Which EMG songs were written before Richey disappeared?
 

This has been bugging me for the past few days. I've seen people claim in the past that even if Richey hadn't disappeared, EMG would still have sounded like it did since they had already written some of it before he went. But having just finished A Version Of Reason the other day, it reminded me that even the songs that Richey had apparently heard weren't necessarily how they ended up turning out. Here's how I think they break down:

Before he disappeared
Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky - I'm positive that Richey had heard and approved the music for this one
Removables - this was written soon after THB, I believe
No Surface All Feeling - since the final version supposedly contains bits of Richey playing guitar, then it's safe to say this was already written before he disappeared

After he disappeared
A Design For Life - the two-page poem it was based on was written in mid-1995
Enola/Alone - inspired by Nicky's wedding photo with Richey and Phillip, who had both now gone
Everything Must Go - about them carrying on after Richey
Australia - Nicky wanting to escape the events of 1995

Not sure
Elvis Impersonator - certainly begun when Richey was around, but since Nicky had to finish off the words himself, then presumably the music wasn't finished either - perhaps explaining the massive musical difference between the first verse and the rest of the song?
Kevin Carter - a Richey lyric, but I believe he didn't like the first "draft" James did, and I think I've read that the final version was what James thought Richey would have liked, i.e. Richey never actually heard the version that went on to be recorded
The Girl Who Wanted To Be God - from the Raindrops sessions, so certainly one of the earliest songs written, and supposed to be the one lyric the actually sat down and co-wrote, but does anyone know if the music was written before Richey disappeared?
Interiors - can't recall seeing anything that suggests when this was written - anyone know?
Further Away - a Nicky lyric from on tour in 1994, but I have no idea if the music itself was written around then. Being the weakest track on the album, I can imagine it perhaps being a late inclusion

Can anyone shed any light on this? I'm basically trying to figure out if EMG could have ended up being an album I would have been more happy with, because I feel that the ones that were definitely post-Richey songs pretty much define the sound of the album.

I'm not exactly sure, but I thought James said that the general sound of how we know Kevin Carter was what Richey perhaps wasn't too keen on - didn't James joke that he wondered if that was what made think about disappearing?

He certainly wasn't keen on the version James played him, which I think is when he came out with his Pantera-meets-NIN-meets-Screamdelica idea. I think A Version Of Reason mentions that James redid it to how he thought Richey would have liked it, but he could have just said that :P

It's very bold of you to claim Further Away as 'the weakest track on the album' as if it's a fact because you think it. Sheesh!

The interview I'm thinking of with James talking about demoing to Richey may have been on the EMG 10th anniversary DVD but I can't remember. I'm thinking of a video interview anyway.

I was under the immpression that Removables had been knocking around since GATS?

With Interiors you need to find out when the Willem de Kooning documentary was broadcast, but I suspect it was post-disappearance.

I think the lyrics were but they couldn't decide how the music would work.

:mrgreen:

Yes, I was going to put "in my opinion", but then I figured it's probably the most basic track, both lyrically and musically, so I would have thought even people who still really like EMG would have gotten a little sick of it by now.

Although if anyone wants to speak up for why Further Away is not their weakest track, then by all means go ahead!

Well, it certainly could have. I just know I've seen people putting it on THB-era playlists, saying that it was probably going to be a b-side for the abandoned Yes single. As River Boy says, they perhaps just took a while putting all the pieces together for that one.

Either way, I think we're all agreed it was a pre-disappearance song.

Further Away is in my top 10 Manics tracks. I agree it's a straightforward track, including lyrically but I like those lyrics a lot, with some of my favourite Wire lines amongst them.

Everything gels together and sits well for me in the song and there's a nice nostalgic feeling about it (and I don't mean nostalgic feelings of my own). For some reason it's a song that I've liked more and more over the years, and the demo on the anniversary edition was part of that.

Fair enough. I've always considered This Is Yesterday to be the weakest track on THB, and yet it's some people's favourite track, so it just shows what I know :P

This is Yesterday's a good song, but I do skip it sometimes as although having a lighter moment in the album's a good thing, the change is sometimes a bit too jarring. I prefer most songs on the album to it though.

My pick for song that gets a lot of love generally that I don't give is Little Baby Nothing.

Yeah, I used to love that song, but it's become a skippable track for me.

There aren't many songs on the album that are complex, so I don't know how it can be described as basic. Always felt the title track to be the simplest Manics song around, but each to their own.