Manic Street Preachers - New Album

Newcastle for me.

Well after first couple of plays of the new album, have to say it sounds great to me.
Hold Me Like A Heaven is fabulous!

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I’ll give it a couple more listens but I have to say so far it sounds like the kind of Manics album I never go back to. I like maybe 4 tracks. It may change, but this is my gut feeling…

I have lost count now on how many Manics records it is since I lost interest. Huge band of my youth, I still see them live occasionally and enjoy them very much, they have aged reasonably gracefully, but they sound like a middle aged Manics tribute band now.

Loved Futurology and thought it was one of their best but Christ that Guardian interview was miserable, so much so you’d swear the writer has a beef with them or something. Just a long barely-edited spiel from The Wire about how awful everything is, really sounded like he couldn’t give a shit anymore. I disagree with him about everything in it.

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Having listened to this all week defo think it’s their 3rd worst album - it’s lyrically pretty ropey (the poetry seems to have gone) and musically too safe - reminds me very much Of Postcards from a Young Man which I was largely disappointed by.

What with the defeatist attitude in the press from Mr Wire, and the lyrical content I would not be surprised if this is their last album and for the first time in the twenty years I’ve been a fan of this band, I would welcome it.

Shame :frowning:

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Knowing what Wire is like, I think that decision is all going to come down to whether this bumps the Greatest Showman soundtrack from #1 this weekend. There was a couple of hundred copies between them yesterday. Lad loves a bit of mainstream validation.

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I’ve really enjoyed the run of albums they’ve been on since Send Away The Tigers, I’ve not really heard the new one yet but I like the singles (I was a fan of Postcards)

I like the album. Not their best, and Futurology was way better, but plenty of good stuff on there.

Well I think it’s a great piece of work. I think it’s a bit too early to start comparing it to previous albums, things always develop with repeated listens and retrospect.

It sounds very brazen yet melancholic and reflective. A lot of it sounds like a response to the ultra conservative shift in global politics (which I anticipated from them) while at the same time trying to be a straightforward pop album (in a good way). International Blue, Dylan & Caitlin and Hold Me Like a Heaven are all excellent.

As it currently stands in 2018, it’s very welcome. Definitely something I want to listen to again. Personally I like it more than Futurology.

Yeah I can’t agree with @midnightpunk on the talent thing but equally I do feel like I never really liked MSP that much but they’re one of those bands that everyone I ever knew of my generation seemed to hold in a much higher regard so I did my best. I have the first four albums and I listened to them a lot but really I only enjoy a bunch of their singles and I really really enjoyed Masses Against the Classes.

I’m always fairly bemused to see they’re still going. The most recent song of theirs I recall hearing was the one with her out of Cardigans or something and it was very very unremarkable.

Expect to hear lot of it if you attend the current tour…

Journal For Plague Lovers, which i think was the album after that, was apparently a return to form (i’ve not listened to it actually), written with old Richey lyrics and recorded with Steve Albini and some sense of purpose. but instead of riding the goodwill for a while i think they followed it up really quickly with another shitty pop album.

Okay gonna check out Journal for Plague Lovers. Let’s see how it handles.

Well I guess this answers the unasked question: “What if Manic Street Preachers sounded like Mclusky’s The Difference Between Me and You is I’m Not on Fire”

(it’s pretty good so far TBF.)

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They almost always do that - alternate a populist attempt to win over (or back) the masses with going for something that will appeal more to critics and hardcore fans (the classes)!

Personally, although they were my favourite band for most of my teens, I then pretty much ignored them from Know Your Enemy to Postcards, excepting JFPL, quite liked Rewind the Film and thought Futurology was one of their best. Of the albums I missed, I’ve listened to them recently and Lifeblood is the only one I can see myself going back to.

Not sure about the new album - I like a few of the songs but it doesn’t really flow as an album. Tracks 7-9 and International Blue are the best, Vivian and Liverpool Revisited probably the worst. Not sure what they were thinking with the chorus to Vivian.

They played Horses Under Starlight last night in Newcastle :open_mouth:

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Was a great gig and well worth the long trip. They should have gone for smaller venues though, if last night’s attendance was anything to go by.

They gave A Song For Departure an airing in Glasgow tonight. Nice.

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Postcards is actually a wonderful album, you fools

A Billion Balconies Facing the Sun is skippable, but the rest of it is actually pretty great stuff

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