Manic Street Preachers - Covers '2022

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. Borderline
02. Jeans Not Happening
03. (Feels Like) Heaven  (Live at the BBC)
04. Pennyroyal Tea  (Live at the BBC)
05. Let's Stay Together  (Live at the BBC)
06. Vision Blurred
07. Wake Up Alone
08. Bright Eyes  (Full Band Version)
09. In Between Days  (Live at the BBC)
10. Sweet Child O' Mine  (Live at Cardiff Castle)
11. All or Nothing  (Live at the BBC)
12. Bring on the Dancing Horses  (Live at the BBC)
13. Under My Wheels  (Live at the BBC)
14. The Instrumental
15. Summer Wind  (Live at the BBC)
16. Endless Plain of Fortune
17. Primitive Painters


 moreBut as the group climbed toward stardom, the story didn't get simpler --
it got weirder. James' behavior became increasingly bizarre, culminating on the
group's harrowing 1994 album The Holy Bible. Early in 1995, James disappeared,
leaving no trace of his whereabouts. The remaining trio carried on with 1996's
Everything Must Go, the album that established them as superstars in England,
yet that came at the expense of the arrogant, renegade gender-bending and
revolutionary rhetoric that had earned them their initial fan base. It was a
bizarre, unpredictable journey for a group that once proclaimed that all bands
should break up after releasing one album.

James Dean Bradfield (vocals, guitar), Nicky Wire (born Nick Jones; bass), Sean
Moore (drums), and Flicker (rhythm guitar) formed Betty Blue in 1986. Within two
years' time, Flicker had left the band and the group had changed its name to the
Manic Street Preachers. In the summer of 1988, a fellow student at Swansea
University, Richey James (born Richey Edwards), who had previously been the
group's driver, joined the band as rhythm guitarist. They began recording demos,
eventually releasing the single "Suicide Alley" in August. "Suicide Alley"
boasted a cover replicating that of the Clash's first album, which indicated the
sound of the group at the time -- equal parts punk and hard rock. A year after
the single's release, NME gave it an enthusiastic review, citing James' press
release -- "We are as far away from anything in the '80s as possible."

Indeed, the Manics were one of the key bands of the early '90s, and their career
didn't get rolling until 1991. The New Art Riot EP appeared in the summer of
1990, followed by a pair of defining singles -- "Motown Junk" and "You Love Us"
-- in early 1991 on Heavenly Records. The singles and the Manics' incendiary
live shows, where they wrote slogans on their shirts, created a strong buzz in
the music press, which only escalated that May. James gave an interview with
Steve Lamacq for NME in which Lamacq questioned the group's authenticity; after
an argument, James responded by carving the words "4 Real" on his arm. The
incident became a sensation, attracting numerous magazine articles, as well as a
major-label contract with Sony. Many observers interpreted the action as a
simple stunt, but over the next few years it became clear that the
self-mutilation was the first indication of James' mental instability.

"Stay Beautiful" was the Manics' first release for Sony, and it climbed into the
British Top 40 late in the summer of 1991, followed early in 1992 by a
re-recorded "You Love Us," which peaked in the Top 20. By the time they released
their much-hyped debut album, Generation Terrorists, in February 1992 -- a
record the band claimed would outsell Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction --
they had already cultivated a large and devoted following, many of whom emulated
their glammy appearance and read the same novels and philosophers the group
name-dropped. The Manics had been claiming that they would disband following the
release of their debut, yet it became clear by the fall, when a non-LP cover of
"Suicide Is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H)" became their first Top Ten hit, that
they would continue performing. Nicky Wire and Richey James had become notorious
for their banter throughout the British music press, and while it earned them
countless articles, it also painted the group into a corner. Comparatively
polished and mainstream compared to its predecessor, Gold Against the Soul, the
group's second album, appeared in the summer of 1993 to mixed reviews.

Shortly after the release of Gold Against the Soul, the Manics' support began to
slide as the group began to splinter amidst internal tensions, many of them
stemming from James. Nicky Wire ran into trouble over on-stage remarks about
R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe dying of AIDS, but Richey James was in genuine trouble.
Suffering from deepening alcoholism and anorexia, James entered prolonged bouts
of depression, highlighted by incidents of self-mutilation -- most notoriously
at a concert in Thailand, when he appeared with his chest slashed open by knives
a fan gave him. Early in 1994, he entered a private clinic, and the band had to
perform a number of concerts as a trio. James' mental illness surfaced on the
group's third album, The Holy Bible. Reportedly recorded in a red-light district
in Wales, The Holy Bible was a bleak, disillusioned record that earned
considerable critical acclaim upon its late summer release in 1994.

Although the Manics' critical reputation was restored and James was playing with
the band, even giving numerous interviews with the press, all was not well.
Prior to the American release of The Holy Bible and the band's ensuing tour,
James checked out of his London hotel on February 1, 1995, drove to his Cardiff
apartment, and disappeared, leaving behind his passport and credit cards. Within
a week he was reported missing and his abandoned car was found on the Severn
Bridge outside of Bristol, a spot notorious for suicides. By the summer, the
police had presumed he was dead. Broken but not beaten, the remaining Manics
decided to carry on as a trio, working the remaining lyrics James left behind
into songs.

The Manic Street Preachers returned in December 1995 opening for the Stone
Roses. In May 1996, they released Everything Must Go, which was preceded by the
number two single "A Design for Life." Their most direct and mature record to
date, Everything Must Go was greeted with enthusiastic reviews, and the Manics
became major stars in England. Throughout 1996, the band toured constantly, and
most U.K. music publications named Everything Must Go Album of the Year. Despite
their growing success, several older fans expressed distress at the group's
increasingly conservative image, yet that didn't prevent the album from going
multi-platinum.

Everything Must Go didn't just go multi-platinum -- it established the Manics as
superstars throughout the world. Everywhere except America, that is. The album
received a belated release in the U.S., appearing in August of 1996, and the
group attempted an American tour opening for Oasis. It should have led to
increased exposure, but a blowup between the Gallaghers led to Oasis canceling
the entire tour, leaving the Manics at square one. They returned to the U.K. and
toured, receiving a number of awards at the end of the year. They didn't deliver
their much-anticipated follow-up, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, until August
of 1998. The album was another blockbuster success in the U.K., Europe, and
Asia, but it didn't receive a release in America, since the Manics were in the
process of leaving Epic in the U.S.

For a while, there was simply no interest in the Manics from American labels,
but another multi-platinum album and numerous awards in Britain revived
interest. The band signed with Virgin, which issued This Is My Truth Tell Me
Yours in the U.S. in June 1999 -- nearly a year after its initial release. Know
Your Enemy followed in 2001, although it was not well-received, and the band
moved to Sony for British distribution of 2004's Lifeblood. Both
vocalist/guitarist James Dean Bradfield and bassist Nicky Wire followed this
release with solo albums, and then reconvened in 2007 to record the edgier,
punk-influenced Send Away the Tigers with producer Dave Eringa. After its
release, the band quickly set to work on another album, using Richey James'
abandoned lyrics as inspiration. "All 13 songs on the new record feature lyrics
left to us by Richey," the Manics wrote on their website in early 2009. "The
brilliance and intelligence of the lyrics dictated that we had to finally use
them." Titled Journal for Plague Lovers, the album was recorded on analog tape
by veteran engineer Steve Albini and released that May. Postcards from a Young
Man, the band's tenth studio album, followed in 2010.

After releasing a compilation called National Treasures: The Complete Singles in
the fall of 2011, the Manics released a super-deluxe 20th Anniversary edition of
Generation Terrorists in 2012. Meanwhile, the band plugged away in the studio,
working on a ludicrously ambitious project tentatively titled 70 Songs of Hatred
and Failure. At one point they despaired of simply having written too much
material, before hitting on the idea of releasing two very different albums. The
first, a folky, almost entirely acoustic, emotionally raw effort entitled Rewind
the Film, appeared in the fall of 2013, and the second, the "spiky" and
Krautrock-inspired Futurology, was issued in May 2014.

A documentary on the Manics, titled Escape from History, arrived in 2017,
followed by the full-length Resistance Is Futile in April 2018. In 2020,
Bradfield's second solo effort, Even in Exile -- a concept album about the
Chilean activist Victor Jara -- went to the U.K. Top Ten. The following year,
the Manics returned with their 14th studio album, The Ultra Vivid Lament, a
record largely written by Bradfield on piano. Preceded by the single
"Orwellian," The Ultra Vivid Lament became Manic Street Preachers' first number
one album in the U.K. since This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours in 1998. ~ Stephen
Thomas Erlewine

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