yes, because Removables or A Girl Who Wanted To Be God are. but more Removables.

some quotes
@ Elvis Impersonator
Nicky: Richey wrote a draft and it sounded a bit like the group Wire. Me and Sean hated it. There weren't many lyrics anyway. Then I added a verse. I never spoke to Richey about what the original idea was. I suppose it's about kids wearing American basketball tops and stuff.

@ Removables
Nicky: That was written about three years ago. It's the oldest song on there. It was written befor The Holy Bible, and we've finally knocked it into shape. We'd forgotten about this - and then we find a bit of a Nirvana/MTV Unplugged vibe to it, being honest. It was completely done live in the studio. We've had to wait six years (sic!) but we finally played it together in the studio.

Written two years ago when Edwards was heavily into the lyrics of Kurt Cobain. Bradfield and Moore have provided a fitting Nirvana Unplugged backing. A one-take, live studio recording. - from Select Mag June 1996 by Andrew Male

all I could find atm, hope it helps.

Well, I suppose I base that a lot on the fact that it was the first one I was able to play all the way through when I first started learning guitar. No alternate tunings, no fiddly chords, and the solo is pretty simple too. Maybe that's the main reason I got bored of it before the rest.

Okay, so that confirms that Removables had indeed started out from the GATS era initially, and I'm going to take "we'd forgotten about this" to mean that they'd had it fully written before he disappeared as well.

If he never spoke to Richey about the original idea, I'm guessing that's because he added his bits later, which probably means that the music of at least the second half of it was written post-Richey.

Niether of us are going to win this one as Further Away was the last song I was able to learn when I was first learning.

:P

Shall we just call it quits then?

Whilst on the subject of EMG and Richey's involvement - do we know whether any of the EMG era B-sides were demoed at the House In The Woods sessions in early 1995? I have always assumed that these were all written by Nicky after he disappeared??

Also, can Judge Y'rself be counted as part of the EMG batch of songs - does anyone now how much of the finished recording is actually from 1995? I think Richey was present at the Judge Y'rself session, but only stayed for a couple of hours?

Really wish a book existed detailing all the recording sessions and what was recorded when.

I think australia was written because sean wanted to escape and move away, this is where the song came from

Black Garden has always struck me as a very Richey-esque lyric and, even though it is credited to Nicky, I can't help but think that it could have been one of his (or at the very least, an idea upon which Nick expanded). They had gone on record as saying they wouldn't use any lyrics that Richey had left other than those that had already been worked upon before he disappeared so perhaps they thought it would cause too much of a stir to acknowledge his hand in Black Garden (i.e. capitalising on Richey in order to sell the Everything Must Go single)? The three tracks on that single were credited as "Music & Lyrics by James Dean Bradfield, Sean Moore and Nicky Wire"" if I recall recorrectly, as opposed to the usual separation of credits for music and lyrics. I don't have a physical copy but I'm guessing the God Save The Manics EP featured the "All songs by Manic Street Preachers" credit to cover Richey's lyrical contributions?

I could be totally crazy though :P does anybody have any radical information/opinions on this?

Black Garden is definitely Richey penned to some extent, it sounds like a THB song, it wouldn't surprise me if it was written way before EMG.

*jumps on the "I love that song!" bandwagon*

That's what I heard too, and that they didn't like their earlier musical suggestions.

The only one I wonder about is No Surface All Feeling. I always assumed it was written after Richey's disappearance, largely because of the lyrics. Sounds like standard Wire "feeling detached and empty during the remainder of '95" stuff to me. Now I hear Richey played on the song?

The No Surface All Feeling one has always been a bit of a mystery to me - I can only assume that if Richey plays on this, he is playing rhythm on the bit right at the end whilst James does the final solo. This last bit of the song sounds very much like a clip of a demo version that was tagged onto the end of the more polished studio version that was presumably recorded after Richey disappeared.

Further Away = annoying

James has dismissed the rumour that Richey played guitar on No Surface...He couldn't play his guitar and had been reported to the Union for Rock Star Guitar Players by Mr Disgusted Rockster of Tunbridge Wells who withdrew his membership card

That latter bit may be another rumour

Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only person on FD who actually likes "Removables".

Nope, I love that song to bits.

Love it! That short solo after the first verse is one of my fave Manic solos.