Manic Street Preachers

    • Official Post

    Anyone else here a fan of Manic Street Preachers?


    I first heard of them (in Germany) when they did the Everythig Must Go album. I became a fan with This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours (the track Ready For Drowning is still one of my favorites).

    Their best album might be Send Away The Tigers and I also like the new one!


    Rewind The Film was also great.


    Unfortunately I never saw them live so far.


    Thoughts?

  • I like them. I first remember them from the infamous Steve Lamacq interview and Richey Edwards's disturbing self-harming incident. If it was intended to make them visible, it certainly worked with me. I remained not too aware of their music beyond some singles and their controversial appearances on Top Of The Pops eg performing Faster (a favourite track of mine) with JDB wearing an IRA-style balaclava. On one hand I saw it as young musicians' attention-seeking flourishes, which I always think is fair enough - it's on the same spectrum as batwings and flower masks - but did like what I heard.


    I suppose my awareness increased with Edwards's disappearance and then the huge success of Everything Must Go. I kept up with them after that but in the last few years have lost interest, as what I heard started sounding too samey. I saw them twice, first about 12 years ago, they did a tour of smaller venues and I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Then they did a support slot for Doves on a Heavenly Records show, as they released their earliest work on the label, and that was a good show too. For anyone who's ever quite liked them but never seen them play live, I recommend it.


    Their lyrics are often pretty overwrought but they have a knack for shouty hooks and tuneful guitar lines. I think Motorcycle Emptiness is a great song with lovely peaks and valleys of guitar. Probably my favourite album would be The Holy Bible.

    Abandon all reason

  • I quite like them, and having never attended a gig, can't say for sure, but the concert on Sky Arts recently from the late 90's, 3 man era, they didn't impress me as a live band, but as BD says, their songs often work quite well, Motorcycle Emptiness, A design for life, and If you tolerate this are all great BUT with preachy nonsense lyrics, by and large, and another irritant is the drummers lack of imagination. You can pretty much play the same drum pattern for emptiness and tolerate.


    Just back from the town they set their recent video in, Tenby.


    Manic Street Preachers - The Secret He Had Missed (Official Video) ft. Julia Cumming - YouTube

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

  • I was a pretty big fan around the time This Is My Truth came out, and worked backward from there. Richie Edwards brought quite a bit of Syd Barrett mystique to them, topped obviously with his disappearance. A Design for Life was a big hit when I was in school and for me, stood above some of the other stuff in the charts at the time (Oasis and Blur etc).


    They played a lot on the festival circuit around then too (late 90s/early 2000) so I saw them a few times in that context. They always struck me as hard-working, which is maybe not the most noteworthy attribute you want to come away with from a band!


    Same as others, my interest tailed off with the follow up to This Is My Truth as it seemed less interesting, and I never really rediscovered them. Wouldn't be averse to doing so however now that my memory has been prodded.


    Might dig up a bit of Mansun too while I'm at it!

  • Might dig up a bit of Mansun too while I'm at it!

    All of a sudden! Talking about 90s stuff prompted that, I suppose? I still think Wide Open Space is one of the best songs from that period, it does that thing really good songs can do, of having a real feeling of tension. I always liked Take It Easy Chicken as well. I think they were about to go on tour before touring ceased to be.

    Abandon all reason

  • All of a sudden! Talking about 90s stuff prompted that, I suppose? I still think Wide Open Space is one of the best songs from that period, it does that thing really good songs can do, of having a real feeling of tension. I always liked Take It Easy Chicken as well. I think they were about to go on tour before touring ceased to be.

    Yep! They had a really good tune on their album Six too, I think it was called 'Special/Blown It'. Surprised to hear about the potential tour, I thought they were still inert.


    90s was a stellar decade for music IMO, though there's always great music if you're willing to dig around. I just think great music was abundant then and relatively accessible.

  • Never heard of them, might have to check them out.;)

    • Official Post

    The new album is quite good, imo. Although I must admin I do like the rockier side of them more.

  • All of a sudden! Talking about 90s stuff prompted that, I suppose? I still think Wide Open Space is one of the best songs from that period, it does that thing really good songs can do, of having a real feeling of tension. I always liked Take It Easy Chicken as well. I think they were about to go on tour before touring ceased to be.

    I've always liked Little Kix. The Kleptomania set is really good, too. And Paul Draper's solo work is worth checking out. He's been working with The Anchoress, who's also been working with The Manics (and Simple Minds), who's really good. And with Steven Wilson.


    Phil Morris