MSP/Lifeblood - review
Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 9:58 am
Lifeblood ? Manic Street Preachers
Downloaded this yesterday and spent last night listening to it. I won?t say too much because you?ll be hearing a lot about it soon.
However, whereas most bands on their seventh album are, metaphorically, being given bed baths and trying not to swallow their teeth, the Manics return with what could easily be a boisterous third album. It?s all brio, assurance, and songs to die for (and if a song isn?t nailing itself to your memory immediately it?s because the song before it is still doing just that). All of it is excellent, but there are several moments were it leaves earth and enters the realms. Witness Glasnost; vast AOR chords, soul chorus, Gilmour-esque spaced-out solo, all with a Beatles brevity. It could be their most perfect three minutes, and the gorgeous I Live To Fall Asleep is so Fleetwood Mac-tastic I thought I might die happy. A Song For Departure is the greatest record Steps never made.
Yes, there is a strong element of 80?s artifice about it (New Order/U2/Bowie/Smiths/Jacko?) but they sound more at ease here than they?ve done for years. They always hated indie, remember, which is why it?s as heartfelt an album as they could make. Listen closely, and you might possibly hear someone finally being laid to rest.
It?s been ages since I?ve heard an album that made me want to hit repeat after every track, but this did just that. After the contrived, misfiring Know Your Enemy, they needed a comeback to succeed on both commercial and artistic levels. 'Elegiac pop' was the intention, and here it is - the pefect soundtrack to a cloudless autumn. Lovely.
Look out Keane, Snow Patrol etc. ? the old boys are back in town.
Downloaded this yesterday and spent last night listening to it. I won?t say too much because you?ll be hearing a lot about it soon.
However, whereas most bands on their seventh album are, metaphorically, being given bed baths and trying not to swallow their teeth, the Manics return with what could easily be a boisterous third album. It?s all brio, assurance, and songs to die for (and if a song isn?t nailing itself to your memory immediately it?s because the song before it is still doing just that). All of it is excellent, but there are several moments were it leaves earth and enters the realms. Witness Glasnost; vast AOR chords, soul chorus, Gilmour-esque spaced-out solo, all with a Beatles brevity. It could be their most perfect three minutes, and the gorgeous I Live To Fall Asleep is so Fleetwood Mac-tastic I thought I might die happy. A Song For Departure is the greatest record Steps never made.
Yes, there is a strong element of 80?s artifice about it (New Order/U2/Bowie/Smiths/Jacko?) but they sound more at ease here than they?ve done for years. They always hated indie, remember, which is why it?s as heartfelt an album as they could make. Listen closely, and you might possibly hear someone finally being laid to rest.
It?s been ages since I?ve heard an album that made me want to hit repeat after every track, but this did just that. After the contrived, misfiring Know Your Enemy, they needed a comeback to succeed on both commercial and artistic levels. 'Elegiac pop' was the intention, and here it is - the pefect soundtrack to a cloudless autumn. Lovely.
Look out Keane, Snow Patrol etc. ? the old boys are back in town.