What a lovely acoustic session James and Nick N did on Virgin radio (aired last night). Really intelligent presenter who has genuine warmth towards the music of the band.

Loved the acoustic version of 'People Give In' with the riff played on piano. Not so much love for the synth heavy 'International Blue' though!! 'Distant Colours' and 'From Despair To Where' sounded sublime.

Yep it was gorgeous.

Going to give it a listen this evening again.

No nominations for the band in the Q thing. Fuck it, concentrate positive energy on the Welsh Music Prize instead!

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...sh-music-prize

Black vinyl is £10.99 in-store (sold out online) at HMV at the mo. Decent price for vinyl.

Was in Q's top 50 albums of the year though.

No Brit award nominations :-(

Have they had any since TIMTMY?

I'm late to the party, but why so rude? Donkey clearly still loves the band, that's why he's torturing his ears with RIF twice. I didn't even listen to it that much, it's shite. Vivian is crap, Hold Me Like Heaven I simply don't understand, yet everybody else love it. Really, it's BAD. It doesn't even remotely sound like MSP. Since when we can't have our own opinions? I like the first two singles though.

Fantastic BBC article about Vivian Maier with amazing photos: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/...d-herself-away

Happy Fourth Birthday! Put it on for a listen this afternoon for the first time in a while... still holds together as a solid collection of songs, but maybe lacks a certain defining character compared to other Manics albums.

I wonder if any of it will pop up in live sets again...

Was International Blue their last truly great single?

It was only one album ago!!

Blimey!

Four years ago!

Still love International Blue and a huge chunk of that album and bonus tracks. Great summer and a great (albeit brief) tour.

Happy Birthday Resistance Is Futile!
I love it more than SATT, PFAYM. But it felt artificial compared to themes on RTF and F.
I think RIF could end up being the most unsung of their lot.
Doesn't have the intrigue of JFPL but more experimental than KYE, even EMG.
The album afterwards didn't knock RIF down. But it safely overshadowed.
Well, many happy returns.

The Secret He Had Missed even overtook Orwellian for "last truly great single"? Or are we still too close to the aftershock to make sense.

I saw the first words of the thread title and thought it was announcing an album began in 2022 for a minute!

I think International Blue is their most overrated song in the last 10 years at least. Overproduced to the hilt. Nice video though. And some nice lines as well.

A weird era RiF. A little bit of phoning it in, which it was going by how they've talked about the process since. And an arena tour was a bit overblown.

Thinking about this album again really puts TUVL into context for me and how it is a much much better Manics album.