Everything Must Go - Manic Street Preachers

...get the review goin eh. Everything Must Go is an album made around the turbulent division of the band when lead lyricist Richey Manic mysteriously disappeared in 1995 on the eve of US tour. Almost half of the albums material was produced before the disappearance songs like 'Kevin Carter'. After a period of intense mourning the band decided to ask Richeys parents for the permission to carry on as a three piece and thankfully they agreed. I fell that ...
...the bands change in direction. Everything Must Go drew influences from Art in the song 'Interiors' and one of the most moving songs he manics have produced 'Small black flowers that grow in the sky'. The order of the songs have been placed with precissional perfection sprouting rock ballads in between mellow musical craftsmanship. For instance Small black flowers drives straight into 'The girl who wanted to be god' which is one hell of a classic ... more

I recall renting this album as a tape from the local library those were the days where you could borrow any tape or cd on your library card for 50p or so, I set straight to work on the task of copying it onto a blank tape with the help of my sister and it became my most listened to tape back then pure musical perfection in every sense of the word. I recall this album being on the jukebox inside the climbing wall at Plas-Y-Brenin outdoor centre in Capel Curig I always used to go there because being a member of the Chester Mountaineering Club we got great discounts on the gear as well as the walls. Nothin like having the room to yourself playing 'Australia' full blast traversing around the room to the beat, hell I remember somehow making my way around the fire escape on a 'chimney' type climbing technique. I remember that the song I really wanted to put on was a song i didn't know it's name of so you could imagine my frustration when time after time I put the wrong tune on. This jukebox was absolutely free of charge it was amazing stuff the opening track on the album 'Elvis impersonator on Blackpool pier' starts in with sea waves splashing along the shores as if this refreshed my energy to start the mammoth task of traversing around the 5ft Arc on a monkey like pose man that climb was solid.

Nothin like a bit of personal nostalgia to get the review goin eh. Everything Must Go is an album made around the turbulent division of the band when lead lyricist Richey Manic mysteriously disappeared in 1995 on the eve of US tour. Almost half of the albums material was produced before the disappearance songs like 'Kevin Carter'. After a period of intense mourning the band decided to ask Richeys parents for the permission to carry on as a three piece and thankfully they agreed. I fell that the cover of the album is very clever the way Sean Moore and Nicky Wire are looking towards leadman James Dean Bradfield for a sense of direction as if brooding their loss which I feel is quite apt along with the reviews title 'From despair to where?' this album is where the bands talent took them and produced one of the most critically acclaimed rock albums of the 1990's which was voted best album by NME in 1996 I think.

The global success of 'The holy bible' which was the manics third album became an instant hit and is by far the most underrated album I've heard and is arguably one of the best albums ever made. While the album drew slightly more darker influences such as a line from '1984' at the start of the song 'Faster' and many songs about Richey's childhood, anorexia and depression also a song primarily centred around the Holocaust and Auschwitz / Treblinka. The bands fresh start needed fresher influenced more suited to the bands change in direction. Everything Must Go drew influences from Art in the song 'Interiors' and one of the most moving songs he manics have produced 'Small black flowers that grow in the sky'. The order of the songs have been placed with precissional perfection sprouting rock ballads in between mellow musical craftsmanship. For instance Small black flowers drives straight into 'The girl who wanted to be god' which is one hell of a classic manics style song with a typical James Dean abusing his guitar to produce some deranged classy melodies the song is perhaps similar to 'Nobody loved you' from the manics next album.

What holds this album to it's reputation is the complete initial difference in the bands music, the connection between the bands elements is extremely solid, Nicky Wire does a fab job replacing Richey on lead lyricist and produced the phenomenal 'A design for life' the band has long evolved from the creep of the opening track to the distorted perfection of the guitar solos on the closing track. The journey taken from opening to closing tracks is witness to the depletion of the bands former influences to the more intellectual directly polished feel of the album.

The lyrics of the album are much more mature to those of the likes of revol from the holy bible and Nicky does a splendid job to produce some solid lyrical perfection to the other half of the album not written by Richey. Take 'A design for life' the lyrics are awesome the lyrics from the first line make you witness to something special 'Libraries gave us power, then work came and made us free' the drive of the lyrics of the song is superb. On 'The girl who wanted to be god' an amazing bit of prose 'There are no sunsets just silence, you could see that she was true and faithless, but see through the future and forget all the lies, black out the words for the blind have eyes' which portrays the life of Sylvia Plath and Kevin Carter is a phenomenal story about the war photographer.

The album was a Phill Spectre style of polished production and much of the early bravado and make up from the Holy Bible period have much evaporated. The bands direction is merely a transition between the punk stylings of 'The clash wannabe' image to the mainstream of Indie. 'A design for life' did narrowly miss out on the UK No.1 spot unfortunately but the album and its contents were critically acclaimed on a global scale.

As for the albums artwork it has much less thrusting interest and curiosity than the brilliance of the 'Holy bible' with it's picture on each songs lyrics and various pictures of religious artwork no doubt taken from Welsh chapels. Everything must go has a folded sequence of pages rather than a booklet and they have gone back to their first albums style of artwork in a way by placing interesting quotes from famous figureheads in the world of art and music the other side has a nice format of a one line personal description beneath each songs title. And of course the most important and realistically vital part, the lyrics are all included for the joy to sing along to these anthemic wonders.

The album has one of the most courageous starts in terms of atmospheric brilliance, the sound effects hit a new peak in musical perfectionism for the trio as the song silently creeps into a phenomenal set of acoustic chords. Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier has that immense harp sound which is the wonder and the magic behind this albums brilliance. James Deans voice sounds much more mature but exciting than before and his voice has adjusted nicely to the new musical direction. The acoustic intro follows into the lovely chorus of distortion placed nicely with harps and duel vocals. The gem on this song is midway through the absolute class of the guitar solo the brilliance of it together with some top notch harps make this a phenomenal intro.

A design for life perhaps the manics most famous song strides nicely in with wonderful timing and orchestral precission. The bands heavy guitars and screeching vocals have been replaced by a more classy additions such as violins. The best thing about the song is the rhythm, which has that 'Phantom of the opera' style eerieness to it the way the bass goes up and down in constant motion. The flow of the song is kept together by the small strings orchestra of violins and violas the constant tremolo created by the guitar plus bass is superb a true 90's anthem.

Kevin Carter is the a work of art for me Sean Moores trumpet and the awesome chord strummings from James flowing up and down the scales with unsuspecting melodic solos. Sean Moores trumpet solo midway is the absolute gem of this song the way it just so smoothly flows along is well superb. James/Wire vocals again give that trademark manics sound of 'oooohhh and ahhhhh's'. It's these two things that make this album one of the greats of the 90's the way each song has various trinkets of solos at midway leaving the listener in dying desperation to listen to these wonders and James/Wires duel vocals are to die for.

Enola /Alone is a true rock melody and was perhaps my fave. song when i first got into this album as a kid. The chorus is absolutely mind blowing the polished perfection of the distortion and overdrive on the guitar develops a nice fuzz to the song together with the experimentals of James beautiful voice result in complete shiny brilliance and yep here's another superb guitar solo well two actually the last one is truly awesome this is what I call music sob so beautiful.

The title track everything must go has that orchestral sound similar to a design for life but with a more fast paced melody. The strings of the violins flow this song into a streamy style song of a set of driving beats and experimental melodies.

Small black flowers that grow in the sky is one of my fave manics songs it's so beautiful it is an absolute mellow gem. The guitar melody is extremely mellow and quietly orchestrated and the alternating tone along with the ever changing melancholic tone in James Deans voice produce acoustic superiority over the heavy tunes. The harp is the magic on the song and is the beautiful driving flow to the melancholic tone of the song, the song is clearly a Richey Manic influence.

The song strides suddenly into the driving creep of the girl who wanted to be god, which portrays the life of Sylvia Plath. The songs that were missing something from the rawness and bare sound from their earlier albums has certainly been filled by this orchestral brilliance. The guitars have upped the tempo and produced a fine fast rhythmic masterpiece.

Removables is one of those rarities in music which has that guitar rhythm like that of songs like Radioheads 'Just' it has that hidden drive with the use of 4 low power chords kept low key to produce that acoustic heavy introduction to a song. The slur of the vocals drag the chords into the rocky chorus which mixes a collage of strings into perfect distortion, it really is quite idealistic for a midpoint in the album, the song drifts nicely to a halt before exploding into Australia.

Australia is a true piece of evolved rock for this trio, a ballad to end all ballads. Perhaps the manics most famous rock anthem it really is historic in terms of musical showmanship. The most melting flow of the song is the ooooooh duelled with Wire's vocals that slur the words Australia through the chorus's a wonderful sound effect defined by the manics. The raw explosion that the song bursts into view is such a top notch driving beat and the guitar soloings are engineered to perfection by James Dean's guitar. Australia is much more evolved and polished as a rock anthem compared with the likes of Revol. from the Holy Bible and defines their progression from punk to Indie.

Interiors (Song for Willem de Kooning) is one of the gems this album has to offer a true piece of art and a fab tribute to the painter de Kooning who I must say has painted some masterpieces this song drew me to seek some of his paintings out but I'm hopeless at art but I'm a grade A student at doodling in lectures lol. The start of the song is superb it has a classic edge a stalling drive, which releases itself into a fab chorus with some amazing guitarwork. The gem of the song is the build up to the chorus a climbing tone produced by the chords plus the drive of Bradfields vocals and yep like many of the songs on this album it has a midpoint guitar solo which is kept so nicely at low pitch to produce an awesome sound together with Wire's bass solo, 'Are we too tired to understand' utters James as the song collides nicely into 'Further away'.

'The happier i get when I'm with you the harder it gets when I am alone' cry's Brad as the song progresses with a mix of vocal/guitar perfection, the song has a perverse feel to it which is unsimilar to the other songs as it doesn't progress, a steady rhythm and blend of guitars and vocals is constantly obtained. It's probably my least listened to song on the album but it's worth hanging around for the guitar solo towards the end.

No surface all feeling is one of my favourite songs on the album if not my favourite. The opening guitar arrangement is to die for and raised my eyebrows when I first heard it and I immediately set to work learning the melody on my electric guitar. The melody has an intoxicating drive as it blossoms into a nice fuzz, the lyrics are extremely thought provoking 'Just take a look at the whites of my eyes, what's the point in all this lookin back when all you see is more and more junk'. The song has a personal description to it from the lyricist and is no doubt another calling from Richeys past, the chorus is astonishingly phenomenal the high pitched alternating guitar melody together with the soft cry of Brads vocals pave the way for the guitar solo which defines the coda to this album of musical superiority and perfection.

In conclusion the progression from punk to the Indie mainstream has paid off superbly, this is one of the most important albums made in the 1990's and along with 'The Holy Bible' deserves to be in everyone's music collection. The loss of bandmate Richey has caused the band to evolve from political angst and anthemic beats and as the main focus of the public's attention has disappeared their love and interest in the manics has only increased. Revolution has changed to evolution and with the musical showmanship and absolute phenomenal tunes contained within this album is a work of art and is WHAT only 49p used on amazon at the moment my oh my that's a bargain it's well worth that. The manics go from despair to musical perfection in classy intellectual Indie genius and produce an album worthy of a place in the top musical archives.
 

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