Right, lessee. I submitted to the leak finally today and have been pretty much playing this album only today. I'm starting to get a slightly clear idea about my thoughts, albeit considering this is day 1 they're absolutely not the final ones.
Before hearing the album in full I kinda felt like this would be SATT done right, and that prediction seems to have been true. It's commercial, it's poppy - but the band sounds like they're actually behind the whole thing and enjoying themselves, rather than just hitting the autopilot and then heading home. And while my favourite moments by the band are the ones where they've retreated to their own world and not given a toss about public success, I'm all up for some poppy Manics material cause at the end of the day Bradders is a genius songwriter who can make one hell of a great pop song and I don't mind some more of that.
Anyway, bullet points are sexy so have some bullet points. - Live strings fuck yeah. That was one of the things I hoped that the band would keep from JFPL and the fact that there's not a sight of the usual Manicsy keyboard strings makes me happy. Not because I've got anything against synthetic strings, but using live stuff just feels so much more appropriate with these songs. It makes them feel a bit more regal.
- In general, I fully welcome the kitchen sink approach. Every band should have a gospel choir phase and if anything, the choirs are underused on the album. Whenever they do appear though, it's heavenly.
- Some Kind of Nothingness is absolutely amazing. I knew that beforehand from the radio 'leakage' but it continues to be true. It's one of their very best songs since Lifeblood era, perhaps even the best one since those days. I am fucking in love. When that final chorus hits I feel like just bowing down and submitting to the gorgeousness of the song and smiling widely in a giddy fanboy-esque fervour because oh god this is the best band ever.
- The Future Has Been Here 4 Ever is another massive favourite. I'm really at awe how Wire has grown as a songwriter ever since his solo album; who'd have thought that the guy who did all those ramshackle rock songs would be doing things like Marlon JD and this one only a few years afterwards. Sean's trumpet is amazing, the choir backing is great, Wire sings better than ever, the lyrics are good (apart from that terrrrrrible Godfather 3 bit), the drum machine beating in the background works great with Sean's beat, it's infectious as hell - adore it. The only nagging point I've got is that it seems to be missing its final chorus, ends too abruptly.
- Short thoughts on other songs that leave a positive imprint: It's Not War continues to just sound so happy I can't help but like it, the title track is miles better on album than the boring live version aired some time back, Hazleton Avenue and Golden Platitudes are very pretty (and in particular the signature guitar riff of the former and the final la la las of the latter are Moments), The Descent's chorus is brilliant and I Think I've Found It is simply put delightful.
- But Flinty baby, are you saying this album is only packed with good stuff? Why dear reader, sadly that is not the case. The four remaining songs I've not listed just plain aren't exciting or much interesting. Those moments tend to be the ones where the album tries to do its most straightforward rocking and perhaps I'm a nutty Manics fan considering that big rock songs is what seems to be their core but Auto-Intox, Billion Balconies, Entertainment and Don't Be Evil are all, well, rather dull. Normally four uninteresting songs in the mix might not be completely unbearable but three of them are stacked together right at the end, creating a very unsatisfying ending. Only the bright groove of Future comes to revive in the middle but then it's onto the very b-sidey Don't Be Evil that doesn't work as a closing song at all.
But like said, it's only been in my life for this day so perhaps some of my favourites will lose favour and the more uninteresting ones will show their aces in the sleeve. We shall see with time. But right now, I'd say we're dealing with a good album. Not great, not mindblowing and nowhere near their best but it's also definitely not their worst. It's a sort of base-good album. |
