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Old 31-03-2016, 20:19
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Automatik Automatik is offline
Freed from the century
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: There By The Grace Of God CD1
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Great post by Porco that gives a lot to think about.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Porco View Post
• Why they didn't include The Masses Against The Classes on the standard UK album still baffles me. It would have fitted tonally, KYE was hardly the most coherent conceptual piece anyway, and the song was a promotion-friendly no.1 hit single...
Often wondered this. An absurd omission both at the time and with hindsight.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Porco View Post
• I know us lot often say this, but for me this is THE album/era where some of the B-sides were better than some of the album tracks and I would have happily swapped them. Locust Valley and Fear of Motion especially, but I also have soft spots for Groundhog Days and Masking Tape, and as we heard much later, Midnight Sun. Not so much Pedestal though, that was a slightly p-p-p-preposterous song (though ok as a B-side).
Agreed. Fear Of Motion, Groundhog Days and Masking Tape could have been singles for me. Locust Valley gives me the most vivid feeling of my skin crawling in long grass in a bullying summer heat - it's eerie, really.

I like Pedestal though. It's a little simplistic in its emotional intent but then that's nothing new.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Porco View Post
• I love Ocean Spray, Let Robeson Sing, Dead Martyrs, His Last Painting, Baby Elian, Freedom of Speech Won't Feed My Children.
I listen to the Kinobe Remix of Ocean Spray as part of my walk to work playlist. I still adore Ocean Spray (including the Ian Brown remix!). Dead Martyrs and His Last Painting are strong tracks. Baby Elian and Freedom of Speech... are decent musically, but perhaps a little simplistic in its political intent. Freedom is the better of the two in that regard, of course, and it's easy to forget that there were relatively few people (at all) adopting such a critical take on the 'end of history' era in the way the Manics did here.

Despite its flaws KYE is a great and varied album that I often return to and binge on. Can't say the same of PFAYM, RTF, for example.
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