Manic Street Preachers - Know Your Enemy
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Free Music Notes for Know Your Enemy
Free Music Review: Quite a disappointment, really...
Hit: 3 Stars
Okay, this album isn't *bad,* exactly, but it's certainly the band's weakest effort to date. Stylistically, they're just all over the map--while each of their previous albums had coherent themes running throughout, this veers off every which way, making for a very disconnected listening experience. Of course, if the individual tracks were all great songs, this would be a forgivable flaw. Sadly, this is not the case. When they try to do the semi-coherent, Holy Biblesque ranting schtick (Intravenous Agnostic, Dead Martyrs, My Guernica), it just sounds hopelessly false. The antithesis of 4 REAL, really. These songs are superficially appealing, but they have no soul, and no real reason to exist. The only song in this vein that sort of works is His Last Painting, with reasonably compelling lyrics and an arresting tune.Then you have Wattsville Blues. I'll grant you, the chorus is kind of appealing, but not enough to save the song from Wire's awful singing voice and ridiculously self-absorbed lyrics. Miss Europa Disco Dancer was actually an interesting idea, but, since god forbid they should ever do something so uncool as disco, we get a muttered chant of 'braindead mothereffers' over the outro. So it's, like, ANTI-disco disco, and, presumably, we're all fools for having enjoyed it. It's a move that shows amazingly poor judgment--I'd have thought better of them, really. And then, there are the songs that make no impression whatsoever: The Convalescent and Epicentre sound sort of okay whilst they play, but ultimately they're really of no use to anyone.
Of course, there is some good here--it's just not as good as most of what they've done before. Found That Soul is kinda loud and fun, Ocean Spray is kinda poignant, Baby Elian and Freedom of Speech... are kinda self-righteously political, but it's difficult to shake the impression that we've seen it all before, and better. Let Robeson Sing and The Year of Purification are somewhat better: they sound eerily like REM, but they're undeniably affecting, even if they're pretty simple musically. So Why So Sad is another relative winner: nothing groundbreaking, but pretty enough. And then there's Royal Correspondent, which is really quite good; if they could have maintained this general tenor throughout, we'd have had quite an album. Lastly, there's a hidden track; it's a cover of McCarthy's We are all Bourgeois now (meaningless trivia fact: this is actually the second time they've covered McCarthy, the first having been Charles Windsor, a b-side on the Life Becoming a Landslide single), and it's undoubtedly the best thing on the disc--mixed praise at best; there are certainly songs on the band's other albums to top it. Bah.
In the end, it isn't a total waste of time, but there's a definite feeling of uncertainty here--as if they aren't quite sure what they want to be doing, and thus aren't really trying as hard as they might for fear that they might inadvertantly commit to the wrong thing. There may well be life in them yet, but this album doesn't to a terribly great job of demonstrating this.
(as another reviewer noted, the b-sides from 'Found That Soul' and 'So Why So Sad' are actually significantly better than most of the album--'Locust Valley,' 'Pedestal,' and 'Ballad of the Bangkok Novotel.' Check 'em out.)
Free Music Review: this complicates things
Hit: 3 Stars
while i was preparing to hear this album, i played the old manics albums non-stop for a week or so. they inspired me all over again, and i would readily admit that they were one of my favorite bands. maybe i set expectations high, but with this band, that's understandable. they've done some really good stuff in the past. "know your enemy" made my euphoric anticipation seem almost foolish. this album is not bad by any means, but it's not exactly groundbreaking or jawdropping. first quip - it's way too long to have any hope of success. it's amazingly difficult to hold a listener's attention for 75 minutes no matter how good a band is. as a result, you'll find a lot of great material chopped up by its weaker counterparts. "found that soul," a refreshingly loud rocker starts the album quite well, infusing an energy akin to that of "sleepflower" on 93's "gold against the soul." it's followed by singer/guitarist james dean bradfield's first lyrical attempt with "ocean spray," what appears to be a touching tribute to his mother passing away from cancer. it's simple but quite powerful. the next couple of tracks are nice, inoffensive numbers, with good lyrics as usual. "so why so sad" is a little overrated, but it's still one of the more distinguished songs here. "intravenous agnostic" hints at an attempt to reconcile the band's hard-punk glory days with the lighter, more orchestral sound of the last two albums. it sounds forced, unnatural. it shatters the cohesion this record could have had. "let robeson sing" is a nice touch, but it's a little childish, at least by manics standards, in its fawning praise of the man. i didn't know him, so maybe he deserves it, but my impression still stands. the rest of the album is a uneasy mix of interesting sounds and a few boring songs. "wattsville blues" poorly utilizes nicky wire's first attempt at singing, and the tinny percussion at the beginning is simply annoying. "miss europa disco dancer" is not the manics' best effort, but they do pull off the funky bass-heavy sound impressively well. however, the songwriting that was so strong in their past albums seems to have dissipated. there's a lot of political material (see "baby elian" and "freedom of speech won't feed my children", essentially attacks on america) but because of the album's weaknesses, they don't really have a resounding effect. it's nothing close to the harrowing sentiments expressed on "the holy bible" or the overpowering and honest ones on "everything must go" and "this is my truth, tell me yours." a good album overall, with some major flaws nonetheless, but certainly not an ideal starting point for a manics collection. let's hope they can right the ship.Free Music Review: The Manics go for something different on this one.
Hit: 3 Stars
I bought this CD the first day it came out here in the States. After the magnificent "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" and the equally stunning "Everything Must Go", I was expecting just as much from "Know Your Enemy".Well, after listening to KYE a couple times, I have to say that this is an altogether different record. Although I haven't listened to albums before EMG, many people have said that this album goes back to the sound of their older days (i.e, "Generation Terrorists", "Gold Against The Soul", "The Holy Bible"). Where TIMTTMY and EMG go for a big dynamic sound (i.e., loud guitars with an orchestra backing them) that constituted their production, KYE has a sound that, for the most part, does away with the brightness and vibrancy you hear in TIMTTMY and EMG. In other words, back to basics you could say...which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
But in any case, there are a couple good tracks on KYE including "Found That Soul", "So Why So Sad", "Intravenous Agnostic", "The Year Of Purification", and "Miss Europa Disco Dancer". "So Why So Sad" has that sixties/Beach Boys influence written all over it while "Miss Europa Disco Dancer" has seventies disco/Bee Gees written all over that (why they decided on seventies disco is beyond me, but it seems to work well here). But probably the most interesting track is "Freedom Of Speech..." where they insult the Dalai Lama (i.e., "We love to kiss the Dalai Lama's a**") and display visible sarcasm towards the Beastie Boys (i.e., "All bow down to the Beastie Boys"). Yeah, fairly interesting stuff.
To sum it up, KYE is still worth a listen. However, if you're looking for a great follow-up to TIMTTMY and EMG, you may be in for a disappointment.
BTW, check out the video for "So Why So Sad" on the Manics' official web site. All I will say is that it's California Dreamin' all gone wrong!(think advancing soldiers on a beach populated with tourists).
BTW (again), the Manics have a live concert DVD available only throughout Europe. You can order it throught amazon.co.uk. However, it's a Region 2 DVD (North America is Region 1). It is titled "Leaving The Twentieth Century...". Highly recommended!
Free Music Review: Where to go from here?
Hit: 3 Stars
"Know Your Enemy" sees the Manics in a sort of identity crisis. Their 2 previous albums "This Is My Truth.." and "Everything Must Go" were wonderfully produced and saw their songwriting at a peak, and were deservedly multi-platinum (in the UK at least.). Commercial success apparently made think they were deserting both their politics and their roots, so the result is an album that sees all their previous styles colliding into a bit of a mess, with Nicky Wire's lyrics becoming more politically confrontational. For the best example of this, look no further then the last track "Freedom Of Speech.." where Wire rejects the US goverment, the British monarchy, and communism, (sample line: "Royalty, hereditary, unelected, becomes just like Stalin, human and useless") with the Dali Llama thrown in for good measure. Doesn't leave much left! The America bashing runs thru most of the album, notably on the song about Elian Gonzalez, and those easily offended should beware. James is still one of the best singers around, and musically things peak early with a number of driving tracks with a variety of moods, and hooks galore. But the second half of the album drags on with barely a memorable moment, with many songs appearing under-produced and under-written, like the otherwise enjoyable "His Last Painting." Repeated listenings do reward the listener, but even then the whole thing adds up to a slightly dissapointing album that's mainly for the hardcore fans (like me!). Still a good album, but one wonders if their next one will see a new direction, or more retreads through their old styles. But the Manics remain at the forefront of British modern-rock, and we're all the better for their presense.Free Music Review: let down
Hit: 3 Stars
The specialness of the musical material from previous albums is missing here. it peeps up at you for a moment in the chorus to 'baby elian' and a couple of others, but generally the melodies and especially the harmonic progressions are surprisingly pedestrian considering what they have been capable of. They sound tired to me, and uninspired. Hey Manics! take a little vacation, but come back refreshed and stronger and make us a better album, ok? found that soul: ok song, good rocker ocean spray: really awful, corny tune, dreaful lyrics, embarrassing intravenous agnostic: rocks, boring so why so sad: not bad, i appreciate the beach boys sound-alike, verse melody is more interesting than the chorus let robeson sing: not too bad, undistinguished music, the middle speaking section is embarrassingly ineffective year of purification: just ok wattsville blues: embarrassing, awful, worse than bad disco: bad bad bad bad bad bad guernica: this one has a spark of musical integrity, but only a spark painting: wake me up when it's over.... epicentre: wake me up etc........ elian: best chorus on the album freedom of speech won't feed my children: i find the title itself offensive, unless i'm missing something. pretty good song, though. royal: just ok did i miss some; i think i did, oh well. oh yes, the encore: we're all bourgeois now: i assume meant sarcastically, as if giving up on their communistic preaching. kind of a nice sing along, otherwise boring. the review is over.