Manic Street Preachers

I was lucky enough to see Manic Street Preachers play Spectators of Suicide at the gig I went to last month. Apparently it had only been played live twice before this tour (at one show in 1986 and another one in 2008)!

 
Wow, I didn't know that the maideny bits were on purpose.

They are also present on some recent songs. This is what James Dean Bradfield had to say about 'Broken Algorithms' off their 2018 album Resistance is Futile (source: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats...ews/manic-street-preachers-new-album-14522473)

James Dean Bradfield said:
Nick handed me two and half pages of A4 taped together and I was like ‘oh thanks cheers’, he laughs. “I read the lyric and I didn’t want to chuck any of it away. It was brilliant. He indulged himself with the lyrics, so I thought f*** it I’m going to indulge myself and go for it musically.

Sean got his Motown Junk self back drumming on that track, with a bit of Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain and Rush drummer Neil Peart thrown in for good measure. There’s no reconciliation in that song, there’s no empathy, there’s just attack, so we thought let’s go for it.

Here's the song with lyrics.

 
Earlier today Manic Street Preachers played at Clwb Ifor Bach, a very small club in Cardiff. The concert is part of the BBC 6 Music festival and can be listened at


Very interesting setlist, with some deep cuts, including songs that had never been played live and others that have been very rarely played live (in some cases the last time was 20+ years ago).

01. Motorcycle Emptiness
02. From Despair To Where
03. His Last Painting
04. You Stole The Sun From My Heart
05. Still Snowing in Sapporo
06. Year Of Purification
07. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
08. Everything Must Go
09. Blank Diary Entry
10. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
11. Methadone Pretty
12. The Secret He Had Missed
13. Spectators Of Suicide (with Gwenno)
14. Borderline (Madonna cover)
15. You Love Us
16. A Design For Life
 
In these days when it seems that so many rock bands are happy to play for an anachronism, it is always worth remembering that others turned the opportunity down (in this case for a concert in 1999 to mark the opening of the national assembly for Wales).

 
Are you agree with this ranking?

In some cases yes, in others not really. :)

This is My Truth, Tell Me Yours and The Ultra Vivid Lament would be higher in my list and Futurology and Gold Against the Soul would be lower. I think their best album is Everything Must Go, but The Holy Bible is a close second.
 
As I promised, here is my ranking:

  1. Send Away the Tigers (2007)
  2. The Holy Bible (1994)
  3. Generation Terrorists (1992)
  4. Everything Must Go (1996)
  5. This is my truth tell me yours (1998)
  6. Gold against the soul (1993)
  7. Resistance is futile (2018)
  8. Futurology (2014)
  9. The Ultra Vivid Lament (2021)
  10. Lifeblood (2004)
  11. Postcards from a Young man (2010)
  12. Journal for Plague Lovers (2009)
  13. Rewind the Film (2013)
  14. Know your enemy (2001)

I really enjoyed with some of the albums that I didn’t listen until now like Send Away the Tigers, Resistance is futile and Futurology.
I think the last albums of the ranking are not necessary bad, but some different, intimate, acoustics…
 
As I promised, here is my ranking:

  1. Send Away the Tigers (2007)
  2. The Holy Bible (1994)
  3. Generation Terrorists (1992)
  4. Everything Must Go (1996)
  5. This is my truth tell me yours (1998)
  6. Gold against the soul (1993)
  7. Resistance is futile (2018)
  8. Futurology (2014)
  9. The Ultra Vivid Lament (2021)
  10. Lifeblood (2004)
  11. Postcards from a Young man (2010)
  12. Journal for Plague Lovers (2009)
  13. Rewind the Film (2013)
  14. Know your enemy (2001)

I really enjoyed with some of the albums that I didn’t listen until now like Send Away the Tigers, Resistance is futile and Futurology.
I think the last albums of the ranking are not necessary bad, but some different, intimate, acoustics…

From the Now Playing thread, today my ranking of their albums would be as follows (the first two are featured on the 1001 Albums you Must Hear Before You Die book by Robert Dimery); tomorrow the ranking could be different, although I do not think the top 3 would change.

1. Everything Must Go (1996)
2. The Holy Bible (1994)
3. Send Away the Tigers (2007)
4. Generation Terrorists (1992)
5. Journal for Plague Lovers (2009)
6. This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (1998)
7. The Ultra Vivid Lament (2021)
8. Resistance is Futile (2018)
9. Postcards from a Young Man (2010)
10. Gold Against the Soul (1993)
11. Rewind the Film (2013)
12. Lifeblood (2004)
13. Futurology (2014)
14. Know Your Enemy (2001)

Either way, even their (relatively) weaker albums contain some superb songs.
 
What about that book? I suppose is written according the musical taste of the author, isn’t it?
Is there a Metal album?
Maybe I’ll buy it

It features contributions from many journalists and it does include many hard rock/metal albums (Maiden has two: the debut album and The Number of the Beast).


I have not checked if all entries match, but I think you can find the list here:

 
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