Manic Street Preachers - Lifeblood
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Free Music Notes for Lifeblood
Free Music Review: You Glorious Bastards
Hit: 5 Stars
Welcome back, Manics. Wow. What a return to form after the so-so KNOW YOUR ENEMY. Geez. Wasn't ready for this amazing, poignant, blissful album. I'm in the minority on this but of their catalog I always liked TIMTTMY best and this is like a beautiful sequel. Pristine, cryastalline, pure. James Dean Bradfield has just the most incredible voice for pop. It's up there with Josh Groban. No kidding. I could listen to either one of them sing a Chili's menu. Okay, so, yeah, buy this album if you're into remarkable pop music with substance. "Solitude Sometimes" might just be my favorite song of the last year -- f*ckin' gorgeous. Let's stay on this course, guys, really. I like the hard and heavy stuff but, come on, we're all getting older and this is the direction you want to stay. Just beautiful music. If America had a friggin' clue music-wise, these guys would be U2 here. Seriously. God I hate American music culture...sigh...Free Music Review: The Manics mature beautifully
Hit: 5 Stars
After 2001's lackluster Know Your Enemy, Manic Street Preachers re-emgered in 2004 with this album of perfectly crafted songs. From front to back, this album is solid and strong. The songs are gorgeous and the production does them all justice. From the opening greatness of 1985 to the somewhat weak Love of Richard Nixon, this album never fails to challenge your ears. Some of my favorites include 1985, Empty Souls, Cardiff Afterlife, and Solitude Sometimes Is. An excellent album and a great return to form for the Manics. They are no longer the angry snots of their youth, and they matured gracefully into elegant rocksters/popsters.Free Music Review: Best in years...
Hit: 5 Stars
This the the Manics best album since Everthing Must Go...a true return to form. (unlike some other high profile over-hyped recent releases I could mention).Buy this - you won't disappointed.
Free Music Review: Stunning
Hit: 5 Stars
I was very stuned with this CD, it passed my expectations. Love it. Buy it.Free Music Review: Great return by the Manics
Hit: 4 Stars
OK, so I'm well over a year late in writing this. I remember how excited I was late in 2004 when my friend Arron came back from London - he happened to be there when this CD was released and brought a copy back to the US for me. After the erracticness of "Know Your Enemy" (which I think, overall, is better than most give it credit for), I was interested to see what direction the Manics would take. While it doesn't have some of the epic highs that previous releases have had, I personally think this is the most consistently listenable "as a whole" album the group has released.
"1985" gets things going in grand style. Being a child of the 80's, references to George Orwell, Nietzsche (yes, he was very much someone worth reading back in my high school and college days), Morrissey and Johnny Marr brought back some memories. The song is one of those powerful openers - I recall cranking the song with the windows down zooming down Queen Anne hill in Seattle the first time I heard it. First single "The Love of Richard Nixon" is a different sound for the Manics, but it works. It's bouncy and lyrically interesting, trying to shed a positive light on one of America's more infamous presidents. Second single "Empty Souls" (along with "To Repel Ghosts") are about the closest things this album has to a burner - nice guitar work by James on both tracks.
The jewels of this CD, in my opinion, are three of the non-single tracks, "A Song for Departure", "Solitude Sometimes Is" and the closer, "Cardiff Afterlife". "A Song for Departure" has a great bass groove by Nicky and lyrically takes us to a place most of us have been at one time or another - the end of a relationship. "Solitude Sometimes Is" is my personal favorite - one of those songs that starts out quietly and builds up to a big ending. Once again, it hits home lyrically - we've all been at a point in our lives where we feel alone be it intentionally or through the events of our lives. I feel this song captures that essence perfectly. The closer, "Cardiff Afterlife", is a thing of beauty with some nice harmonica work.
"Glastnost" has some nice guitar work and is lyrically simple yet profound ("Embrace with us - make your own glastnost"). "Always/Never", "I Live to Fall Asleep" and "Fragments" also add to the overall mood of the CD. The only track that I'm not a huge fan of is "Emily". It's certainly not awful, but it's just kind of there and in my mind also the weakest song lyrically. I'd also agree with some of the other reviews that Sean's drumming on the whole seems to have been pushed to the background. I guess that's justified though when you take a look at the overall "mood" presented here...while it's not my personal prefernce, it makes total sense.
While the CD doesn't reach individual highs such as "Motorcycle Emptiness", "This Is Yesterday" or "A Design for Life" from the past, I think it's right up there, when taken as a whole, with "The Holy Bible" as MSP's most consistently listenable work. Fans of the band already have it - and if you're new to the Manics, this certainly would not be a bad place to start.