I was going to create a new thread for album reviews that you really like (Not ones you have wrote yourself though) but I thought I would look for the a thread it had already been done. I couldn't find one exactly but I thought this one was appropriate enough. Mostly because it is an album I like that got a bad review. But this person (not a professional writer) wrote a fantastic one for this underrated album. It's for the Manic Street Preachers 'Lifeblood'. Hope I can one more person to listen to this Here it is:
Manic Street Preachers - Lifeblood
"Generations will come to the Manics and buy this album last after all the bitching this album receives from the band. I don't care how many politics degrees they have, the Manic Street Preachers are morons for letting this album be regarded as their weakest link. They have never made an opening to an album any better than 1985. Even with Richey.
In 2004, British music seemed to have a mental breakdown. All the hopes and promises for the 21st century all fell down so they resorted to really embarrassing guitar guff such as the Libertines and Franz Ferdinand. The Manics at least were looking forward. And for a band that prides itself on being out of synch with everything, Lifeblood offers this stance in spades. Everyone was moaning about Dubya Bush... the band record The Love of Richard Nixon. Islamic sounds became "vogue"... the band record a song with a Russian word. (Glasnost) Everybody goes online and gets active with 24 hour news ... the band record I Live to Fall Asleep. Derek Acorah begins to raise his profile... the band record To Repel Ghosts. 2004 sees the largest expansion of the European Union... the band record Fragments. All those epic Fox made American shows like the terminal CSI's and 24 ... and not one of them had A Song For Departure on their soundtrack. The world reached out to each other ... and the band gave us Solitude Sometimes Is.
I agree there was some confusion over the single choices (and yet they both went top 2) but Lifeblood is the best thing they put their name to for the past decade. In fact, I'll even put it above Everything Must Go. One criticism I've heard the band say is "We recorded all the parts separate from each other." That's all? Then play in the studio with songs this great with all three members then!
Lifeblood isn't the populist comeback they would of wanted. But it's not the unfocused abomination you'd get the impression of if you listened to the band speak of it. And thanks to it being reduced to £3 or thereabouts in the shops, you simply haven't got a reason to not buy it. If you want noise and guitars, take your pick on any of the other albums. (*cough KNOW YOUR ENEMY *cough) But if you want to hear a band be fearless and try to take their music into new territory then really, Lifeblood is the one you are looking for.
History cannot be permanently falsified. The Bush and Blair of this world will be judged and exposed in time. And on the day of judgement, when the Manics are revived from their tombs, Jesus will be there going "Soooo... Not a great fan of Lifeblood, eh? Well guess what, I've been stationary dancing too on my iPod on repeat for the past 100,000 damnations? Yeah! Down you go so-called Manic Street Preachers!"
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Here it is:
