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March 28, 2024, 01:45:35 PM

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Manic Street Preachers continue

Started by Mark Steels Stockbroker, February 22, 2018, 08:13:30 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Shaky

Quote from: Spiteface on May 29, 2018, 09:42:50 PM
The two best gigs I've seen them do, were the Swansea date of the PPF tour in 2005 and The Holy Bible 20th Anniversary in Manchester - the latter was just the three of them for the album half and they sounded fantastic. They can pull it off as a trio, yet they don't want to.

I kinda feel like going outside of Wales to see them next time, even though Cardiff/Newport is easier. Big stadium shit like Cardiff Castle or Everything Must Go at Swansea Liberty Stadium just attracts fuckers who really should be going to Stereophonics gigs instead.

Yeah, I think the latter is part of my issue as well. I last saw the band in  in a small venue in Brisbane about 8 years ago and it was full to the brim of braying ex-pats.

Desirable Industrial Unit

Quote from: purlieu on May 28, 2018, 10:52:52 AM
Eh? It's a really popular song.

It's a song that got to number 1 as it was the first single from an album that followed a bit of a breakthrough one.  Nobody seemed to particularly like it at the time - 'Scorpions b-side' is the description that sticks in my mind - but first singles do tend to get a bit of a good-faith sales bump.  I don't think it's terrible or anything, but the only reason it made the cut for a 40 minute set was its chart position, which is also the reason they'll never not play it. 

It's what makes the cut for a short set like this that makes me react a bit badly, I think.  Festival sets are always like an arcade machine on attract mode, you play your most familiar stuff, it's not the time for obscure b-sides and such.  By this point they've released so much mediocre stuff that a full-length set will inevitably just be a case of waiting for the odd diamond in the rough.  I need to accept that they're not for me anymore, I suppose.

Dr Syntax Head

The Manics are truly the greatest 2 piece band ever.

Dr Syntax Head

I can't stop listening to it's all gone. A b-side. It's basic as fuck and real generic Manics but I bloody love it. There's just something pure about it as a song. It's all gone. Yeah James, it has.

Shaky

Quote from: Dr Syntax Head on May 30, 2018, 10:43:17 PM
I can't stop listening to it's all gone. A b-side. It's basic as fuck and real generic Manics but I bloody love it. There's just something pure about it as a song. It's all gone. Yeah James, it has.

Yeah, it's got a lovely icy & intimate vibe. Found that one on Kazaa around 2002 and lines such as, "Sleep the only thing to fill this hole," and "The yawning reality of regret," resonated at the time.

Dr Syntax Head

Quote from: Shaky on May 30, 2018, 11:21:29 PM
Yeah, it's got a lovely icy & intimate vibe. Found that one on Kazaa around 2002 and lines such as, "Sleep the only thing to fill this hole," and "The yawning reality of regret," resonated at the time.

It's kind of classic Manics right? Almost if you were tasked with making a song in the style of the Manics that's what you would come up with. I fucking love it. It's in my top ten Manics songs of all time to be honest. I dunno, it's just the perfect injection of everything the Manics do so well. I've gone all hyperbole, sorry : (

Shaky

I concur to a large degree. It instantly jumped out  when I was on a b-sides hunt years ago but the fact that it stops abruptly takes it down a peg or two for me. Maybe needed some sort of outro but then it wouldn't be quite the same song, I suppose.

Just giving it a whirl again now. That synth is gorgeous.

Dr Syntax Head

Quote from: Shaky on May 30, 2018, 11:52:40 PM
I concur to a large degree. It instantly jumped out  when I was on a b-sides hunt years ago but the fact that it stops abruptly takes it down a peg or two for me. Maybe needed some sort of outro but then it wouldn't be quite the same song, I suppose.

Just giving it a whirl again now. That synth is gorgeous.

Yeah that synth makes it for me. It's such a weird little song. It's like a song that wants to be a great big single but hasn't matured yet or something. My heart is warmed knowing someone else loves that song also.

Dr Syntax Head

That bit in the last verse when JDB sings "feels like it's all gone" is one of my favourite moments in all music ever. I dunno man, it's just perfect.

purlieu

I love all the TBTGOG b-sides, that era is tremendous. It's All Gone is a great song.

MrMrs

Love these lads - right into the juicy younger stuff, right into that oh aye.

Glyn

Far more excited for the teased Know Your Enemy reissue next year than the upcoming Gold Against The Soul set. It's a strange and awkward album at times but that's how I like them. Other than Let Robeson Sing I'd argue that even the songs I dislike on it are at least interesting and trying to do something different. At the time I thought it was as an attempt to redo Generation Terrorists but in retrospect its far more of a White Album/Sandinista.

Jockice

Quote from: Glyn on March 27, 2020, 12:18:37 PM
Far more excited for the teased Know Your Enemy reissue next year than the upcoming Gold Against The Soul set. It's a strange and awkward album at times but that's how I like them. Other than Let Robeson Sing I'd argue that even the songs I dislike on it are at least interesting and trying to do something different. At the time I thought it was as an attempt to redo Generation Terrorists but in retrospect its far more of a White Album/Sandinista.

Possibly my favourite album by them. In a similar way to Sandinista being my favourite Clash collection.

Spiteface

Know Your Enemy is all over the place, which is why I like it.

It's not just following the punky retread of Masses Against the Classes, there's hints of the other side of their catalogue and general throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Ballad of the Bangkok Novotel is still the best track with Nicky wire doing lead vocals, although I like William's Last Words and actually think it wouldn't work with James Dean Bradfield doing it.

Hope they don't pull any revisionist shit on it like they did with Send Away the Tigers and This is My Truth by taking off tracks and replacing them with B-sides.

Glyn

Quote from: Spiteface on March 27, 2020, 06:42:08 PM
Hope they don't pull any revisionist shit on it like they did with Send Away the Tigers and This is My Truth by taking off tracks and replacing them with B-sides.

They've left Gold Against The Soul alone as I assume they have a 'don't fuck about with anything Richey had a hand in' policy but I suspect that the Know Your Enemy reissue will give them chance to package it together as the two albums they originally intended. The heavier tracks all go together quite easily and could make a satisfyingly good, if short, album (chucking in Locust Valley and Ballad of the Bangkok Novotel) but the remainder would be a real mixed bag .

hummingofevil

Hi. Very late to this thread but I am someone who is Welsh (it kinda matters - I am Welsh but hate all flag waving shit including Manics doing it) and adore The Holy Bible but have zero place in my heart for anything else they have ever done. So realising this is a thing as properly tickled my bones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5PI7k_ZiQ0

Top of the Pops. Faster. Have we discussed this before? Its fucking brilliant.

hummingofevil

I watched this a couple of years back. The Cardiff Castle Holy Bible tour. Its so weird. I genuinely think Yes is one of the greatest songs ever written but watching it being reduced to a half-arsed sing along is just odd*. It kinda works when you rememeber the whole tone of that album is one of utter misery and depression but it's still odd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqkG3xsq8_g

That they exist in that weird midworld of a proper rock band and the outsider art band that I used to listen to on my headphones and think they were MINE is fine but for that alone they will always be one of the strangest bands ever to exist. Can't help but love them though.

*With a very bored crowd. Who come to live in second half when they play the hits.

Dr Syntax Head

That appearance on TOTP gained the most complaints of anything on TOTP apparently. I loved seeing that. It was when Holy Bible came out I went from liking the Manics to them being one of my favourite bands.

Know your enemy always reminds me of that really terrible period of music (ya know the travis, star sailor, Coldplay bad times).

Jockice

Quote from: Dr Syntax Head on March 28, 2020, 04:11:31 AM
That appearance on TOTP gained the most complaints of anything on TOTP apparently. I loved seeing that. It was when Holy Bible came out I went from liking the Manics to them being one of my favourite bands.

Know your enemy always reminds me of that really terrible period of music (ya know the travis, star sailor, Coldplay bad times).


Yes, of course terrorists who wear balaclavas always have their first name written across the front...

Spiteface

Quote from: hummingofevil on March 28, 2020, 12:16:41 AM
I watched this a couple of years back. The Cardiff Castle Holy Bible tour. Its so weird. I genuinely think Yes is one of the greatest songs ever written but watching it being reduced to a half-arsed sing along is just odd*. It kinda works when you rememeber the whole tone of that album is one of utter misery and depression but it's still odd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqkG3xsq8_g

That they exist in that weird midworld of a proper rock band and the outsider art band that I used to listen to on my headphones and think they were MINE is fine but for that alone they will always be one of the strangest bands ever to exist. Can't help but love them though.

*With a very bored crowd. Who come to live in second half when they play the hits.

"Be Pure - Be Vigilant - Behave" is a much better document of the Holy Bible anniversary stuff than the BBC coverage of Cardiff. It's taken from the 2014 tour which was all smaller venues and suited the album better. Still up for streaming for a couple of days:

https://www.amam.cymru/kieranevans/504
Also, I was at Cardiff and James had problems with his guitar, during Archives of Pain, right during the solo, of all times for it to happen. I assume that's why it was cut from the BBC broadcast.
I've got the full album portion of the Cardiff gig on my computer and it's still solid, but yeah, the album doesn't suit outdoor gigs in daylight.


banana

Quote from: Spiteface on March 28, 2020, 01:11:04 PM
"Be Pure - Be Vigilant - Behave" is a much better document of the Holy Bible anniversary stuff than the BBC coverage of Cardiff. It's taken from the 2014 tour which was all smaller venues and suited the album better. Still up for streaming for a couple of days:

https://www.amam.cymru/kieranevans/504


That link is broken - do you have the right one please?

Spiteface

You just missed it. Yesterday was the last day for it.

Nothing about a physical release, it seems.


hummingofevil

Quote from: Spiteface on March 28, 2020, 01:11:04 PM
"Be Pure - Be Vigilant - Behave" is a much better document of the Holy Bible anniversary stuff than the BBC coverage of Cardiff. It's taken from the 2014 tour which was all smaller venues and suited the album better. Still up for streaming for a couple of days:

https://www.amam.cymru/kieranevans/504
Also, I was at Cardiff and James had problems with his guitar, during Archives of Pain, right during the solo, of all times for it to happen. I assume that's why it was cut from the BBC broadcast.
I've got the full album portion of the Cardiff gig on my computer and it's still solid, but yeah, the album doesn't suit outdoor gigs in daylight.

Cheers. Will check this out. Edit: Maybe I won't*

*It's been taken down.

purlieu

Quote from: Glyn on March 27, 2020, 08:47:16 PM
They've left Gold Against The Soul alone as I assume they have a 'don't fuck about with anything Richey had a hand in' policy but I suspect that the Know Your Enemy reissue will give them chance to package it together as the two albums they originally intended. The heavier tracks all go together quite easily and could make a satisfyingly good, if short, album (chucking in Locust Valley and Ballad of the Bangkok Novotel) but the remainder would be a real mixed bag .
Yes, Nicky's already suggested he might do it. Which means he almost certainly won't, as every time he says something, the opposite happens (the classic "the follow-up to Lifeblood will be even more electronic," and the recent "I don't know if we'll even do another album," said about ten days before Resistance is Futile was announced).
I don't mind too much as the TIMT and SATT ones were special editions, and the standard versions are still in print with the original tracklists. If you object too much, you can always buy and listen to the original version. It's when the later revision becomes to go-to version that it becomes a real issue (Mike Oldfield's first three albums are only in print as 2009/2010 remixes these days, as an example).

KYE was such a bizarre era in general, nothing about it followed any real logical course, right down to the fact that someone either at Farrow or Sony made the decision that the artwork style was too difficult to read so the later singles scrapped the words-split-over-lines thing. It's too long, frequently badly produced, and too consciously a reaction against the previous two albums, but it manages to be fascinating and frequently very enjoyable. Between the album and its b-sides I can probably make an 11 track record I absolutely love, and although everyone's would be different, I think mine would probably be a very long way from the norm (hint: not a big fan of angst-rock Manics).

Gold Against the Soul is one of my least favourite, but I'm still looking forward to the 2CD version. When it comes down in price a bit. Be nice to have all those b-sides. With the KYE ones no doubt coming out next year, that just leaves the Generation Terrorists ones (would love that 3CD 10" box set... anyone have a spare £200?). And the ones from the '10s, although I doubt they'll ever get deluxe reissues.

Quote from: Spiteface on April 01, 2020, 04:38:17 PM
Nothing about a physical release, it seems.
Kieran Evans did a special documentary about Everything Must Go that's not had a physical release, and a short film for This is My Truth that only ended up on YouTube. I'm wondering whether he's lining up a Manics films boxset or something.

rue the polywhirl

Manics announce fundraiser gig for the NHS and also exclusive free gig for NHS workers. Don't they know people at the NHS have been through enough already?

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/08/manic-street-preachers-announce-free-arena-show-for-nhs-workers

Got mates on my case to go to this. I've seen the Manics a few times - maybe 6 off the top of my head, but this honestly sounds pretty hellish. Imagine there will be a fair old bit of hand wringing and it will be difficult to avoid clapping like seals with the gaze of the crowd upon you.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley


Jockice


Dr Syntax Head


Psmith

I've always wanted to like them being a Taff myself.But they sound clunky and tuneless to me.