on 2011-07-06 dscanland Said:

Funny enough, I was living in England when Richey James went missing so I ended up experimenting with the Manic Street Preachers. I really got into them with Everything Must Go but this particular album was a favorite.
Rating: 8/10

Review:

on 2011-07-06 CharlesMartel Said:

I never really got the Manic Street Preachers. I missed their first phase, before their original vocalist disappeared in mysterious circumstances so I had nothing to compare with their later phase, from which this single dates. I never got their politics, but then I never got the politics of anyone who espoused the flawed theories of Karl Marx. But what really irked me was that I never got their name. Most people say it as if it means the Preachers from Manic Street, but is it not more rational to think of it (and say it) as Street Preachers who are Manic? Or am I just not getting the point of that either. Does it even matter?

This single was pretty much the first thing I heard from the band. That jarring guitar, leading into a cascading riff sounded, on first hearing, to be something special. The bass line also drove the song along, pounding the rhythm home to you. But the more I heard it the less I regarded it as a modern classic. I enjoyed it, and it stuck in my head, but that was all. Maybe it is that title. Maybe it is the fact that the band are just trying too hard all round - trying too hard to create a different sound; trying to hard to preach their message. As the doubts grew in me, I ceased to look to the Manic Street Preachers as my new best thing, and though I still like this song, it is not as impressive as the first time I heard it.
Rating: 6/10