[scott_laconia]

Originally Posted by tomd2103

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.

I agree with most of what you are saying here although I don't think they need to call it quits, I just think they need to be a bit more adventurous. The music on Critical Thinking (the actual track) is almost an extension to Futurology and at least a bit different but sadly I'm not a fan of Nicky's voice, not his fault, that's my issue I guess. At moment I'd love the idea of them going somewhere else and using another producer/engineer etc and seeing what happens and working on an actual album of songs rather than coming into the studio on their own over the period of a year, because that's exactly what the album sounds like to me. I'm at the point now where a JDB album and tour would excite me more, because I think he would at least change the setlist up a bit. I know James said recently that he wants Sean to come into his own and write a mega hit, and although that's probably a bit tongue in cheek at least it would be something interesting, by all accounts Sean had a massive input on Lifeblood and GATS two of my favourite albums. For me, the biggest change in dynamic wasn't necessarily just when Richey left, it was when Nicky started writing music, that's went it all went a bit samey for me. Does that make sense?