My Drowning World (appreciation thread)

[usagainstyou]

I just had to start this thread
Words can’t describe how much I love this song. I could listen to it over and over again.
I love the music, the vocals and the lyrics.
Anyone with me?

[Suicide Aldi]

I hear ya! Such a beautiful song, probably my favorite ever Nicky vocal manics track, possibly my favorite thing they have recorded since Rewind The Film. How it was left off the album Ill never know.

[IrelandCalling4]

Agreed, excellent track, one of the top one or two from the album.

I haven't revisited the album as much as previous releases. Mainly loved it first few weeks, replayed a lot. Last listen I skipped one or two, wasnt in the mood that evening for it. James' Even In Exile getting a lot more plays here recently, superb stuff indeed.

A proper revisit is due for the Lament.

[Son of Stopped]

Again with the Sean's Manics Groove!
It feels like it could have fitted on the album. But if maybe James had sung it instead.
A tweak of changing lyric from "I"' to "You/Your" maybe.
I love Complicated Illusions more. But the extra tracks are magnificent.
We just need Nicky's album now. Even though it probably won't sound anything like this.

[Marat Sar]

They probably chose Blank Diary Entry over this because it fits the tracklist better. Adding another non-James vocal -- if BDE is there -- disrupts the composition. And MDW has to be a latter half of the album song. It's got that "and now onto the end" groove and tone. Also, you can't just replace BDE with My Drowning World -- the adjacent songs don't jive as well as BDE (they also just sound WEAK due to its strength).

So, I think it was a casualty of sequencing. Which is a pity, since its the strongest song of the bunch, stronger than Sapporo. I also agree that it warrants "strongest Manics song since" statements. Mine would be: "strongest since Black Square" or perhaps "since The View From Stow Hill". But now, thinking of it, it's actually a bit stronger than both of those...

As I already hinted, another problem with MDW in the tracklist is that it's too good. Too different and too good at the same time. James sounds great on this record, as he did on EIE (and didn't on RIF). But then THAT Nicky chorus glides into bliss, it's both different from the rest -- and better. Effortless. Emotional. Direct. The vocal production is utterly gigantic, plaintive baritone with wide panning celestial backing vocals (who is that? is it Nicky? an effect? Sean? Doesn't sound like James...). When I try to sneak it into the tracklist, it ends up stealing the thunder. Try listening to Happy Bored Alone after it. Not a terrible song, but still feels like a much lesser band starts playing. Even the lyrical clarity and personal themes of MDW cut clearer than the rest, presenting an unveiled version of the emotional core of this period of the Manics (parental death). It also reminds me of another magic Nicky b-side: Dying Breeds (I adore the cold, effort-free swing on that one). Also Break My Heart slowly which also just soars in the chorus.

Only Afterending is strong enough to start playing next after MDW, without sounding like a total dud.

If this is how the next Nicky album sounds, god damn. If that never happens, I hope they consider giving Nicky 3-4 songs on the next album, like Sea Power albums have 30%-40% (great) Neill Hamilton songs.

Strange stuff, this period. With EIE, TUVLS and this one, they've delivered four greats:

The Boy From The Plantation (9)
There'll Come A War (8.5)
My Drowning World (9)
It's Still Snowing In Sapporo (8.5)

And three really strong supporting pieces

Recuerda (8)
Afterending (8)
The Secret He Had Missed (8 -- people seriously underestimate how good this is)

That's easily as much magic material as the 70 Songs Of Failure And Hatred period. Yet somehow this time they didn't end up on the same Manics album / aren't conceptualized to fit together. Is the band a little scattered? Unless you're shitting gold frequently, a band should focus all of their ability onto one project. And conceptualize it into a whole.

EIE starts very strong, but I don't think it's the masterpiece many make it out to be. The second half of the album is 1) clearly much weaker than the stellar start, and 2) never recovers from the odd sequencing choice of INSTRUMENTAL-VOCAL SONG-INSTRUMENTAL that occurs mid-album. TUVL is a cool album and a cool concept, but, again, the second half suffers. Not as much as EIE -- but then again TUVL doesn't start as strong as EIE. In total, we have two albums with some excellent moments and some clear gaps. And -- despite those gaps -- the best song of this period is somehow on neither LP. Had they managed to centralize and concentrate their talent onto one megaproject, they would have produced a masterpiece.

So, why didn't they? I really think the Manics should now bunker up, anger up and PROVE something. With a long, painful and laboured process if that's what it takes. It feels like TUVL and RIF where both sorta easy to make. I've liked their unusual-for-this-part-of-the-career working ethic and productivity. But now I find myself hoping they choose one amazing and bloodied album over two (or even three) okay ones. (Just tweet out every two months that you haven't broken up

Similar thing with the new Non-Radiohead/Radioneck project The Smile. Okay, Thom and Johnny are clearly having a fun time and the material is flowing out easier than Radiohead without that pressure. They're writing new material on the tour and have already added 5 (!!!!) new tracks to the setlist. That's all nice. The best Thom/Johnny/Radiohead material since A Moon Shaped Pool. Now imagine how much better it woulda been AS A DAMN RADIOHEAD ALBUM. (Inset old man shouts at cloud image macro). Coulda just gotten the Sons of Khemet dude as a guest lead drummer for this period... (Aging indie fan mumbling fades out)

EDIT: Forget everything I said about sequencing. If you just put MDW after Diapause and before Complicated Illusions it's perfect. They were just dumb to leave it out.

[usagainstyou]

I still love this song