Everything Must Go

Generally I'll play what I'm told, but this is a rare "oh god no". Will forever be totally baffling to me that they became as big as they did.

This got me reading the story of the disappearance of the former member, a wild story. Never heard of this band before, a nice sound. 3*
Highlights: a design for life, no surface all feeling

The Good: who doesn’t like an “everything must go” event?
The Bad: the fact that even the band knows things must go…
The Ugly: me getting snubbed while I was offering to help make things go a little faster…

Can somebody explain to me why a band would call themselves “Manic Street Preachers”? Isn’t that just an open invitation for people to run away and not listen?

Also, though I can understand that there is a segment of society who appreciates this kind of music, I do fear they should all be kept far away from sharp objects…

The songs all sound the same to me, the singer’s voice is annoying as fuck, and overall I felt vindicated in my disdain for the band… but at least it’s not crappy rap.

2* just barily

A little repetitive at times, but I found the album to be rather enjoyable.

Dunno what exactly it is about this album but really enjoyed it.
I think it’s their unique brand of Britpop that mixes in a bit of punk and grunge but also string sections.
I especially enjoyed the last song.
Another band I had heard of but never knew what their music was like until now.

I remember hearing about this band from the English music magazines I read as a teenager, asking for the CD for Christmas and being incredibly disappointed. I get why this band never broke in the US. What I don't understand is why they did in the UK. His voice is grating and the music is incredibly boring mid-tempo over-orchestrated alt rock. It's not even dull enough to ignore, it's like having a persistent whine and high-pitched buzz in your ear.

Solid.

As well as the songs that I already knew , I liked "The Girl Who Wanted To Be God" a lot. Bombastic as the Manics always are, of course, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Top 5 Britpop albums ever...

Pretty much 'meh' for my taste. Not great, not bad, just OK.

When I read some of the other reviews, I thought, "Oh, Brit-pop, I'm sure I'll like this". Well, it was ok. I wasn't particularly impressed by the album. There wasn't a song on it that stuck in my mind. I probably won't listen to the album again.
3/5

I see why this is on the list, but it doesn't really do much for me. I've never really gotten the hype for these guys, and listening to a full album hasn't changed my mind. There's 2 or 3 songs that stand out, but the rest are very MOR, with exactly the same shouts vocal delivery in each one. Not much unique about this to my ears, probably another one where you had to be there at the time.

I enjoyed the first Manic Street Preachers album I got doing this, and I liked this one, too. It's good, it'll go in my album rotation, and I'm glad to have found it.

That’s a 3.5 that I’m really begrudgingly rounding up to a 4.

I think the first half of this album fires on all cylinders; great variance in the production, some fun soundscapes, good lyrics, great vocals, and it’s all really fun stuff through Track 7.

Tracks 8, 9, 10, and 11 all blend together in a way that really, really slows down the pace of the album for me. They’re all guitar-heavy songs that sound great to listen to, but they all sound the same to me, and the lyrics just weren’t as good to justify having such a similar sound. You can literally tell they lost steam. Track 12 was pretty nice, though. You just can’t have that much of an album feel like filler though; if this had been the first 7 tracks, it would probably be a really nice 5. It just kinda sticks around too long for its own good, and drags itself down in the process.

I don’t want to give this a 4, but I also just can’t in good faith give this a 3 knowing the quality of those first 7 tracks, so, uh… yeah, I guess it’s a 4, but just know I’m stuck at a hard 3.5.

I think this was the first like proper "album" I owned, on cassette, in 1996. I subsequently got into the Manics in a big way, then found them a bit depressing and trite. My declining interest was nailed when I had a very drunk and absolutely hilarious conversation with Elbow's Guy Garvey about them at Glastonbury 2013. I won't repeat what he said, but it was not complementary to the Manics.

So yeah, a bit of a strange one to revisit. I can totally see why it gave the band some well-deserved time in the spotlight, replacing the macabre, almost lo-fi production of "The Holy Bible" with a confident Britpop sheen. But this is also its weakest element; the extra layer of strings always feels unnecessary and waters down the songs, especially the title track. "Girl Who Wanted To Be God" is the strongest track here, it's perfectly placed in the album's ebbs and flows.

Definite 5 before I even hear a note - possibly the best and most consistent album by one of my all time favourite bands.

After listening - six stars! I absolutely love this album, there's barely a note out of place, and it comes as close as anything to having no songs I would ever consider skipping.
Flawless.

could only have been better if richey had been around to see the success they had with (partly) his lyrics

Good album but not sure I would listen to it again

Hidden Star Attack- Tolles Brit-pop Album mit tollen Klängen der 90er. Es mach Spaß es zu hören und ist angenehme Mischung aus Petshop Boy, the Cure und REM. Kaum Schwachstellen aber dafür einige Highlights. “Design for Life”, “Australia” und mein Favorit “Small Black Flowers That Grow in The Sky” 😊

Favourite songs: Australia, Enola/Alone, Kevin Carter, No Surface All Feeling, Interiors (Song For Willem de Kooning), The Girl Who Wanted to Be God, Removables, Further Away

Least favourite songs: Small Black Flowers that Grow in the Sky

4/5

My first time ever listening to Manic Street Preachers. Definitely one of those bands prominent in my music blind spot. First impression is that it's nothing groundbreaking, but it is quite good at what it does. A handful of standout tunes, and the rest are perfectly fine. No dislikes in the bunch. Preach on, brothers!