Customer Reviews

Everything Must Go

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

After Richey's disappearance, the band reduced to a trio, released this album. It goes without saying that it is a far more accessible album than 'The Holy Bible'. 'The Holy Bible' was a very angry, pessimistic and dark album having mostly very good songs and some average songs. Here in this album, the lyrics are not as dark as Holy Bible. The songs are more or less accessible and consistent. Best songs here are 'Further away', (which has a teriffic guitar riff in one place) 'Australia', 'Design for life', 'I'm the girl who wanted to be god'. Songs are enegatic and with orchestral arrangement. They have used 3 violins and 2 violas to create that.

A very good album. Not surprising that it features in a lot of top 100 albums of all time charts.

The Manic Street Preachers are a rather enigmatic band...both famous and notorious in Great Britain, they stretched a string of well-written and constructed top 10 singles over the 1990s in Britain, all the while becoming one the the UK's most loved and respected acts. Nonetheless, the band was never able to garner more than a cult following in the U.S., due partially to the band's left-wing messages in their songwriting and seldom touring of the States. Further compounding issues for the Manics was the disappearance in 1995 of lyricist and lead guitarist Richey James. It was James' firebrand lyrics for which the Manics where most known for, and his disappearance (he was never found and presumed dead) led to the natural questions of whether the band would continue and, if they did, what direction they would take.

Both questions were answered with the release of the first single off the album, "A Design For Life", a song penned (as would most tracks on the new album) by bassist Nicky Wire. A rising anthem about Britain's working class, the song featured an impassioned performace by vocalist James Dean Bradfield accompanied by a string section that added to the power and emotion of the track. The song became a hit in the UK, won a songwriting award, and erased all fans' doubts about the continued existence of the band.

"Design For Life" was only a teaser off an album that would turn out to be the most focused and well-constructed album of the band's career. Wire's lyrics are less abrasive than were James's, though no less political in nature. Songs here touch on socialism and the plight of the working class, personal relationships, political perils, and the life and tragic death of Pulitzer prize-winning photographer Kevin Carter. Bradfield delivers his best overall vocal performance to date, as he shows his better-than-average range and emotional singing style. Additionally, he picks up the slack on the guitar as well and shows himself to be more than competent on the 6-string in the absence of James.

Highlights of the album include the aformentioned "Design For Life", "Enola Alone" (a tribute to James), the title track with its memorable melody and terrific string section, "Interiors", and the soaring, glam-influenced "The Girl Who Wanted To Be God". The album as whole, though, really doesn't have any filler (something the Manic's have been, and continue to be, accused of) and is the most cohesive album the band has ever made.

Many people cite the band's overtly political messages in their songs as a reason for not giving their music a fair chance. However, even though I don't agree with some of what they say and write about, it is refreshing to see a band penning tunes about tangible, real-world subjects and concerns, rather than the typical pop fluff. Additionally, the Manics create some of the most memorable, thoughtful music coming out of Britain today. Often wrongly lumped in with Brit rock stalwarts such as Blur, Pulp, and Oasis, the Manics prove here, as they have many times before, that they have a unique sound and thus are deserving of the respect and accolades given to them. A shame, then, that America has never caught on with this band, as they truely deserve a wider audience.

it's simply too hard to argue when you have quality music, lyrics, and emotion. not to mention the circumstances that threatened to destroy this album before it was even done. if you don't know the story on richey, read up, it will help you understand this album. what is most impressive is the fact that depression never really sets in - this is the most joyous and hopeful record the manics ever did. there are angry/bitter moments throughout, for sure, as in "kevin carter" and a handful of others, but the music itself is anthemic and upbeat, especially in comparison to "the holy bible", their previous release. there are at least six or seven singles on here, but that's almost irrelevant, because it just stresses how good the album truly is. "elvis impersonator," despite its strange title, gets everything started, jumping right into the fray with a powerful motif of guitar and harps lurking in the background. "a design for life," is a working-class anthem, and what many consider the best track, though i'm not sure about that. "enola/alone," is perhaps a thinly veiled tribute to their departed bandmate and it's almost as beautiful as the following title-track that asks james forgiveness for continuing without him. it's touching, but not sappy because it's not wallowing in misery or too explicit. one of my favorites is "small black flowers" - it's unlike anything they've done before, as those harps come to the front and create a warm, somewhat mysterious atmosphere that resonates well with the lyrics. "australia" is a well-known guitar-driven anthem, but the real gem at the record's end is "no surface all feeling." it might be the best thing here, with a loud heavily distorted chorus/riff that is countered by the quieter, more contemplative verse. it works surprisingly well. the unity of all these songs is really what drives this into classic album territory. if you insist on having just one manics album, get this one - i don't even think the rumored greatest hits (supposedly within the year) can do them justice, so this is the selection of choice, if not for the power of the songs, then for its beauty and message. to see a band succeed after such despair and come through with so much hope and success is at the very least inspiring as its own statement about the power of the human mind and heart. rip richey.

All american trilogy in used up cars and bottled beer
All american trilogy the futures dead, fundamentally

And yes, it is absurd.

Though their musical style is primarily hard rock, on each record the Manic Street Preachers have managed to sound different. However, Everything Must Go stands out because it stands out as their most focused effort to ignite their contradictions. On Everything Must Ago, they've added a alternative/grungy sheen to their guitar roar, raw indeed. They've also added strings, harps, and organs on half of the song. Stuff that bands like Embrace, Oasis, and Verve have made popular again since. Moreover, it's never been more clear that the lyrics are the effort of two men, Richey Edwards and Nicky Jones. Where Richey's lyrics rival Kurt Cobain's or Ian Curtis's in poignant bleakness, Nicky's are hard, but fighting reflections. But, the true highlight, and what makes these elements colesce the Manics is singer/actual songwriter/guitar slinger James Dean Bradfield. On this record, he has completely stripped the excesses of previous Manics records and composed 12 tighly written, memorable, pop rock anthems that would make Oasis proud. On his lead, the band plays with the desperation and grit of a band fighting through their ghosts. Which is the point. Even on the string-laden songs ("Design for Life", for example), what comes through is sheer force and intelligence. By paring down excess, the Manics have managed to marry the music and the lyrics more successfully than they have before and as few since, truthfully, Nirvana.

For many Manics fans, this is not their best work. But, in the same way that "The Black Album" represents Metallica in essence, Everything Must Go represents the pure aspects of the Manic's body of work. Moreover, it's one of the most bruising, yet exhilirating hard rock records made this decade.

Everything must go showed that the Manic Street Preachers had a future in the music industry despite the unfortunate disappearance of Richie James. All the tracks are extremely well written and performed and Richie himself had written five tracks on the album. However my favourite track is a design for life which is written by Nicky Wire. It's about time Brent999 began to read more about the plight of the working classes in other parts of the globe, rather than violently attacking the Manics because of his narrow minded world view. A World in which to him only consists of America.

It's certainly a shame that the Manics haven't received the attention they deserve in the United States, but then again until the release of this album they hadn't (commercially) conquered the U.K. Perhaps this has something to do with the group's hedonism and anti-capitalist tendencies, which are exhibited least by them on this, their fourth album, and even in the face of the more recent 'This is my truth tell me yours'. Far more optimistic than 'The Holy Bible', songs such as the delightful 'Australia' are melodic, sing-along rock which deserve as much radio airplay as anything released in the last two decades. Lyrically, the album is at its best when the wordy observations of Richard Edwards are brought in to play. However, as Kevin Carter shows, Bradfield and Moore have difficulty in making his erudite musings malleable 'Vulture stalked white piped lie forever'. In any case, the album will probably be best remembered for 'A Design for Life', an epic string-laden song often mistakenly seen as being a drinking anthem, when it in fact details the fate of the working class 'We don't talk about love, we only want to get drunk'. This, like many of the album's twelve songs is a striking track, although, as a whole, it may take five or so listens for it to really embed itself in the brain.

I should have been listening to Manic Street Preachers. Their popularity paralleled the trajectory of Brit Pop, yet they were not of that movement. Their music stood in stark contrast to that of their Brit Pop brethren, and offered an inspired alternative to Brit Pop's loping tedium. I'm sorry I've only just discovered them now.

Most pundits proclaim them the heirs apparent to The Clash, but it's lineage I don't hear. (They may be speaking lyrically, and while the booklet features the lyrics, I admit I haven't read them yet.) In Everything Must Go, their fourth and most accessible album, there are strains of Entertainment-era Gang of Four, Joy Division, The Kinks circa the Arthur album, and especially The Jam from the Setting Sons period, when that band was at their most sonically overproduced and lyrically embittered.

Everything Must Go is the Manic Street Preachers at difficult junction. Guitarist, songwriter and, arguably, the band's agitpropist Richey James had been spiraling into a haze of mental illness that culminated with his disappearance following the release of The Holy Bible, their third album. He left behind a suite of incomplete songs that fell to the remaining three members to complete. To those songs the trio contributed their own compositions to make the album. The blend of angular and melodic tunes, coupled with the band's public mystery and tragedy, made Everything Must Go the band's most popular, well received and most accessible album.

Key tracks are "Kevin Carter," "Enola/Alone," "Everything Must Go," "Australia" and "Interiors (Song for Willem de Kooning)."

If you're thinking of investigating Manic Street Preachers, start here.

Being a 'Brit-Pop' fan scince the early 90's, I'd always heard about this band but never seemed to get past buying all those Oasis import singles. When my appitite for Noel's song stylings had been quinched, I began to search for the next grand band. Radiohead kept me going for a while, but I needed something with a harder edge, well this is it! 'Everything Must Go' instantly infected me with relovent lyrics and very compelling musical stylings. If in doubt as to whether or not to choose the welsh rock path, don't hesitate just do it!

I wont write about the story that surround the making of this album (lots of people took care of that already), I just wanted to tell you that trhis is probably the best album the manics ever recorded (along with the darker and angrier "holy bible"), but this is another story. Here in EMG the band displays some of their better constructed songs, the epic sound of: design for life, the girl who wantde to be god, everything must go (kind of a spector - clash sound), the guitar anthem "australia", the moving and powerful rocker "enola/alone" the great closer "no surface all feelngs", although the second part of the album seems a bit weaker (but you have to consider that the first half is no less than brilliant) this is a very solid affair and a recommended purchase, guaranteed.