Do you really need to know anything about me? It's not as if we'll ever meet. It's pretty obvious ...
Do you really need to know anything about me? It's not as if we'll ever meet. It's pretty obvious what I like if you read my reviews, so what's the pint in me telling you here?
Member since:13.12.2000
Reviews:124
Members who trust:71
With the recent release of Know Your Enemy, I thought it would be nice to look back in time and remember when the Manics were a band that actually had something worthwhile to say and some great songs to sing. Everything Must Go is actually the root of their new-found blandness, coming as a watershed after the disappearance of main lyricist Richey Edwards, but it is almost as good as their finest work and in my view the finest album of all time, The Holy Bible.
1996 was the year, the Tories were into their final year in government (ha ha ha) and girl power was about to explode with the Spice girls. Oasis were at their commercial peak and Britpop was in its last year of sustainable life. That was the scene when I was blown away (not literally) by the Manics’ performance of A Design For Life on the then still fresh TFI Friday (yes, a long time ago). I subsequently bought the single and in the second week of release I mustered enough cash to buy the album.
Everything Must Go seems to begin underwater in the early seconds of Elvis Impersonator, the song reaches the surface when the harp kicks in and explodes out of the water when the electric guitar comes in the chorus.
James Dean Bradfield’s voice sounded stronger than ever before as he roared “All American trilogy / In Lancashire pottery”. I don’t have a clue what this means but it doesn’t matter because the song is just too good. It then proceeds to dive back under the water and mutate into a snippet of the American Southern folk song Dixie.
As that track fades out the supreme single of possibly the entire 1990s begins with the jittery guitar. The strings are far subtler than the bloated ones used in their next LP This Is My Truth… and add to the serene beauty of the verses. Nirvana-esque the distortion hits for the bridge and the chorus. The famous lines “We don’t talk about love / We only want to get drunk” sound all the more sarcastic when viewed along with the excellent video and its snippets from the last night of the proms and its sickening Union flag waving.
Kevin Carter is the next track and at the time sounded unlike any other Manics song. It had a funky ‘70s rhythm. It sounds like James Brown with a political agenda. The track is actually about a Pulitzer Prize winner who photographed a dying child beside a bird of prey but did nothing for the boy. Riddled with guilt, Carter took his own life. The lyrics are typically bleak and superior to most of the rest of the record as they were written by Richey Edwards.
Enola/Alone is possibly the albums weakest link, but the fuzzy guitars have power and Bradfield’s voice is again in excellent form. To say it is weak is far too strong a put-down for a song that would stand out in a lot of other records. It certainly cannot live up to the majesty of the string-laden Everything Must Go. The title track is a true epic and a touching tribute to the band’s missing guitarist.
Richey’s words are again used for Small Black Flowers… Again the lyrics are incredibly bleak in this sparsely recorded song with only a harp and a guitar. The sound was a major departure for the band and still remains a wonderfully touching and bare track.
It’s followed by another almost-funky track with another roaring epic chorus. The Girl That Wanted To Be God. The poignancy of some of the lyrics in this song are very beautiful, especially the line “’Hold Me’, she said. ‘Love me to death’”. Removables is an angry track and it is the song that sounds most like anything off The Holy Bible.
It is followed by another single, the last from the album, the rip-roaring Australia. It is a live favourite and it’s not hard to figure out why with the song’s vitality and energy. It is the closest the band come to their early work in this album, I feel. Interiors is a very different prospect and again sounds quite like a Holy Bible track. The quiet verse-loud chorus formula is again adhered to on this track.
Further Away is like a twin to Enola/Alone but is a superior song in every way. Again the lyrics are touching. “Further away/ Feel it fade into your childhood”. This song is perfectly placed as the second from last track. Again it is energetic but the melancholic words mix in with the sound as usual.
But nothing can surpass what follows. In my review of Bridge Over Troubled Water (no one mention recent covers, PLEASE), I said that the major disappointment was that the finest song ever written is placed at the start of the album rather than the end. On Everything Must Go, the second finest song of all time ends the album to create a wonderful climax.
Music is the most subjective thing in the world, but I cannot put the beauty of the epic No Surface All Feeling into words. It needs no strings to create its sound. It’s just two guitars, a bass and a drum-kit and the chords are simplicity itself. Coincidentally it was the last track the band rehearsed together before Richey disappeared. Again the lyrics (this time from Nicky Wire) are sublime, but I think the finest line “Feel the guilt of a sinner/ Feel the cold of a winter”, was actually stolen from somewhere else. But that is not to take away from the second most wonderful piece of music ever recorded.
Everything Must Go is hated by a lot of the ignorant pack of gothic fans from the Manics early days, but it was loved by critics and new fans alike. It has already reached classic status in many minds and is certainly one of the finest albums of the 1990s in my opinion.
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My God you're here as well as Dooyoo! Writing excellent reviews as well! Love this album but Know your Enemy really rubs me up the wrong way for some strange reason.
adsalamon 28.06.2001 14:20
i think this is my least frav of there albums....no holy bible
thegrinder2k 07.04.2001 19:41
While saying that, I am in no way a goth. I hate gothic music and can't stand the people. That's a bit of a generalistaion, but it's true :)
In coming back after the disappearance of guitarist Richey Edwards,Everything Must Gohad ... more
to be special. Thankfully, the album shows extreme dignity in the face of adversity, with its big, Phil Spector-ish production and the pure lyrical perfection of...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
In coming back after the disappearance of guitarist Richey Edwards,Everything Must Gohad ... more
to be special. Thankfully, the album shows extreme dignity in the face of adversity, with its big, Phil Spector-ish production and the pure lyrical perfection of...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
In coming back after the disappearance of guitarist Richey Edwards, Everything Must Go ... more
had to be special. Thankfully, the album shows extreme dignity in the face of adversity, with its big, Phil Spector-ish production and the pure lyrical perfection...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
In coming back after the disappearance of guitarist Richey Edwards, Everything Must Go ... more
had to be special. Thankfully, the album shows extreme dignity in the face of adversity, with its big, Phil Spector-ish production and the pure lyrical perfection...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier A Design For Life Kevin Carter Enola/Alone ... more
Everything Must Go Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky The Girl Who Wanted To Be God Removables Australia Interiors (Song For Willem De Kooning) Furt...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Polished perfection, Welsh lyrical craftsmenship, Driving rock beats and some mellow wonders, Why the manics are my second fave. band Disadvantages: Nothing except the hauting calling for Richey James Edwards
Apr 2nd, 2001
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