Quick, Before It Melts.

All this talk of Led Zeppelin lately has put me in a pensive mood. I'm not interested in a Zeppelin reunion myself because they've never been a part of my musical life--big arena-rock is just not my taste. However, the reaction of the fans to the second coming of Zeppelin has got me thinking: who would I want to see reform? The obvious answer would be The Smiths, followed by New Order, and... then who? The Clash would be cool, but seeing as this weekend was the anniversary of Joe Strummer's death that's never going to happen. The Stone Roses, perhaps, but the chances of them being able to match or better that debut album is pretty slim.

This then brings me to Manic Street Preachers, who haven't ever really broken up, but who had fallen off my musical radar for awhile. My love affair with the Manics is sort of similar to an upright prude's obsession with his expansive and dog-eared collection of porn: it's dirty and out of character, but that's why we love them. I'm a sucker for a classic pop song, but the Manics made rocking out and rocking hard fun because of the level of intelligence they brought to it. The Holy Bible (1994) was my real introduction to the band, and I quickly went back to pick up their previous two albums (Generation Terrorists (1992) and 1993's Gold Against the Soul) which I had erroneously dismissed as being derivative and vacant. Then once Richey Edwards went missing in 1995, I became fascinated with his disappearance and how the band would cope with a member--and life-long friend--who simply disappeared off the face of the earth.

Everything Must Go (1996) was their attempt at exorcising the ghosts from the house as it were, and the beginning of phase 2 as a three-piece. Some early fans lost interest as the band began to gain more recognition and mainstream success with their post Richey albums (Everything... and 1998's This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours). I started to lose interest around the time of Know Your Enemy (2001), which felt flat in comparison to it's predecessors (we'll discuss 2004's Lifeblood another time).

When Send Away the Tigers was released earlier this year, I was a bit hesitant to pay it any real attention. Last year's solo albums from James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire were huge let downs, so I didn't hold out much hope for anything that would reignite my interest. In fact, I didn't really give it a fair chance, even though I ran out and bought it he day it came out. The album sat on my shelf, ripped to the computer and slotted away; tracks were skipped over on the iPod's shuffle in favour of the flavour of the moment.

I didn't give Send Away The Tigers any consideration for my end of year list and didn't expect to see it on any other list, but there it was on Q's Best 50, sitting at 16. As I read the write up for the list I was struck by this passage: "Their eighth album found the Manics reigniting their rage, introducing a generation who have never heard of Richey Edwards to the joys of explosively intelligent arena-rock..." That's when I realized that Manic Street Preachers are kind of like my Led Zeppelin: a group of hard rocking guys from the (not too distant) past who have returned to show the young 'uns how it's done, and remind us older guys of why it had to be done in the first place. They don't mean the same thing to the young new audience who 's first introduction to the band is "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" as they do to me, but they're not expected to. So in the last few weeks, as I've gone back to give Send Away The Tigers another chance, I've come to appreciate the Manics all over again, and have had the spark of rage, passion and honesty set aflame in me anew.

You just can't get that from a Camera Obscura record, can you?


Manic Street Preachers (with Nina Persson) "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough"
~ from the album Send Away the Tigers, 2007

The band has made a Christmas song available via their website for the holiday season:

Manic Street Preachers "Christmas Ghost"
~ from Manic Street Preachers official site, 2007

I just couldn't let this post go without this one, too:

Manic Street Preachers "Last Christmas (TFI Friday Performance)"
~ from the compilation Lipstick Traces: A Secret History Of Manic Street Preachers