and at ease with itself and  so totally un-Manics. “We’ve finally found a way to consume boredom everyday” James yells to the opening chugs of anti technology anthem ‘A Billion Balconies Facing The Sun’ as it builds into a proper barnstormer. Yeah. Barnstormer.

‘All We Make Is Entertainment’ is a romp that plays out a loss of working values. It reminds me musically of The Jam and not because the word entertainment is in the title.  The discordant optimism of  ‘The Future has been Here 4ever’  provides us with Nicky’s strongest vocal to date (ok, so there isn’t much competition on that front). Maybe it’s because he’s being battled by an upbeat choir serenading us with the strangely positive “let some love break through the light, let someone come into your life”. Again, so totally un-Manics in spirit and brilliantly so.  Don’t Be Evil tirades against the self obsession the internet exacerbates “Fool the world with all your own importance.
Portray your tedium for the world to see”. These are magnificent tunes, people!

Also, it must be said I believe PFAYM to be Jame’s strongest ever vocals. Amid all the lovely stuff there’s plenty of sneering and shouting going on too. His voice is an absolute powerhouse here. The lyrics too, like the album itself are undervalued. Ignored even. I try not to get too defensive when everyone slags off my beloved Postcards. Music is all down to personal taste and experiences after all. To my ears this is a band firing on all cylinders. Confident, exuberant, loud and beautiful all in one. It even gets abuse for being “unsubtle”. Guys, you do realise the Manics are rarely connoisseurs of subtlety, right? So yes, this album helped me then as it does now.  To quote Auto-Intoxication “I am so lucky. I think that I survived”. Indeed I did. And this album was one of the reasons.

 

Best sweary moment: There isn’t any. This means only two albums are cuss free.

The clunky lyric awards: “I hope I’m making sense. I’ve lost my last defence. This is my last descent”

Glaring B-side omission: I’m Leaving you For Solitude

Question: Does anyone know what James actually found?

Fact: No, sod it. Everybody who says this is their worst LP is wrong. FACT.

 

1: THE HOLY BIBLE (1994)

“The centre of humanity is cruelty”

THE MOST RIGHT WING OF ALBUMS FROM THIS MOST LEFT WING OF BANDS. NOT EXACTLY ABBA GOLD

How depressing predictable. The album that not long ago was recently been voted “the most depressing album of all time” has reached my personal number one. Make no mistake, this is not easy listening. It is hard work at times, it can worm it’s way into your mind and senses. For all I’ve praised EMG and PFAYM for the positivity they’ve brought to my life, The Holy Bible can be responsible for the opposite. It is its own mood piece, it’s own sinister dimension. Totally at odds with the world and itself and raging against both. The listener soon feels at odds with both too. But one has to question if it really is the most miserable collection of songs in history. For all the subject matter: Prostitution, castration of men, serial killers, anorexia and the holocaust to name the greatest hits(!) there is a pure heart at the centre of it all. Albeit set to a spitting, seething brutal noise.

Compromise. We all do it. The Manics have done it quite a few times over the years but the everlasting legacy if any that The Holy bibles should imprint on music is it’s stance – stood aggressively tall, arms folded and  flicking the v’s. There is an outright insistence to stick to their guns and release what felt right. No recording in mansions, just three musicians in a crammed studio in the red light district of Cardiff (with Richey playing is Sega somewhere else).  In short, The Holy Bible is uncompromising. The first four words are “For sale, dumb cunts same dumb questions”

So to the words then, where do we begin? It is the voice of no generation. Britpop was kicking into gear and here was the Manics sounding out “Killers view themselves like they view the world, they pick at the holes. Not punish less, rise the pain. Sterilise rapists, all I preach is EXTINCTION” on Archives Of Pains’ heavy bass and apoplectic meltdown with the most ludicrously catchy chorus to boot. The marching strides of 4st 7lbs vocalises the horror of anorexia with such honesty it almost makes it sound beautiful: “I want to walk in the snow and not leave a footprint. I want to walk in the snow and not soil its purity”.  That’s a key factor in this album, the work from both Richey AND Nicky are either so honestly blunt or so extremely… out there. The opener Yes yells “He’s a boy, you want a girl so tear off his cock, Tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want”. The sole moment of serenity, musically at least comes in the form of the dejected paean This Is yesterday (“I repent, I’m sorry, everything is falling apart”)

The music has a feel of being trapped in a metal cage and fighting to get out. Everything feels pressurised. The noise and words all spilling out but the soul still stuck inside. Of Walking Abortion, inspired by SCUM (Society For Cutting Men) is a vicious attack with a black heart: “Little people in little houses like maggots small blind and worthless”. Faster pulverises a mantra of self loathing and makes it sound so so.. fun. The Intense Humming Of Evil is literally six minutes of intense humming. A robotic, claustrophobic dirge on the holocaust that manages to say a line as offensive as “Lives that wouldn’t have changed a thing. Never counted – never mattered – never be” without even flinching.

The recent anniversary gigs would suggest this album isn’t quite as depressing as is made out. We jumped, we sang and we cried. Fair enough, we didn’t exactly laugh but if you really want depressing you’re better off listening to some Nick Drake.  There’s a reason for this. It’s because the music so masterfully crafted by James and Sean to not only (almost) fit these essays is a work of genius in itself but against all odds, the tunes are mighty, powerful AND you can sing along to them. Well, most of them. Quite simply, there has never been an album that sounds like The Holy Bible and nor will there ever be again. It is unique. It is its own musical landscape. It is its own rage and ultimately its own self fulfilling prophecy. Quite frankly, I’d be here so long writing about this album alone it’d be a dissertation in itself. Now there’s an idea…

 

Best sweary moment: “Whose responsible? YOU FUCKING ARE!”

The clunky lyric award goes to: SOD. RIGHT. OFF

Best narrated speech: “I knew that someday I was gonna die and I knew before I died two things would happen to me. That number one: I would regret my entire life And number two: I would want to live my life over again”

Question: Who do you think are?! You damn well think you’re God or somethi.. oh wait. Sorry. I thought you were someone else.

Fact: This is the greatest album of all time.

The Intense Humming Of Doctor Robotnik (And How I Fell In Love With Manic Street Preachers)

I think the first album I ever brought was Mariah Carey’s Music Box. That or ‘Always & Forever’ by Eternal. We’re friends, I can admit this now without fear of reprisal. It gets worse – the first single I ever brought was East 17’s ‘Alright’. Please don’t disown me. So how, with a little help from Sonic, Tails and an evil moustached egg thing, did I get from there to a 17 year love affair with the greatest band of all time?

Music was always around in my house growing up. Dad blaring his Status Quo and Dire Straits (two more aptly named bands you couldn’t find). I have fond memories of mum singing along to Patsy Cline and Crystal Gale. Oh, & Gene Pitney but we gave her a bit of stick for that one. My brother was all about Guns & Roses & Metallica. Me? I was up in my room, still recording gems like Chaka Demus & Pliers off the chart show. It still boggles my brain to think that in the summer of 1994, the time of ‘The Holy Bible’ I was deeply in love with ‘Crazy For You’ by Let loose. Admit it, it is an awesome song. I soon started finding my own way musically, not through elitism or snobbery but I guess the music that was resonating around the house just didn’t speak to me that much. Hearing ‘Sad song’ by Oasis for the first time in 1994 led  me into the likes of Kula Shaker,The Bluetones and Ocean Colour Scene. Then something happened…. I got depressed.

When I was 17, in the dark dark spring and summer of 1997 I went through… let’s call it ‘a phase’. I barely left the house. I would cry for hours on end. It was a very bad time. I didn’t have to leave the room though because I had my sega Megadrive. I also had a copy of ‘Everything Must Go’. I don’t really know what inspired me to buy the album nearly a year after it’s release. I don’t remember be truly captivated by the singles. I quite liked ‘A Design For Life’ i suppose. In fact, I remember seeing them on tv playing a Hillsborough benefit gig at Anfield (in ’96 or 97) and being strongly itrritated by the singer. He had a shaved head, looked aggressive, spun around on the spot a lot and shouted too much. What a twat. But, until now what happened in that bedroom has only been between, me, Sonic, Tails and Dr Robotnik. We ALL fell in love with that album. The sound was turned down on my tv as the album flowed through my stereo on repeat. I’m telling you, it made Sonic go faster than he was even designed to. These strange sentences were filling my mind. For the first time lyrics were trying to get my attention as much as the music. Some I understood, some I didn’t but even the ones I didn’t understand I loved. It was like discovering a new language and that’s not an exaggeration. Needless to say, I got to the end of No Surface All Feeling many more times than I defeated the end of level baddie. I soon emerged from my bedroom, even went outside (I know, crazy huh?). They didn’t make me a more confident person because I don’t think anything ever will, but they gave me a kick up the arse. My mum would later always refer to my “depressing music” and by that I think she mostly meant the Manics. Mum was right about everything but not about this. I can’t imagine what I would of done as a 17 year old without them. I could’ve become a crack addict or, god forbid, a Gene fan.

And so.. I delved into their back catalogue. I could write a whole essay on ‘The Holy Bible’ but don’t worry, I’ll save that for another time. In 1998 I saw them live for the first time and they made even more sense that ever before – even though all three of them were dressed as Casper the friendly ghost. I’ll forgive them that. I forgive them lots of things. They frustrate the hell out of me sometimes, make me angry, make me laugh, make me cry and make me joyous. It’s fair to say it’s a love/hate relationship. Why? Because I care and I always will. It’s an illness. It won’t change. There’s a question on the Forever Delayed forum: Why do you like the Manic Street Preachers? My answer? Because they make me feel so desolate and yet so fucking powerful at the same time. Recently on a night out,  a girl asked me what I thought to be a bit of a profound question over a cider, especially considering it was only a Strongbow. The conversation was as follows:

 

Girl: What’s the most important thing in your life?

Me: Other than family and friends?

Girl: Yeah, that’s a given. What matters most to you?

Me: Manic Street Preachers.

 

Needless to say I didn’t pull that night. Those welsh bastards. They even ruin my love life and you know what? I forgive them.

And why not eh?

 

LIVE REVIEWS: MANIC STREET PREACHERS, CAMDEN ROUNDHOUSE (16 & 17/12/14)

The week Camden was invaded by the army. Kind of

TUES 16/12/14

What is the importance of a date, really? Anniversaries are surely marking nothing more than another date closer to death? A bit morbid? Welcome to the Roundhouse, you’re in the right place. 2014 marks twenty years since The Holy Bible’s release, perhaps more pointedly it’s almost to the date that Richey Edwards played his last shows with the band before he disappeared. They don’t need to be doing this.. or do they? The Holy Bible then, an album so covered in mysticism and horror is mostly the vision of Richey. It covers prostitution, self abuse, anorexia, mass murderers, the holocaust… you get the gist. It’s hardly cause for a series of nostalgia gigs. You sense they may be doing it, not to be “a museum piece” but as a means of self therapy and to breath new life into a story well told. High on confidence on the back of this years Futurology album and with the year running out it was a case of now or never. They chose now. There is undoubtedly pressure, not least of all the pressure they put on themselves. Choosing to perform it as a three piece, James will certainly have to be at his best, carrying the riffs. the solos and all those words. So many words…

The stage and backdrop is draped with dark green military netting, and as the lights dim to The Chemical Brothers remix of Faster it really feels like we’re about to go to war. The excitement and fear that washes over the crowd in this instant is indescribable. Headlong we go straight into Yes and it’s welcoming “For sale, dumb cunts, same dumb questions” and into a crunching “You want a girl so tear of his cock” chorus. It sounds just as nasty as ever. Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart grabs you by the throat and shakes you, shouting “I’M HERE TOO SAID THE MORAL MAJORITY’ in your face. There’s virtually nothing said between the songs. Their doesn’t need to be. Nicky does confess that he wants to trash the gear up tomorrow night “But James isn’t having any of it”.

The run of songs from a havoc wreaking Revol through to PCP is quite simply the most incendiary I’ve had the pleasure to be present for. Even the numbers that seemed like they’d be the “poorer” moments in a live setting excel. 4st 7lbs starts with a gritty riff and powers through at volume. As for ‘The Intense Humming Of Evil’, it turns the Roundhouse into a cage with which there is no escape. We’re trapped in this cacophony of noise. The bass and massive drums bashing all the bones in your body as the distorted guitar churns to a meltdown. It is incredible. I’m basically crying in public at this point. Mausoleum and PCP are fierce, relentless attacks of sonic attitude. The album will sound limp compared to this spectacle.

James returns for his obligatory acoustic bit “Before the others return and tear you a new one” The band would probably not be doing these shows if their future, or rather present didn’t sound so bright. (Dreaming A City) Hugheskova is magnificent. Bass, wailing guitars and drums clash proudly with keyboards to create a cinematic edge. Title track Futurology kicks in a way that it doesn’t quite manage on record. Europa Geht Durch Mich is heavy and very fun. Georgia Ruth makes a surprise appearance for Divine Youth and sings to us beautifully about her “civil wars within”. Though Jame’s chugging guitar overpowers her a little it still sounds spectacular. Requests are playfully rebuked by James: “We’ve just played the whole of The Holy Bible..The Holy Fucking Bible. COME ON!” Fan favourite it may be, but the rare appearance of ‘1985’ makes  it sound energised.

Fittingly, 1994 style we get a short growly version of Last Christmas and of course there are the hits. Not as many as we’re used to though. Motorcycle Emptiness and You Stole The Sun serge with their usual outright euphoria. “MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS” James’s hollers above the feedback on leaving the stage and as the lights go back up The Roundhouse unites in a collective, awestruck “Did that just happen?”. Yes. It really did.

WED 17/12/14

Is The Holy Bible really the most depressing album of all time? The evidence here would dispute that. We go bonkers, jump and shout along to it’s rabid energy. The “No Birds, No Birds, the sky is swollen black” chorus chanted like we were at a football match. Even the spoken intro parts become karaoke. It’s unnerving to hear a mass of people saying in unison things like “I wonder who you think you are, You damn well think you’re God or something. God give life, God taketh it away, not you. I think you are the Devil itself”. Maybe the band will treat us to a rendition of Three Lions. Well, you never know.

After Of Walking Abortion’s voiced intro they have to stop to replace the snare drum due to Sean having already smacked the shit out of it. “My plan is coming together” says a grinning Nicky. Quite simply, I have never heard them sounding as incredible as they do these two nights. So beautifully loud and yet so dramatically evil. An outright assault on our emotions as much as our ears. The Holy Bible set has even more impact on the second night in the same way the album has more relevance than it did twenty years ago.

James returns for his wedding singer moment, dressed in a suit again and bellowing a happy, singalong acoustic version of Show Me The Wonder. It is completely at odds with the hour we have just witnessed and all the greater for it. In place of ‘1985’ tonight we have a version of Postcards From A Young Man that is so grand and performed like never before – finally doing it justice. You guessed it, I was welling up again. As with the night before, James is spinning around like an excited puppy chasing it’s tail and Nicky revels in his role as sole member of the Ministry Of Stupid Stomps. You know you’re in for a good night when this is the case.

Therapy? frontman Andy Cairns is guest guitarist for a frenetic You Love Us after James declares “Let’s go down to the Roundhouse and LET’S GET FUCKING CRAZY!” And we do. We really do. A Design For Life too almost buckles under it’s own weight, combusting with such passion. As James, through a storm of ticker tape lobs Nicky’s bass high in the air he let’s out a knowing smile. It’s partly a look of relief, the weight of all that pressure lifted. We too, once we catch our breath, have that same look. They exceeded anything we felt possible, They’ve not only put the ghosts of The Holy Bible to rest, they “tore it a new one”. They not only tore us a new one – they tore us several. MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS indeed.

MY TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2014

10: Howling Bells – Heartstrings

“I’ve got patience, patience it seems ain’t got time for me”

Their fourth album diverts subtly from their winning formula. What is on show here is a dirtier, grimier sound at one end of the scale and at the other they offer up their most personal slowies to date. The guitar work is as poetic as ever and let’s face it, singer Junieta Stein could sing the dictionary and make it sound beautiful. ‘Possessed clatters about like a temper tantrum, the piano balled of ‘Paper Heart’ will rip your own heart in two (like paper!) and the massive ‘Original Sin’ is sexy as fuck.

9: Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Wunderlust

“Untouched by the hours that fly around us”

 FINALLY Sophie has dropped the disco and set her voice free. Don’t get me wrong, she’s great at that stuff but it’s great to actually have an album that showcases just how beautiful her voice is (and HOT obviously but that’s always been the case). Sure, you could argue this a step into Radio 2 territory but when the songs are this magnificent it can be forgiven. Heavy on orchestra and nods to Russia, the album feels like a big comforting bowl of musical … um.. soup on a winter’s night. Yes. Soup. ‘Young Blood’ and ‘When The Storm Has Blown Over’ are masterful, powerful ballads while ‘The Deer And The Wolf’ feels like a long lost Theaudience song. The hypnotic, beating ’13 China Dolls’ is the closest thing to her back catalogue. All in all it’s Wunderful. Huh? Huh?

8: Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence

“Blessed with beauty and rage”

Despite what you may have heard, this is not an”All men are arseholes” diatribe of an LP. What it is, is heavy, uncomfortable and uncompromising. This is an artist clearly not resting on her laurels. It will likely take a few listens to get a grasp of the intense textures. Lana croons, sometimes almost with a sigh amidst a sea of seedy guitars and an all encompassing sense of foreboding – and it’s glorious.

7: Vulkano – Live Wild Die Free

Formed from the ashes of Those Dancing Days, the Swedish duo Lisa Pyk-Wirstrom and Cissi Efraimsson have cultured a harder edged thrill ride of pounding drums and bass. It’s the power of the rhythm section that first grabs you. – The yodeling, heavy guitar riffs and lyrics of trolls, howling wolves and spiders only add to the albums unique atmosphere. The songs may brood intensely but ‘Vision Tricks’ and the borderline hilarious ‘Jungle’ prove they have not lost their pop edge. A powerful yet fun rock record.

6: Honeyblood – Honeyblood

“All the pain you’ve been through will be the making of you”

The debut from this Glasgow two piece is shot through an air of  glorious naivety. Though influences of grunge, britpop and lo-fi are clearly at play, the aggression is controlled and through some of the melodies there’s even a sixties girl group vibe going on and it’s all the better for it. Shot through with spiky, distorted guitars that battle Stina’s almost saintly voice, and there lies their wonderful contradiction as she sings lines like “Left to the slaughter, fled my own bloodbath” and  “I will hate you forever” with total innocence.  It snarls and kicks and just when you drop your guard, kicks you in the emotional ghoulies with a song like Braid Burn Valley (“another fucking bruise, this one looks just like a rose”). Killer Bangs. Killer tunes. Pure honey. Lot’s of blood.

5: Perkie – Time Machines 

“Fuck you anxiety”

Their are three sides to Perkie at play here (yes, three sides). We have punk attitude from ‘Run’ and ‘Teachers’, introspection in ‘Assertive Anger’ and even the romantic in the likes of ‘Safety Rope’ (“Let fall back into the love we fell out of”). It’s this not wanting to stay still, to just do what feels right that makes Time Machines a thing of wonder. The themes range from anti authority (“I couldn’t conform to your uniform, I’ve got better things to do”) insecurity and a longing for freedom.  At one moment we have punky blasts and the next we’re suddenly in a smoky dark room as Perkie sits at her piano and sings with a crushing intimacy. There’s even anthems, big epic sweeps of beauty in ‘Things That Make Us Different’ and the stunning title track. Fittingly, Time Machines can transport you pretty much anywhere. Please note: Flux Capacitor not included.

4: Sound Of The Sirens – A Long Way To Fall

“Nothing is safe and nothing is sacred”

If you want to be picky then yes, this album was actually released on 23rd December 2013 but by then all the end of year polls had shut up shop early and gone on their Christmas holidays. Plus, who honestly releases a non festive album on Christmas eve eve?! It’s a 2014 album, end of. Scratch that, it’s a timeless album. There’s little in the way of production and no gimmicks at play, the duo of Abbie Martin and Hannah Wood kidnap your heart with beautiful vocals and harmonies then willfully stomp on it with acoustic guitar bashing (usually at the same time). Soulful, fun and utterly compelling. A more apt name for a band their has never been – In Greek mythology Sirens were dangerous seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the coast. Quite frankly, you can consider me marooned and a more than willing victim.

3: Royal Blood – Royal Blood

“There’s no God and I don’t really care”

Royal Blood were much touted at the start of the year by BBC Introducing, the Brighton duo (Bloody duos, coming here taking up my top ten) of Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher have seen their stock rise in recent months. More radio airplay, more column inches and more pressure to deliver. Sure, Royal Blood may be the love child of Queens Of The Stone Age and The White Stripes, presumably conceived by a quicky backstage at Reading festival. They are hardly touching on new ground here either but if these are your quibbles then you have missed the point. They are not claiming to be. This angular ten song assault carries a brashness and confidence rarely heard in debut albums. Royal Blood are a much needed injection of carefree noise among the commercial male solo artist dross. They have looked hype straight in the eyes and deafened it in the ears. Forget all the words written about them – listen to the action.

2: Manic Street Preachers – Futurology

” I am the sky about to fall in, I am the sea about to part, a tiny piece of malcontent”

It is not exactly what was promised but when is it ever when it comes to the Manics? It is neither a”post punk indie disco” or “the final in The Holy Bible trilogy”. Once you get past these blatant lies, what we do have is a band near the peak of their powers, urging forward and challenging themselves when they could easily sit back and switch autopilot on. On each track there seems to be a different mission statement as no two sound alike. ‘Let’s Go To War’ rages that “Working class skeletons lie scattered in museums, and all the false economies speak falsely of your dreams” before a united chanting chorus of bile. ‘Europa Geht Durch Mich’ is filled with a heavy funk of European desires. Yes, the Manics and funk. And it works. ‘Dreaming A City (Hughesovka)’ sees the band in new territory too, it’s a big, dreamy synth and bass orgy.  Lyric wise, Nicky Wire is prone to the odd clunker but this is his most clunker free album to date. Just read “free yourselves from the tyranny of objects, purged of all colour, the purest abstraction” from the gorgeous ‘Black Square’ (inspired by a futurist Russian Opera!) and just marvel. Indeed, who would have thought an album that features so much Nick Nasmyth would be such a classic?  Futurology surprises on all levels.

1: Blood Red Shoes – Blood Red Shoes

“Take a look at it all, isn’t it beautiful? Way too much to ignore”

Here’s a surprise, a duo at number one. Who have the word ‘blood’ in their title. It must be fate. This is what I guess the media might call “a return to form” after what was actually the rather impressive ‘In Time To Voices’, Steven Ansell and Laura-Mary Carter’ have returned to their noisier roots. AND HOW. This is a monster of an album which is an almost incessant barrage of noise which matches the raw power of say, Royal Blood, if not more so. Instrumental opening ‘Welcome Home’ bashes you around the head with such intensity and what follows is a joyful clash of mean, heavy guitar crunches and massive drums as the two take turns on the mic (psyche!). The brilliant ‘An Animal’ has a fun riff but still makes you want to smash things as he arrrogantly protests “Keep me out of this uniform, I don’t know what I’m wearing it for, coiled like a spring I’m ready to explode, yeah I’m an animal that can’t be controlled”. Things get heavier still with ‘The Perfect Mess’, a euphoric grunge explosion that is just so… filthy. ‘Behind A Wall’ and ‘Strangers’ also match the claustrophobic feel of the previous album with that powerhouse, atmospheric wall of sound.  For all the heaviness at it’s core these are solid gold tunes, catchy as hell. It’s loud, it’s proud. It’s my album of the year.  So it can be prouder still. If it cared which it clearly doesn’t. It knows it’s fucking magnificent already.

 

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MSP: WHY I HOPE ‘FUTUROLOGY’ LIVES UP TO ITS TITLE

I have a confession to make. When Manic Street Preachers released Lifeblood in 2004 I was hoping their break up would be imminent. Better that than hobbling on belligerently I thought. It sounded like a band resigned to middle age and after their mediocre, tired performances during the Greatest Hits tour a year earlier I was losing hope. My opinion of Lifeblood has mellowed since although the band’s has actually deteriorated with time but the fact that, to this day it’s the only tour I’ve missed since 1998 says it all.  The band didn’t split but they did have a little break resulting in James and Nicky solo albums. Then in 2007 something happened. You remember 2007 right? Myspace was cool and lots of people genuinely  liked The Feeling. Yes it was that long ago. They came back totally energised as if off their tits on Red Bull and paracetamol. In that time they’ve released four albums and a singles compilation with a fifth nearly upon us. It will be their 12th studio album and has the provisional working title of ‘Futurology’.

What do we know of ‘Futurology’ so far? According to Nicky Wire it is “dark and nasty but it’s also a celebration of the sense of motion” which sounds very positive to these ears (apart from the bit about motion, not a clue what he’s on about there) because I have one issue about my favourite band: Since 2007 they just keep looking back. Hear me out on this one.

SEND AWAY THE TIGERS: From the outset of recording they set out to “Feel what it meant to be into in MSP again”. It worked. Musically they regained their spark and the songs were heavy, confident and lyrically they were referencing influences again. By learning from their past they threw open an exciting future that had seemed unlikely.

JOURNAL FOR PLAGUE LOVERS:  This wasn’t another stage in finding their feet again, they were fully prepared to embrace their past like never before by opening the great mythical Richey Edwards songbook and putting some of his 14 year old poems to music. It was the band exorcising their demons and bravely so – it could easily have been a disaster. The album is a stunning rock record, not a twin to The Holy Bible as such but certainly influenced by it. The band hadn’t sounded so energised and essential for years. The artwork too was a big nod to their past, using a painting by Jenny Saville like they did in 1994 and the subtle use of the same font. Of course, such a big artistic step was greeted by interview upon interview that were all about Richey and his time with the band. Not forgetting the overuse of the word ‘bequeathed’ which, fair enough is a great word.

POSTCARDS FROM A YOUNG MAN: In Manics’ land there seems to be the motto “For every action there is a reaction”. Each new album is a response to the one before and ‘Postcards’ was VERY different, notching up the pop and taking their most anthemic moments and coating them with shameless clean production. Most notably though is that this is the first time the lyrics started to reflect a band yearning for how things used to be – the clue really is in the title.

‘Some Kind Of Nothingness’ talks of being “Still and lonely like an old school photograph” and “future glories all empty of thoughts”. Golden Platitudes laments “What a mess we’ve made / What happened to those days / When everything seemed possible” and more tellingly “Every bit of our youth left with the barest of bones”. ‘A Billion Balconies Facing The Sun’ mocks modern day internet culture, “Who needs patience anymore when all our pleasure’s virtual”. It’s not just music and a loss of innocence that preys on Wire’s mind, All We Make Is Entertainment mourns the death of British industry. I’m in the minority on this one but I’m a huge fan of Postcards, the common mindset of fans being that they lost the plot.

NATIONAL TREASURES: All thirty eight major label singles over two discs. The last two singles were the only ones that didn’t make the top 40 and sensing the sea change National Treasures was released as “a celebration of the punk rock single” knowing that we won’t ever have the likes of these again or certainly not in the same way. Only one concert took place for NT but the press activity was once more all about the band looking back fondly, sarcastically and behind gritted teeth (understandable in this context obviously). The most worrying thing about the interviews was just how much Nicky came across as an old man, while Sean frowned in the background like a pro, his moaning about the state of the charts was all a bit.. how do you say it? *facepalm*

REWIND THE FILM: Does what it says on the tin.The general atmosphere is of time passed and regrets held. The title track is a sentimental longing for simpler times with an accompanying video of an old man retracing his young steps. The other two videos are retro too, ‘Show Me The Wonder’ is set in an old school working men’s club and ‘Anthem For A Lost Cause’ is at the time of the miner’s strikes which will always be the biggest influence on the band, though James has said the song is also about the loss of the chart single.

The opening line of the album is “I don’t want my children to grow up like me” but the most telling line is “How I hate middle age / In between acceptance and rage”. I do like RTF but wish it had gone more down the folk route, gone further into ground they’ve not covered much before. There’s too much of it that’s big sounding and produced like ‘Postcards’. Over half the songs could have slotted easily on the previous album and that’s not like them at all. They are older than they were, that’s how time works, but they are too good to keep on talking about being older. I feel they still  have things to say.

So, back to the new album, a great big lightning bolt of a sentence came from Nicky about ‘Futurology’ describing it as “The Holy Bible’s bedfellow”. I guess it will test my theory one way or another that it’s Richey’s lyrics which give the music an extra drive  and narcissistic edge. Who would have even thought twenty years ago that The Holy Bible would be the first of a trilogy? Another description of the newbie is ‘Post, punk, disco, rock” Frankly, the music isn’t actually the issue although I’ve never agreed with James Bradfield’s theory that there are “only two versions of The Manics”, it does themselves a big disservice. To stop them from becoming a nostalgia (or nostalgic) act the mentality needs to change. It would be nice if they could politicise themselves a little again because in this time of Tories and austerity we need an artist to tell it like it is. That’s probably asking too much but it’s a shame no one is doing it right now when we need it most.

Its been an amazing six years with many highlights, my personal ones being the Camden shows for ‘Journal’ and the incredible O2 arena three hour marathon. It’s only now with ‘Rewind The Film’ that I’ve got a bit bored with this philosophy or is it just a mindset they’re stuck in now? They’ve always had an air of the autobiographical in their lyrics but after six years of gazing earnestly over their shoulders it’s time for them to finally be freed from their memory, to escape their history, HISTORY!

‘FUTUROLOGY’

“The study or forecasting of potential developments, as in science, technology, and society, using current conditions and trends as a point of departure”