Know *My* Enemy - some random thoughts on 'KYE'

[Suicide Aldi]

Its definatly MY album too. Not their best, and not my favorite, but its MY manics album.

[Automatik]

I'm fascinated by how KYE, There By The Grace Of God and its b-sides, Door To The River (4 Ever Delayed etc), God Save The Manics and Lifeblood dovetail into one another.

Or, rather, how they don't quite. The washed out, worn-out, mournful sound of Door To The River (which was recorded first of all) and There By The Grace Of God foresage Lifeblood, but it's a very sudden change in mood and era.

[Borderliner]

I really love early 00s, I felt that I knew all the secrets in the Universe. Amazing era to be in love with Manics' music. There by The Grace of God, Forever Delayed, Lipstick Traces, Lifeblood.

[Phil C]

Originally Posted by Automatik

I still listen to KYE very often (more often than EMG, for instance), but I much prefer its b-sides to most of the album tracks.

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm fascinated by the regret that Nicky aired in an interview, namely that he if they had released KYE now it would be released as a double album of political songs (named Solidarity, and presumably including MATC) and 'West Coast' tracks (named Door To The River).

Following this, I made a tentative playlist of how these might look. The track listing was obtained by using the order of the songs on the album (if album tracks) or the order of release and track listing on the singles (if b-sides). So:

<edit>
As you see, there's a fair bit of overlap - Intravenous Agnostic, The Convalescent, The Year Of Purification and My Guernica aren't that political, and could just as easily fit on Door To The River - and it's clear the more personal songs (rather than the political ones) are in the majority, making a provisional Door To The River album very long.

Door To The River (song) is really transitional to There By The Grace Of God, and although it sounds a little like So Why So Sad, it actually sticks out quite a bit when compared to all other songs from this era (which is why it was put out elsewhere).

I don't think the split was in terms of the lyrics, more in terms of the music - rough rock'n'roll and acoustic West Coast vibe. So 'Found That Soul' would surely have been on Solidarity, for example. That said, there are so many tracks that don't really fit on either - I mean, where would you put 'Miss Europa Disco Dancer' which doesn't fit either description, or 'Ocean Spray' which fits both?

And at the risk of being negative...I don't think there are two truly great albums that can be made out of the KYE sessions, and combining the two was actually the right decision. It's not like 'Rewind The Film' and 'Futurology' where they managed to write two well-rounded album that were clearly distinct from each other. And while I'd have included 'Locust Valley' and 'Ballad Of The Bangkok Novotel' to tilt the album slightly more towards the rock side, I'm not sure that there were enough good b-sides to flesh out two albums (I accept most people prefer the b-sides to many of the album tracks but I disagree).

'Door To The River' is gorgeous but really doesn't fit with any part of KYE. I find it interesting that 'There By The Grace Of God' was originally recorded in the same style before they did the electronic version (which I love, even if the band hate it).

[Phil C]

Originally Posted by Automatik

I'm fascinated by how KYE, There By The Grace Of God and its b-sides, Door To The River (4 Ever Delayed etc), God Save The Manics and Lifeblood dovetail into one another.

Or, rather, how they don't quite. The washed out, worn-out, mournful sound of Door To The River (which was recorded first of all) and There By The Grace Of God foresage Lifeblood, but it's a very sudden change in mood and era.

It's also the period of the 'lost albums'. Suddenly there are enough b-sides being produced to make albums in and of themselves, or to change the feel of their parent albums if they had been included. We know that KYE was originally two albums, one rock'n'roll, the other more acoustic, and you can make track-listings for both. Equally, take out the more band-based tracks off 'Lifeblood' and put the more electronic tracks like 'Everyone Knows/Nobody Cares', 'Everything Will Be' and 'Picturesque' on, and it becomes a different beast. Or take the more synth/guitar tracks from the 'TBTGOG' singles, plus '4-Ever Delayed', and the Lifeblood tracks like '1985' and put them together, and you get a different type of album again. Or the more rough-and-ready tracks like 'Empty Souls', 'A Secret Society', 'Leviathan', 'Dying Breeds', 'The Soulmates', 'Antarctic', 'Quarantine', 'Voodoo Polaroids', etc and you get a different idea of what the band sounded like in 2004/5 again. It's a more involved experience than just listening to an album and thinking 'If they'd just included that one b-side'.

'Send Away The Tigers' and 'Postcards' both have a second album of b-sides but they don't really present such opportunities to construct alternative histories, or secret histories.

[Geranium Terrorists]

I was just looking through the CD booklet. I'd forgotten all of the handwritten lyrics! Some of my favourite things in them are:
'Keep on waiting - hallucinating' instead of 'show me a wonder' in Found that Soul.
'Such a fabulous disaster', edited out from Miss Europa
What looks like NEED MORE VERSES at the end of His Last Painting and
Must check spelling next to the Convalescent.

[Son of Stopped]

Best soundtrack to wash and shave to. All done and dusted by "Royal Correspondent".

[clash750]

I've grown to love 'Royal Correspondant' over the years since KYE was released

[Automatik]

Originally Posted by Son of Stopped

Best soundtrack to wash and shave to. All done and dusted by "Royal Correspondent".

Originally Posted by clash750

I've grown to love 'Royal Correspondant' over the years since KYE was released

Royal Correspondent's criminally under-rated, even if the 'chew their food' line is a bit cringeworthy.

[Phil C]

Originally Posted by Automatik

Royal Correspondent's criminally under-rated, even if the 'chew their food' line is a bit cringeworthy.

I love the 'build a fountain/wash away the poor' bit though, a pretty stinging comment about the plan to build a fountain in Diana's memory.

I like a lot of the lyrics on KYE actually, I think it's lyrically very under-rated.

[The Holy Bum-Bum]

Originally Posted by Phil C

I like a lot of the lyrics on KYE actually, I think it's lyrically very under-rated.

So does Nicky!

I remember him ranting about that at the Apollo in '01...

[Aestivate]

Never realised how close Dead Martyrs sounds to the Pop Will Eat Itself track Wise Up! Sucker.

[Europa Gluten Free]

As others has said on the thread, this is very much my Manics album.

My fandom was at its apex with this album. So many songs. So many noises. The problem with it, and its lack of critical or commercial attention, is that its one of the only times that I believe they didn't have a strong concept for this album and era, and so quite frankly didn't know what to do. Because of that they stuck everything on there and decided to do the Cuba thing, both of which didn't work.

Love the B-sides from this era. Love the guitar noises on the album. Love the acoustic Intravenous. Don't love the Cuba thing. Don't love how fat they got. Don't love JDB's guitar sound live.