MP3: Manic Street Preachers Discography - Part Six: Everything Must Go (1996)

First of all, my apologies for taking so long to get this next review done. I had good excuses, but as i've detailed them below there's no need for a recap. After The Holy Bible, the Manics had to take a very big rethink. There were obviously questions asked as to how the band could continue without the lyrical and ideological contributions of the vanished Richey Edwards, but after a while the band decided that they would continue. From this point, Nicky would take over with 100% of the lyrics (although EMG did feature five songs written by/with Richey before his disappearance), and the band would for a long period perform on stage as a three piece (though some would argue that this had been the case from the start). As for their image, huge changes occurred. The military uniforms and sprayed shirts of the past were quickly disposed of for more casual clothes, earning them the monicker 'the band from C&A/BHS' from more sarcastic members of the music press. As for the band's artwork and videos, their first album as a three piece, 1996's Everything Must Go, would be presented as a New Order style reinvention, featuring stark modernist artwork reminiscent of the work of Factory artist Peter Saville, and the music would also take on a more positive atmosphere, free of the dense and dark production techniques that had so dominated Bible.

The band's comeback single, A Design For Life, was a huge success, and saw them becoming the favourite band of thousands of people throughout Europe, most of whom probably had no idea what had just occurred amongst the bands ranks. The album would be equally as succesful, and started the band off on a second career run that would be far more successful than their earlier attempts but that is now seen by many as slowly pushing them into more inferior and less interesting musical and lyrical spaces.


So how does it sound? The first track, Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier, begins with a soothing and yet perhaps troubled sound of waves lapping against a beach, followed by acoustic guitar and the then vocals. At first it seems extremely unlike the bands previous album, and many fans were no doubt confused as to how things would progress. As the chorus begins, and the guitars rise up a few decibles, fears are somewhat abated. In the fuzzy guitar production we can still hear hints of the post-punk influences that had infested Bible, and the lyrics, despite not being the bands finest (its one of the Richey songs but you can't reaaaally tell), are so well performed by James that the track really performs its task well in proving that the band really could continue to be as strong and affective as they had been in the past, and indeed for a while at least, this would continue.



The next track, the first single, is A Design For Life. Far too much has been said about it, and so it's one of those songs where it's hard to really connect on a fresh level. Suffice to say that it's one of the very best singles of the 1990s, perhaps one of the greatest British singles of all time and very much one of the bands most impressive songs. On every level - musically, lyrically, performance, politically, it excels, and the acerbic suggestion that the song was only successful due to the 'we only wanna get drunk' lines seems unfair, because in its evocation of working-class pride and despair the song, particularly in the live arena, really does connect and draw people together in the way that Oasis occasionally could at those moments where their idiocy or lack of originality were wiped away in light of the sheer power of songs like 'Live Forever'. The string section is phenomenal, and almost makes the subsequent phase of every British indie band using one on every single they released (hello Embrace) seem worthwhile. You may think that this is one song you've hard faaar too many times, but please, turn it up loud, and I dare you not to enjoy it. The song featured one of the bands very best videos (see below for a link) and when released got to number 2 in the UK singles chart, only beaten by the legendary/horrific Mark Morrison with Return Of The Mack.


Kevin Carter is up next, another Richey collaboration, and a song describing the life of the titular pulitzer winning photographer, who committed suicide out of shame for the fact that in his eyes, his fame had only come at the price of a child being killed. Musically it's a fantastic moment, Bradfield's vocals are wonderful, and Sean's trumpet solo is one of the most endearing segments of the album. Speaking of production again, here it is particularly noteworthy. Producer Mike Hedges covers the album in a powerful mood that proved commercial and yet never quite stops the band's more eccentric moments from coming out or makes them seem like just another commercial rock band. It was the third single taken from the album, featuring a very fine video, and reached number nine on the UK singles chart, the bands third straight top ten hit.



Fourth track, Enola/Alone, is perhaps one of the albums weaker moments (not helped by its unfortunate title), and yet the album is so strong that it still works very well. It is only the rather average verse that lets it down, as the lyrics are rather nice and the chorus again has that wonderful glossy production that really lets the guitar shine through in an almost Teenage Fanclubish way. It's no wonder that the album was so successful, because as awful as it sounds, nearly all of its songs sound so good coming from a radio, making it perfect for no end of compilation cds and for dreaded 'drive-time' shows.


Song five, the title track, is perhaps the only song on the album to truly address the Richey situation, and does it in rather an odd way. It sounds incredibly anthemic, and in an amazing way, and yet like other 'driving/running away' songs, such as Pearl Jam's Rearviewmirror or maybe Guided By Voices Motor Away, the lyricism seems to hide the roots of its inspiration outside of itself; the song tells us that the band are leaving, getting out, disappearing, and yet never tell us what they're letting go; what it is they're turning their backs on. Thus this enigma is never really resolved, and so the song only works because the emotional intensity comes not from the feeling of escape but from the fact that that which is left behind occurred and cannot really be forgotten. (note: As I have now finished my masters degree and entered the world of work, expect my blogposts to feature more of the overtly pretentious and analytical paragraphs such as the one you've just read. I need to vent my pretention somewhere don't I?) Anyway, it's a great single, and though nearly lost in the wake of Design, it's nearly as good. It was the second single released from the album and reached number 5 on the UK singles chart.

Track 6, Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky, is one of the Richey lyrics, and is probably the best as its rather a beautiful song and near to the albums finest. The acoustic guitar and harp is reminiscent of XTC's wonderfully morbid Dying, from the classic Skylarking record (seek out that song), and James' vocals have never sounded quite so fine. As Richey compares the life of animals trapped in cages to his own, we get the feeling that his presence will never really leave the band, mostly due to the fact that they spent so long together and were so much in each other's company. James channels his voice, perhaps from beyond the grave, and the song is really up there with the best moments of The Holy Bible. Many of the bands more obsessive fans (read: more annoying) might delight in telling you that the band lost everything that made them worth listening to after Richey's disappearance, but songs like this really make them look like prize fools.


The Girl Who Wanted To Be God comes next, and it's a return to the more consciously rock and roll songs heard earlier. By using a very obvious steal from the Motorcycle Emptiness riff for its chorus, the song again lets us know that we are indeed listening to the same band, and indeed this is another of the last Richey/Nicky lyrics. Although it is perhaps rather weak lyrically, conveying very little obvious meaning even on repeated listens, and is also perhaps far too U2-ish in sound for my liking, the passionate performances again make it a worthwhile contribution to the tracklisting.

Removables (the last Richey song featured) was, from what I can recall reading somewhere, intentionally recorded in a very Nirvana-unplugged style fashion, and I have to say it works quite well. It makes for a nice break from the more wall-of-sound feeling of the albums first half, especially on the lovely mean-sounding electric backing to the chorus, and also provides one of the most commonly misunderstood lyrics in the bands catalogue, as James sings 'a bronze moth dies easily', whilst most of us hear 'i bronze my thighs easily.' Guffaw. Again, James vocals are excellent.



Australia was the albums fourth single, and a very good one it is. Sorry that sounded a lot like Yoda didn't it. um... anyway... The wall-of-sound is back in a big way, and so inspires one of my only major criticisms of the album; that this big production, despite being very good, is used perhaps one or two times too many. Australia is perhaps too close atmospherically to Everything Must Go, and it's lyrics rather uninspired and tepid; conveying very little and maybe only sailing by due to the fact that, again, the performance is so on the money. It's not bad as such, its just that we can imagine that the band that made the first Manics album would put the band that produced it on the same list as Slowdive and Ride (both of whom the early Manics rather unfairly stated were 'worse than Hitler'). The single hit number 7 on the UK charts and was the last of four top ten hits taken from the album.

Interiors (Song for Willem De Kooning) however is much, much better. Post-punk lite verses, with some great bass and guitar work meet a very nice chorus indeed. It approaches the gloss of EMG or Australia and yet doesn't let itself be overcome by it. The lyrics are very very good indeed, and prove that Nicky could indeed write extremely well by himself. It's often very easy, and i've been guilty of this in the past, of writing off Nicky's contribution to the band due to the fact that he's often a rather irritating prick, but its worth remembering that many of the finest contributions to Holy Bible were his alone, and that his lyrics have been the subject of a long, drawn-out decline rather than a fast one. Songs like Interiors should have been a sort of blue-print for how the band should have continued after Everything Must Go, and yet as I'll try to explain in my next few reviews, it didn't quite go that way.


Further Away is the album's penultimate track, and although it's guitars are a bit too Oasisy for my tastes, and in form it's a bit of a retread of Enola/Alone, the mood of sadness and evocation of loss is so obvious, and the transition from the comparitavely lazy verse into the introduction and playing out of the chorus is darn good that you're praying for it to come around the next time. Maybe this is a compositional trick that more artists should use...Making your verses so shit in comparison to the chorus that you can't wait to hear it again? Further Away has the album's very best guitar solo, which positively sparkles with iridescence and makes me wish that there were a few more!

Last up is No Surface All Feeling, a slower but still moderately rocking song that i've always thought should have swapped places with Further Away on the album's tracklisting (as the previous track would have made a far superior ending to my ears. Sure it acts as a sendoff to the bands past 'what's the point of looking back?/when all you see is more and more junk?', but the chorus is a bit too obtuse to provide us with any sort of real emotional connection. The fuzzed up solo at the end is a bit of a mess, and for some reason only plays in one ear, thus giving me a headache. Buggered the end of that album up didn't you Manics? Pah.


So there we have it. It's a record that makes you feel really quite wiped out by the end. As I said before, I find it quite hard to listen to now, because it feels so tied into my own personal history, and because i've heard it so often. I probably listened to it every other night for about a couple of years, and so again as I said its rather hard to be objective. Hopefully you lot can give me some opinions in the comments below. The album was obviously a massive success, and to date has gone double platinum in the UK, peaking at number 2 in the UK album chart. The album is to be re-released on the 6th November, much in the style of The Holy Bible 10th anniversary edition with tons of demos and other good stuff (a DVD documentary etc), and looks sure to be a mustbuy. More info on that at wiki.

Meanwhile here are some videos. Make sure you check out the Design one:

A Design For Life (music video)
A Design For Life (alt. music video)
A Design For Life (live Jools Holland)
A Design For Life (live TOTP)
A Design For Life (live TOTP Awards)
A Design For Life (live TFI Friday)
A Design For Life (live at Hillsborough)
A Design For Life (live on Supersonic)
A Design For Life (live Isle of Wight)
Kevin Carter (live TOTP)
Kevin Carter (live TFI Friday)
Kevin Carter (live Glastonbury 1999)
Everything Must Go (music video)
Everything Must Go (live TOTP)
Everything Must Go (live Jools Holland)
Everything Must Go (live at Hillsborough)
Small Black Flowers... (live Jools Holland)
Australia (live TOTP)
Australia (second TOTP performance)
Australia (live at Hillsborough)
Australia (live Reading 1997)


And here are some songs from the album. Enjoy.

Download: Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life - MP3
Download: Manic Street Preachers - Removables - MP3
Download: Manic Street Preachers - Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky - MP3
Download: Manic Street Preachers - Interiors (Song For Willem De Kooning) - MP3


Discography: (click to buy @ amazon.co.uk)

New Art Riot EP (1990)	Generation Terrorists (1992)	Gold Against The Soul (1993)	The Holy Bible - 2CD+DVD (1994)
Everything Must Go (1996)	This Is My Truth... (1998)	Know Your Enemy (2001)	Lifeblood (2004)
Forever Delayed - Hits (2002)	Lipstick Traces - Bsides (2003)	Great Western - JD Bradfield (2006)	Everything Live - VHS (1997)
Leaving The 20th Century - DVD (2001)	Louder Than War - DVD (2001)	Forever Delayed - DVD (2002)	Sweet Venom (Book)