Manic Street Preachers - Tracks - Poll

So yeah, figured as we recently had the Blur poll, then over to the US for a Pavement i'd bring it back to our side for a Manics poll. My other reasoning i'll give below!

So again identical set-up to the last two and i'm also copying the rules verbatim (cheers):

No need for nominations, just pick your favourite Manic Street Preachers tracks from any of the albums or singles or whatever.

Choose your top twenty tracks and they'll score as follows:
1:40, 2:36, 3:33, 4:30, 5:28, 6:26, 7:25, 8:24, 9:23, 10:22, 11:21, 12:20, 13:19, 14:18, 15:17, 16:16, 17:15, 18:14, 19:13, 20:12.

Please send your ballot to: runoutgroove (AT) hotmail.com (except obviously without the spaces and using the @ symbol) by June 22 (that's a week from tomorrow).

In the meantime, use this thread for bigging up tracks you want people to vote for.

Okay so started this poll for a few reasons - one that I like to revisit them every few years as my reactions always seem to be changing. They were once a massive massive thing for me - probably the band that really made me a huge music fan and thus pointed my life in the direction it's still going in. 5 years or so back when I was a BLOGGER I reviewed all of their old albums and despite the fairly shitty writing the intro here:

http://jamiesrunoutgroove.blogspot.com/2006/07/mp3-manic-street-preachers-discography_09.html

which I guess is still a decentish introduction for people who have no idea who the band are...

As is this documentary if you have the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Hgnbs8EI4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUoDDbi31h8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQRtZeDc7vw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SIOUBhUCwc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRymxrXezBk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4wbMY5YMS4

Other reasons for the poll:

A hugely varied discography, containing some of the best pop songs of all time and some of the most dire.
Lots of great b-sides.
People can lol at the Britishers.

and i'll also post a nice bside which i've always been a big fan of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7YJfLLNgk0

I love the Manics. I'll do this poll.

have to say I haven't massively enjoyed one of their albums for a while. I actually rate Lifeblood as the best out of the last four; really REALLY couldn't get the big love for Plague Lovers which just felt awkward and odd to me.

also feels odd now that there more than twice as many non Richey albums as Richey ones

liked them up as far as "everything must go". twenty songs might be a bit of a stretch though....

Woah, madness. Plague Lovers is their second best album afaic.

I'll have to listen to Postcards, Lifeblood and, er, the Tigers one again before I do this.

yeah I guess i should too, maybe i'll change my mind. I just recall the Nicky sung track making me want to die. forever. and also feeling that making Everything Must Go (which I can now listen to without it feeling overplayed and really really enjoy it) was a far braver move at the time than Plague, which felt a little tactless and maybe hinted of desperation?

'plague' was incredible and made me a fan again after years of uneasy-affection/pretend-indifference to them. they were my favorite band for all the years that having a favorite band really matters, and they certainly had a bigger influence on my non-music interests than any other band (i set out to read all of that 'richey reading list' starting at 16 and think i got through all of them save maybe 3 or 4).

I interviewed the band extensively around Plague Lovers (once for The Quietus if you're interested) and I certainly got the impression that they'd spent years fretting over whether to do this or not. But the fact that he gave them all of these lyrics, typed up in a folder, just days before disappearing suggests that this is what they were intended for. Plus the fact is, if they had have used entirely Richie lyrics on Everything bar just one song, no one would have said anything. I think by waiting for 15-years they showed amazing restraint and tact.

You can accuse them of a lot of things but not thinking things through isn't one of them.

oh i beg to differ sir. i beg to differ

http://alternative.allmybands.de/img/band/diskografie/manic_street_preachers_2992_xxl.png

Done and sent. That was a pleasant hour. They do have an extraordinary amount of quality material - I could've done a top fifty no problem, and that's with having paid them almost no heed for nigh-on fifteen years now. Would be the easiest thing to just put up The Holy Bible and seven others, but I resisted the temptation.

(what was the reading list btw, and what age were you when you tackled it?)

XP: Touche!

this maybe? http://www.richeyedwards.net/richeybooks.html

I know I tried to read all of the ones quoted in the Generation Terrorists liner notes.

speaking of which another definite inclusion for me, which also has a megafun video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM3N54avEQc

i am

stronger than mensa

miller and mailer

i spat out plath and pinter

2 lovely ballots in so far - only 6 shared tracks between them and some interesting inclusions/exclusions, plus one of my fave bsides in there too

and to end the night for me here's another really good bside that really stands out from the rest of the band's catalogue (no youtube annoyingly) - from the Kevin Carter single which was my first ever Manics purchase

http://www.we7.com/#/song/Manic-Street-Preachers/Horses-Under-Starlight

yep, that's the one! i still remember finding it and rushing to look all those books up on amazon. i'm pretty sure i can date the start of my interest in reading (beyond comics and biographies of the beatles) to that moment.

i missed more than i thought i did, actually: i didn't get to tanizaki, mishima, genet, dennis cooper, lowry, mirbeau, or brodkey. but still lots of incredible books i probably wouldn't have read otherwise: three fairly obscure williams plays, 'no longer human,' 'prick up your ears,' laing's 'knots'...

i suppose they did for me what morrissey did for a slightly earlier generation, tho the manics' cultural interests seem more diverse and worldly to me than moz's (tho i love kitchen sink drama and girl groups as much as anyone alive).

I will totally do one - maybe the only Canadian ballot...

fave b-side I'm too lazy to youtube: "Black Holes for the Young." (also, "Never Want Again" is great.) 20 picks maximum is going to be tough.

I'm curious to see how many Americans vote in this poll. I've been a fan of this band for a long time but I can honestly say I have never met another person here who has even heard of them.

yeah, i've maybe met three people at most who've even heard of them. was bummed i missed their u.s. tour a few years ago; i can't imagine they'll be back any time soon.

sent!

track breakdown for me:

GT: 1
GATS: 2
THB: 4
EMG: 3
TIMTTMY: 2
KYE: 2
JFPL: 2
other albums: 0
B-sides, etc.: 4

They play arenas in the UK, right? Over here they would have to open for Gene Loves Jezebel. They're completely obscure.

As an American with zero media exposure to this band, I've only heard the music and know very little of their public personas. They seem to be political, but a little incoherent about it amirite? That's why people hate Know Your Enemy, which going just by the music is my favorite, right along with Journal for Plague Lovers.

Can we vote for the James Dean Bradfield solo song, That's No Way To Tell A Lie? Somebody please tell me how that wasn't a hit. Holy mackerel that's a killer tune!!!!

I only know Holy Bible, so not voting, but I am in full
support of Ilx 90s rock poll mania. Looking forward to the results of this one.

I'd say watching the documentary I posted in the first post is a good potted history... Know Your Enemy was sort of a return to more political stuff after a few albums where it took less precedence. Personally I liked it but thought it was a little long.

Yes they used to play mostly arenas, nowadays it's slightly smaller but they can still do a three night sold out run at Brixton Academy which is 4000 per night, so still a big and varied following despite the commercial dropoff.

Having been hopelessly ill-equipped to vote in the Pavement poll, I'm up for this

Obsessed with this band for an extremely brief period during sixth form, mostly because a girl I fancied was a huge fan.

The only two albums I listen to AT ALL any more are Holy Bible and This Is My Truth, and that's not very often either. Haven't heard anything after This Is My Truth. I'd have to listen to at least Gold Against The Soul again, cos I remember it being good.

I like their version of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head"

First girl I ever kissed was a fellow Manics fan. I think that's the height of geeky fandom isn't it?

Relistening to the albums in order from this morning - Generation Terrorists on now

Funny how after probably more than 100 listens to Slash N Burn I still can't work out the majority of the verse lyrics. So there's another reason for their lack of American success - not being able to understand most of what James is saying, and when you can it's usually too obtuse to make much sense to your average listener.

Helpful/partial Spotify list of post-98 Manics (including Lipstick Traces B-sides collection). General gist as follows:

Plague Lovers > Know Your Enemy > Lifeblood > Tigers > Postcards

http://open.spotify.com/user/dorianlynskey/playlist/2QT7BQus5LYTVCcaU5fy1L

Motorcycle Emptiness just won first definite inclusion in my list.

This will be strictly a learning experience for me, as the only album I know is Generation Terrorists.

It's unlikely to be an enjoyable learning experience in that case.

I've heard a song here and there since then, so I know what to expect.

Holy Bible = (an) album of the 90s.

Awful anti gun control/pro captial punishment lyrics notwithstanding

The gun control ones are silly and contrarian but I like the capital punishment ones for their sheer extremity - artistically successful even if I disagree. Bands just don't sing about that stuff.

damn the section of Generation Terrorists between Stay Beautiful and Crucifix Kiss really drags. Damn Dog still hasn't and never will get any better.

Generation Terrorists is such a chore of an album, Motorcycle Emptiness notwithstanding.

yeah even songs I love parts of (the start of Love's Sweet Exile, the start of Crucifix Kiss) have lame chuggy bits. think Condemned To Rock N Roll is pretty underrated though and always wished they'd play it live when I saw them

anyone who checked out in the mid-90s really, really needs to hear Journal for Plague Lovers. It's great.

Yes.

also listened to Gold Against The Soul today which is pretty much as I remember it - storming first half, boring second

Half of Know Your Enemy is brilliant, half terrible, but it's not so neatly divided.

Know Your Enemy is where I first heard them. I still love that record, although there are certainly some clunkers. But how bad can any record be with Epicentre?

yeah it's a mess.

I think of Know Your Enemy as the UK equivalent of the Smashing Pumpkins' Machina - overlong, patchy 6th LPs that heralded a "back to rawk" approach following a mellow LP, both w/ literal "fuck-you-we're-alive" lead singles ("Found That Soul" / "Everlasting Gaze").

I love that record's fuzzy, spiky, melodic core sound - Dead Martyrs, Found That Soul, My Guernica, etc. Not so much the genre exercises and would-be anthems.

Yeah it could be a fantastic 10 tracker. To be honest nowadays i get annoyed with any bands making albums longer than about 10 tracks. I don't give a shit about value for money. I want quality.

the rockers are best, yes, but I do like "So Why So Sad."

Year of Purification is great too.

Yeah, Manics-do-80s-REM is a good look.

come on kids, gimme them ballots!

listening back to KYE, I'm kinda surprised as how much I like better now than when it came out - like "Ocean Spray," for instance, which I used to find really cringeworthy. I guess that's still JDB's only MSP lyric, huh? The division of labor in the band is fairly unique.

"Let Robeson Sing" is a step too far into corny-ville for me, though.

"Wattsville Blues" tries to sound like The Fall but winds up more like...a latter-day Blur b-side.

and: after making the comparison earlier, I'm very pleased to hear JDB on the "No Surface All Feeling" demo: "Hello, my name is Billy Corgan!"

'baby elian' is sometimes my favorite manics song -- gorgeous melody, and the kind of out-of-left-field concept and lyric only they'd come up with.

DL's post-90s Spotify playlist is pretty much OTM but i've always had a massive crush on Lifeblood so i'd wave a flag for a good 6 tracks on there. seems it's become to MSP fans what 'UP' is to REM fans. and no i don't quite get the love for Plague Lovers either. hm.

in case no-one has seen this, it's a great document imho of a band making it big after years against the odds.
fair brings a tear to my eye so it does
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixjrqsXLpiU

I get what you mean re: "Baby Elian", but I find it more "straining really really hard to be timely circa 2001" than "out-of-left-field."

Continued relistening: the previously written-off Lifeblood, which I excitedly started a thread about only to completely forget existed, isn't completely awful, though all the try-hard drum programming is eclipsed by the excellent b-side "Askew Road."

xpost

mind you "Empty Souls" would be 1000x better w/out the cringeworthy 9/11 reference

and indeed the single edit *removed* said reference and replaced it with "..dying flowers".

ha, maybe I should track that down! it's a cracking tune otherwise, though I kinda hate the mixing/production on that record generally

thanks for the doc, pisces, kinda reaffirms that I root for these dudes like I do almost no other band.

Relistening to Gold Against the Soul. Jesus Christ. Fine or even great songs ruined by the disastrous cock-rock stylings and production. "Oh the sadness! Will never go-oh! Will never GO away! Baby it's HERE to stay!" Never has there been a greater gap between the medium and the message.

I love the production! I've come to thinking of that album as one of the great follies. I always liked how they tried so hard to move away from the indie scene in terms of sound, dress, spending a bit of money, etc. It didn't work at all though, even the rock image they were aiming for had moved a million miles away by the time they got there.

xp Nice Lifeblood/Up comparison. It gets a kicking but I still prefer it to the alleged returns to form of Send Away the Tigers and Postcards From a Young Man. It has a wonderful enveloping melancholy. And The Love of Richard Nixon (the first single, no less) is brilliantly contrarian even by their standards.

Manic Street Preachers : When did you get off the bus?

always felt like Lifeblood is basically their New Order album

just watched the entire doc at the top of the thread - really does a great job setting up the mad atmosphere surrounding the making of Holy Bible. Didn't know they were childhood friends, but it fits.

I'm on this (at least one American representing). I shall return, big- upping Lifeblood.

i love that when you look at the "bible" entry on wikipedia, the first thing you see is a statement asking whether you meant the manic street preachers album.

does anyone know why they opted for a drum machine on Generation Terrorists? Period b-sides like "Spectators of Suicide" are loads better almost purely because they have Sean Moore genuinely playing on them.

I think possibly because Sean wasn't too great yet, and also they probably thought it would sound more polished and Appetite For Destructiony? This was meant to be the biggest selling album of all time after all.

Results looking really interesting so far. Hoping a few of the bsides get some more votes! Going to listen to Holy Bible and Everything today i think

no matter how many times this is played it will never ever stop being totally mightily amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfEoVxy7VDQ

Crikey, it didn't occur to me to vote for that!

really!?!?!?!? I would hope it would be number one.

i would *expect* it would be #1 (depending on voter demographic) but idk about hope...

'Stay Beautiful' is my outsider tip for #1.

I do like 'A Design For Life', especially its thrilling climax, and I'm not really sure why it doesn't enter the running for me. I don't like the line "and we are not allowed to spend/cos we are told that this is the end" - what does it even mean? Isn't the context about being supposedly diverted from your real concerns into a life of hedonism and consumerism, where spending is about the only thing you're allowed to do?

I think perhaps its saying in a roundabout way that even the choices we're given are controlled - we've been handed the rights to be consumers but they could easily be taken away - livelihoods can easily be taken away by the powers that be if an industry is deemed unnecessary? (so maybe a miner's strike reference) I'd agree it's probably the weakest line in the song.

listening album by album and it's a pretty clear win for THB and EMG for which records will have the most tracks on my ballot

ok, i am doing this. how do you spell patrick bateman?

I spell it "Not as cool as it sounded when I was 14"

I think I must be old because (and don't anyone tell 14 year old me about this) Everything Must Go is totally winning over Holy Bible for me nowadays. It's not the "better" record, but I enjoy it more. I am old.

EMG is great but has some actual filler, unlike THB. "Removables" sounded great when I was young but now it evokes reheated In Utero.

No more filler than PCP i'd say. Further Away = Underrated winner.

such a great bside:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSN3nw6Ki_8

Oh come on, Motorcycle MTness is going to be no1, right?

Ha, fair point! That said, I couldn't squeeze it onto my ballot either. It's a tune alright, it's just too long and tbh a bit samey.

another grrrrrrrreat bside

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkjx-znIO48

'Life Becoming A Landslide'...don't think there's been a better song about the human condition...absolutely heartbreaking...

calling "PCP" filler is blasphemy!

I always thought Lipstick Traces missed out on a bunch of their best b-sides: the three Holy Bible outtakes, "Black Garden," "Never Want Again," probably more I'm forgetting.

I've never really liked "the Girl who Wanted to be God", though it's at least better than "Miss Europa Disco Dancer".

yep bside collection that aren't complete piss me off majorly.

'PCP' is a great pseudo-upbeat ending for the album. i wouldn't call anything on THB filler -- it's as perfectly conceived an album as we saw in the '90s.

i don't skip anything on EMG but some of the songs sound a bit too familiar to each other for comfort -- 'enola/alone' and 'australia' in particular.

GATS has held up incredibly well for me; every track works, slick production and all. whereas i can't get through GT without hitting the skip button a few times.

A link between The Holy Bible and Illmatic has been coalescing in my mind lately. Based on year of release, lyrical dexterity and each being a cold slab of perfection, and probably not a great deal else tbh - but there's something there, I'm sure of it.

Has the rules committee come down with a ruling as to whether or not That's No Way To Tell A Lie is eligible?

hmmm i'd say no. NO.

That's not fair!

well I guess I don't want to be poll hitler - but if people did put the solo tracks on they'd probably have no chance of getting in unless more than one person gave them the full 40 points

JDB talks a bit about Lifeblood here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axyZR-O6jys

This Is My Truth and Know Your Enemy listens lined up for today.

TIMT probably one of the first albums i went to buy on the first day in the morning before school, read the lyrics all day and listened to as soon as I got back from school. feeling at the time = liked it but slightly disappointed especially with the last few tracks. i'm a bit more forgiving of the singles now (The Everlasting especially which I disliked for quite a while)

still mystified that the bands only 2 number one singles are This Is My Truth and Masses Against The Classes

1 Manic Street Preachers If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next Sep 1998
1 Manic Street Preachers The Masses Against The Classes Jan 2000

PCP? Filler? Fuckers.

sorry yes Tolerate i mean. it's weird.

lyrically filler anyway, and musically a bit lightweight compared to the rest of the record.

the winners on Truth so far seem to be Tsunami and My Little Empire. The rest sort of floats past pleasantly.

This Is My Truth... might be the pinnacle of JDB's guitar playing (the solo on "Black Dog on My Shoulder" always knocks me out) and the nadir of Wire's lyrics. "S.Y.M.M.", yikes.

symm is truly awful.

and WTF were they thinking leaving "Prologue to History" off? (mind you, the cultural/political refs in that one go totally over my head.)

yep its fo sho better than most of the album

The two number ones kind of parallel with previous poll subjects Blur's - the first one being an obviously commercial moment from a now derided followup to a massively successful album, and the second one being the first new material following that, not as commercial at all and getting to number one off the back of a January release and dedicated fanbase.

"The Love of Richard Nixon" was surprisingly close to being a third!

Tolerate isn't really more commercial musically or in subject matter than most of the EMG or the other Truth singles though. I guess it's just luck that it was picked as the lead one though.

it's the only Manics track I distinctly recall seeing the music video for more than once on Canadian TV. (It was also covered a few years ago by a fairly prominent mainstream singer-songwriter and released as a single.)

It's a pretty tune, but just about the last thing I'd've thought of covering

Hadn't realized until now that Send Away the Tigers has fifteen b-sides, only one of which I've heard (their charmingly sincere cover of "Umbrella"). Surely at least a couple must be worthy.

Okay so need those ballots in my end of tomorrow kids.

Imagine the 'deluxe' edition for "tigers" though.

I'm not voting, as my favourite album is Tigers, and that's purely because of the sleeve pic (Is that South Shields? It could be..)

It strikes me that despite some lyrical howlers, Lifeblood is really really good. Very different to every other album they've done, but all the better for it.

Yeah, I will totally stan for Lifeblood.

Oh, I already did! D'oh. Specifically 'Emily', lovely song. And 'I Live to Fall Asleep'.

Okay - so end of today is your deadline for getting ballots in. Going to have a relisten to the last three studio albums today i think.

jesus Send Away The Tigers really sucks massive diseased balls

Nic pics though.

Nice, even.

I don't know, the lyrics (especially to Underdogs) and front cover just suggest they were trying to make the old school fans forget about Lifeblood really quick - LOOK WE'RE ROCKING HARD AGAIN - except it's all really uninspired. Your Love Alone is okay, i'll give them that.

I don't know what it is but Plague Lovers is still not really doing much for me.

the bookends to JFPL ("Peeled Apples" / "Bag Lady") are where it's at - the only ones where you get the Albini-ness. Those, "All Is Vanity" and the ballads are the ones I come back to. Also, the remix album is weirdly awesome, including one of their best tracks ever IMO. (the Horrors and BSP remixes are complete bullshit, though.)

re: SETT, I like the title track, "Rendition," "Your Love Alone" and "Imperial Bodybags." They would have made a fine EP. (I also dig "Picturesque" from roughly the same period.)

er, SATT.

THB used to be one of my favorite albums in highschool. Listening to it again, it just makes me feel sad now.

What of the US Remix version, was it so different?

it's a bit brighter and more "rock." a few of the tracks are improved ("Yes," "Revol," "Faster"), the slower, sinister ones not so much. Adding reverb to the snare on "4st. 7lb" = nagl.

Ballot submitted. Something from every album except SATT and PFAYM.

yeah got Postcards on now, it's pretty forgettable even in comparison to SATT

I like the vibe of the album - the sense of enjoyment sounds less forced to me than SATT, and they embrace their middle-aged corniness nicely - but only two or three of the songs are any good.

Okay so midnight tonight will stop taking ballots and then start announcing a day or two after once i've compiled it all

Ballot sent! Nothing more recent on it than a sole track from Know Your Enemy I'm afraid.

I should've voted for 'Found That Soul' - good tune, but I overplayed it one evening and now I can't stomach it any more.

One hour to go if anyone out there has forgotten to send one in