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Having had a week or so of listening to it regularly, I am just not getting it as an album. I'm at the point where I'm going back to individual tracks, but don't think it works as an album as a whole.
The sudden switch to the 80's sound in the second half of the album is a strange one, especially after hearing the demos and what the songs might have sounded like. I know it's not always necessary, but the album seems to lack an overall theme which brings it together.
After the gigs this year, I can't see any of these songs being included regularly on setlists again (maybe Decline and Fall). I would say that would be the case for the previous two albums as well (though I do think International Blue should be a staple) which kind of speaks volumes really.
They clearly still remain in thrall to the commercial performance of albums and have always seemed to rate their own albums according to how commercially successful they have been. Will the relatively poor commercial performance of this album result in the band denouncing it as we have seen with others in the past? With the live shows probably relying heavily on tracks from two albums made nearly 30 years ago now, might this be the point where they begin to question carrying on? After all, there are only so many times that Nicky Wire can tell us that he's sick and tired of being sick and tired, hates the world and wants to be alone.
Listening to Even in Exile at the weekend, it did strike me that it's probably the best and most interesting Manics related work since Futurology (especially if. Verses Echo With Tear Flow had been included in. place of one of the instrumentals). With some of the songs on Critical Thinking apparently being recorded separately and sounding like they belong on different albums, I genuinely wonder if going their separate ways might be the best option at this point.
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