Lifeblood - Manic Street Preachers

.../> The release of Lifeblood could not have been at a better time after the enormous rock boom of 2003 offering a mass array of superb debut albums from many promising bands 2004 seemed to be a stale and foggy period for original rock music with these promising bands receiving horribly poor reviews and dire success from their second albums such as The Vines and The Datsuns it seemed as if The Libertines on the verge of a messy break up were the only ...
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Lifeblood doesn't waste any time putting the point across that the manics are here to stay and are slowly but surely becoming one of the most exciting bands of the decade. Perhaps the album should have a large sticker slapped across its cover with the warning: May induce the urge to dance like a robot from 1984. The album contains a force to be reckoned with and is by far the most powerful album I've heard this year as i listened ... more

I remember the excitable shock I felt when I switched onto Top of the pops one Friday night by chance to watch the top 10 countdown of the week and seeing the Manics at No.2 narrowly missing out on the no.1 spot with their single 'The love of Richard Nixon' and the video was absolute class.

After the commercial success of the 90's with both Everything must go and This is my truth tell me yours engraving themselves into the musical membranes of the younger generation the manics hit a brick wall at the turn of the millennium with their least favourable album Know your enemy which in all fairness was quite good. The lethargy seemed to have struck the lyrical mind of Nicky Wire which owed to the lack of lyrical perfection on the album with James Dean Bradfield having to take over to produce the moving tribute song to his Mother 'Ocean Spray'. Just as we though the manics were going to crash and burn and catch the millennium bug of death a year or so later they did what all great bands in musical history do, release a 'Best of' and a 'B-side album'. This break provided the Cardiff based trio with the opportunity to feed their musical think tank with fresh influences and a new fresh album to suit the more glossy musical period of the decade.

The greatest hits album of the Manic street preachers aptly titled 'Forever Delayed' was a mass commercial success and the fact that it contained 5 superb unreleased songs make it my personal favourite greatest hits album of all time. The trio's input was a new single 'There by the grace of god' which would feed the curiosity of their fans as to what their new album will sound like and it was mind blowingly superb. I must have played this song over ten times on the day I bought it, it was that exciting and still is. Their B-side album which was released around the same period was over shadowed by the success of 'Forever delayed' which was a damn shame because it was phenomenal and had some superb covers of 'Out of time' by The Stones and Art Garfunkels watership down single 'Bright eyes'.

The release of Lifeblood could not have been at a better time after the enormous rock boom of 2003 offering a mass array of superb debut albums from many promising bands 2004 seemed to be a stale and foggy period for original rock music with these promising bands receiving horribly poor reviews and dire success from their second albums such as The Vines and The Datsuns it seemed as if The Libertines on the verge of a messy break up were the only original rock outfit still growing strong. Lifeblood wasn't a rushed album by any means and although a commercial success and a step up the ladder from Know Your Enemy it would be the bands most mixed opinionated album to date or as the lousy NME critics put it 'A love or hate album'.

The Manic Street Preachers did a superb job to build up and promote the album ever adding to its cd sales worldwide. Seemingly touring effortlessly across the country in practically every major UK City on their 'Lifeblood' tour of 2004, it was a huge success with many shows completely selling out with not surprisingly the Cardiff gig selling out practically at the speed of light.

Lifeblood doesn't waste any time putting the point across that the manics are here to stay and are slowly but surely becoming one of the most exciting bands of the decade. Perhaps the album should have a large sticker slapped across its cover with the warning: May induce the urge to dance like a robot from 1984. The album contains a force to be reckoned with and is by far the most powerful album I've heard this year as i listened to the opening track '1985' about a dozen times before listening to the second song and if it does that it must be pretty superb.

The Manics reach a new peak in lyrical perfection once again and hammer in a big flag saying 'Lifeblood' into it Nicky Wire is the man writing allsorts of weird and wonderful lyrical songs that make your raise your eyebrows and shake your head in disbelief. For instance what a clever song 1985 is it just makes you laugh it's such a simple idea but absolutely breath taking in it's ingenuity here Nicky takes a year and described events from that year and Brad slots it into one hell of a catchy tune try writing you own lyrics based on any year and singing to the same tune and see if it works man it's genius. 'In 1985 Orwell was proved right, Torville and Dean's Bollero, as redundant as a sad welsh chapel' it's absolutely meticulous. 'The love of Richard Nixon' is another clever song while made out to be a poor and evil leader Nicky Wire shows us a new side to him of sensitivity and pity with some superb lyrics 'Richard the third in the White house cowering behind divided curtains, people forget China and your war on cancer' man it's awesome.

The band take a completely new musical direction the guitar solos have been replaced by cunning keyboards and lush tunes the production of Lifeblood is so polished and glossy that it's a very direct album and impossible to put down. You'd be forgiven for thinking James Dean Bradfield had been taking keyboard lessons from Robert Miles when listening to 'Empty Souls' as it has that unearthly tranquil drive with the keyboard that it sounds similar to Robert Miles 'Children'. The band wear their heart on their sleeve on certain songs which are driven by emotions such as the moving 'A song for a departure' and most importantly 'Cardiff afterlife' which is a superb tribute to their lost bandmate Richey James.

The artwork of Lifeblood is rather curious although it seems rather cold and sterile and perhaps more direct and bare than past albums. Know your enemy used a type of sugar paper material to it's booklet and here they change again with a surprisingly laminated feel to it's pages which did raise my eyebrows in surprise. The first thing that hits you when you turn the page is the one quote on the second page: 'Conquer yourself rather than the world' Descartes. This is clever by the Manics the feel of the booklet immediately grabs your attention and the quote is so thought provoking it makes you feel that it's enough you don't need the photo gallery's and famous quote after quote from their preceding albums to make you put that cd into the drive and turn up the volume you just did it!

1985 is typical of the Manic Street Preachers, a phenomenal opening track setting the stage for the rest of the songs it more than opens the curtains and turns on the spotlight it's as if it's a strobe light and the chorus is a disco silver ball making that head sway and those arms rock to the beat. The song starts at a slow pace recorded on low volume so when Brad's voice which is recorded on a much higher volume enters in the difference in volume is a pleasant shock it really is quite clever. 'In 1985 friends were made for life, Morrissey and Marr gave me choice, Orwell was proved right, Torville and Dean's bollero, as redundant as a sad Welsh chapel' stunning lyrics absolute class. The chorus is again amazing 'So god is dead like Nietzsche said, superstition is all we have left' put in such a dancing polished 80's musical outfit together with Brad's voice in monotone make you rock your head and dance around the room, what a song!

The love of Richard Nixon is genius it's just pure lyrical perfection. A great bassline and an almost drum machine like beat from Sean's drums open the song together with awesome lyrics 'The world on your shoulders, the love of your mother, the fear of the future, the best years behind you, the world is getting older' open the song with an immense drive which flow into a great chorus at the same speed 'The love of Richard Nixon, death without assassination, yeah they all betrayed you' with a fab. melodic keyboard flow. The gem of the song has to be the midway synthesiser solo which leads into the sublime ending lyrics 'People forget China, and your war on cancer', such a shame it missed out on a UK No.1 because it's superb.

Empty souls is very reminiscent of Robert Miles's 'Children' song the keyboard melody is so originally classy. The melody hits a new peak on the album but the lyrics aren't up to par as the last two preceding songs and seems to lack the energy of addiction it's one of the few songs on the album that don't have that drive and addictive sound to make you want to listen again and again I'm afraid it's hard to get excited about this song and it's a shame they released it as a single instead of 'To repel ghosts', but a good effort of improvisation.

A song for departure is one of the more emotional and moving songs on the album and it's superb both musically and lyrically. 'And all the masks I carry on my face, for you for another some calm and then some grace'. I adore the way the song begins it's as if the opening notes express feelings of their own it's superb the tune of the album and the drive is there. The hidden synthesiser experimentals in the background are truly worth a listen. The song starts as if you imagine yourself listening to it on the train looking out of the window watching the world pass you by it's so dreamy. Brad sings the versus so emotionally it almost makes you shake your head in pity as if the song is about a journey we never want to make to leave behind everything we know and never return!

Another great song 'I live to fall asleep' is much less driven by synthesisers and more subtly driven by a classical piano 'When did you decide that sleep could save your life' I get the impression that it's a homage to love struck suicide in teenagers 'Drink has never dulled a pain so deep, chuck down all the pills needed to remember how and why to live' it's pure lyrical perfection and it's such a tragic song once your imagination gets around the meaning of the song and the moving piano melody.

Ahhh my personal favourite song on the album 'To repel ghosts' is extremely addictive and is by far one of the most exciting manics songs I've heard since 'Why so sad' and 'There by the grace of god' it's awesome and no doubt another tribute to Richey. Man I could never stop dancing and singing to this tune it's so catchy. The song starts with such a magmatic creep and explodes into the drive of Moore's drums which has to be said are phenomenal. The chorus is pure sweet musical perfection that's so intense that when Moore's drumming repeatedly smacks down on the symbol your mind goes mad hehe well it does man. Lyrics again perfect 'Build bridges and not roads, make love make hate make war' which explodes into a solo of crashing drums and synthesised brilliance, sweet sweet music we want more!

Emily is another one of the best songs on the album the start is so subtle yet the chorus is magmatic it's another song that makes you sway and sing and is extremely addictive it's not hard to get excited about this song. The messing around and discovery of all these weird and wonderful sound effects will prove to be a real treat for fans for upcoming albums man who knows they may turn into the Welsh Pink Floyd hehe. The solo tune is to die for towards the coda. 'It's what you forget that kills you, it's what you remember that makes you', 'We used to have answers now we have only questions' is such a clever lyric by Wire which best sums up the bands future and present status as if they are forever learning more and more about music and themselves.

Glasnost I'm sure many of you more older ciao members will know was one of Mikhail Gorbachev's political policies simply meaning 'Freedom of speech and expression' which partly lead to the break up of the Soviet union. 'When did life get so complicated, makes life slower, stop life growing, embrace us - With your own Glasnost' again one of the best offerings of this superb album and their only political input into the album, the song has a phenomenal keyboard solo towards the end which is worth sticking around for.

Always/Never along with the next two songs don't appeal to me much it has to be said judging by their lyrical content and length these three songs are more like fillers but it's worth sticking around for the phenomenal Cardiff Afterlife closing track. Always/Never is more of an experimental song and it's main input is a great set of tunes it would make a great instrumental without the lyrics although their is a long magical tune towards the end.

Solitude sometimes is starts rather promisingly the lyrics are an improvement from always/never 'If black were truly black not grey, it might provide some depth to pray, to black out all the world's of men'. Actually listening to it now it's not a bad song it's worth giving it a chance like most songs of course it has a Xylophone like enchanting melody that flows along the song which is lovely.

Fragments again starts superbly and is a superb song like 'A song for a departure' it's sang in a very tender voice and the song itself is extremely constructive, the backing tune is immensely superb. There's even a hint of David Gilmour like sensual guitar playing it's extremely mellow and relaxing as a song.

Cardiff Afterlife is absolutely phenomenal it has to be said it takes a few listens to adjust to it but it's awesome. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that it's a tribute song to fallen idol Richey James 'If the love between us has faded away, left in the rain scratching at the stains, I must give up on this it makes no sense at all in the Cardiff afterlife we sensed the breaking of our lives' sweet lyrical craftsmanship. The song has a carrying melody which stutters quite eerily after each 'in the Cardiff afterlife' line Brad sings to perfection it really is a weird song and has a perverse nuance from each of the peculiar sound effects used. The song ends in quite literally a full stop as if 'that's enough said' as if the amp cable has been axed it really is a great closing song to what is an underrated masterpiece from the Welsh trio!

In conclusion this really is an underrated masterpiece and a positive new Placebo like change in musical direction the lyrics are top notch and the keyboards don't disappoint. I bought this album for only £3 brand new in a shop in Cardiff and it's definitely worth the extremely cheap price on amazon and I noticed it on sale at Music zone also. There has never been a better time to get into the Manic Street Preachers with all the cd's going dirt cheap on amazon and this album is a huge step up from Know your enemy. There is a new manics album planned to be released early next year and James Dean Bradfield's solo album should be out soon for a listen to his new single go to www.manics.co.uk and click the link to his MySpace profile it's superb, and for all you lucky sods who got tickets for V festival tell me how great he was hehe.

Track Listing:

1) 1985
2) The Love Of Richard Nixon
3) Empty Souls
4) A Song For A Departure
5) I Live To Fall Asleep
6) To Repel Ghosts
7) Emily
8) Glasnost
9) Always / Never
10) Solitude Sometimes Is
11) Fragments
12) Cardiff Afterlife

Websites:

www.manics.co.uk

http://www.myspace.com/jamesdeanbradfield

 

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