Know Your Enemy 20 scheduled for 2021 release

[Vancouver]

Damn, thanks for sharing. HURRY UP MAIL.

I forget if it was mentioned in the original press release….but is His Last Painting (LA Mix) a typo (seeing as there are a few TLA mixes) or is it a separate thing?

[Donkey]

Originally Posted by Marat Sar

key change to We Are All Bourgeois is better -- and the whole thing is near perfect. An exceptional display of self-awareness and historic correction.

What key change?

[Routine Builder]

I think they meant key changes between songs rather than within the song?

[Son of Stopped]

It's ruined everything! I listened to my KYE playlist I listened to the opening bars of Rosebud, fourth song in, and just felt compelled to play Door To The River! It's so good.

[Flint]

Some random, disorganised thoughts.

- In general, the remix work is fantastic. These songs I've been listening to for twenty years and know in and out sound suddenly so fresh again. The added clarity really highlights a lot of the incredible instrumental detail across the record that was previously hidden: Sean's drumming, more intricate guitar parts, details like the Miss Europa solo which I always just thought was a synth, the bass on Epicentre, Wire's presence throughout, the more audible backing vocals at the end of Robeson, etc. It really is an incredible mix throughout, with only a few misses.

- The big one of those misses being the cropped outro to The Convalescent. Butchering job, the long intro is part of that song's strength and power and now it's more in line with the self-editing of the modern band.

- I also really don't like what they've done with Door to the River. The dreamy sound and incredible strings are part of what makes that song one of the band's best, taking them down makes the song sound like a version they'd throw together in a practice session. Reading the booklet I get that was kinda the vibe they were going for, but it just doesn't work for the song. That said, on a positive note it does highlight James' guitar playing beautifully.

- The split to two albums is... interesting. I'm still not sold that this exactly is how the band imagined the two albums would act like (the fact that Rosebud and Studies were completely forgotten to begin with rather than becoming b-sides says a lot about their original role), but it's an interesting repositioning and recontextualising of the songs. The Year of Purification as an opener and Epicentre as a closer is genuinely inspired and works excellently, especially with the latter coming off from Groundhog Days which felt as a bit a of a random throw-it-in addition when it came to adding b-sides onto the albums (still feel like Masking Tape would've been the obvious choice) but works excellently in context.

- That said, I do love the Avalanches remix but the original version is far superior and also fits the album so much better. The remix sticks out way too much, it's obvious that it's an independent rework - and it removes the backing vocals anyway, which is a crime onto its own.

- Solidarity is a little less solid overall and closing it off with Wattsville and Miss Europa sounds like the lazy option because the band couldn't decide which disc they should go to. Also not 100% sure Masses really belongs here: it shares the spirit of the album but I don't think it actually works in the context. But maybe that's just me having gotten so used to it being its own independent thing.

- I am super thankful to have all the other b-sides gathered here too, especially Fear of Motion and Little Trolls. I can finally replace terrible crackly 128kbps mp3s from two decades ago I have of both - Fear of Motion in pristine quality is especially phenomenal.

- Re the two new songs, culling them off the album was the right call back in 2001 but they should've been b-sides, at least. This was a real golden period for the band and it reflects on these two songs as well, and especially Studies in Paralysis has the kind of great b-side energy that really brings a strange kind of nostalgia for me, of repeat-listening to the band's b-sides in my teenage years.

- In respect of the demos, they're an interesting listen and at places genuinely present some interesting alternative history tidbits (His Last Elián being the obvious big one but also a lot of alternate lyrics, especially Masses, and Wire's Dead Martyrs). It also highlights just how much more fascinating the "older" demos are compared to what the band release now on their deluxe versions of the new albums, where it feels like JBD knows they're going to release the demos and so polishes them off to the extent that 95% of the time they're just rough mixes of the album versions. Here, you get some genuinely interesting things. And the beautiful incidental flair of James having a random cough in the middle of a song and someone calling Wire's phone while he's trying to record Wattsville Blues

- Generally really appreciating the coincidental emphasis His Last Painting is getting here, with four different versions making an appearance across the three discs. It's always been one of my favourite Manics deep cuts and I'm cherishing its little day in the sun as I don't think it ever gets its due credit.

- Overall, it's a really fascinating package. Would I have preferred a neater "KYE 2022 Remix" disc of the original 17 songs in their right order (already made my playlist and very keen on giving it a go!) and with b-sides etc on the second disc? Probably. But this feels like the natural conclusion to the band's desire to retcon their past and properly committing to it like this is so much more preferable than swapping b-sides with album tracks for no real reason. This really does offer an alternative view of the album and I imagine will have some chance of living alongside the original, not replacing it (nothing could, I love my weird-ass schizophrenically chaotic gremlin of a record).

Just don't touch anything on Lifeblood for its 4-CD Super Deluxe Celebratory edition.

[Donkey]

Yes, exactly my thoughts about Door to the River. The new version sounds like the completed version minus strings, not an alternative version. It makes it sound like a great recording of a rehearsal. The two obscure guitar licks there underline it.

I find the position of WB and Miss Europa a bit lazy too. They actually don't fit either of the albums.

And I also don't believe we got the originally planned tracklists. They probably changed their minds long before they made some relevant tracklists then.

+1 by The Convalescent too

[FacelessSenseOfVoid]

I don't think I'll forgive them for what they did to DTTR

[Europa Gluten Free]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their thoughts in long form here. FD is still the best Manics community.

[Europa Gluten Free]

I thought I would be a Solidarity guy but Door to the River is far far superior in terms of track listing and new production of tracks (Year of Puriifcation, His Last Painting, Let Robeson Sing, Groundhog Days, Epicentre all amazing). 10 tracks is perfect. Can't stop listening to it.

Solidarity on the other hand is a bit of a mess. From Found that Soul and Intravenous Agnostic being the wrong way round to We are all Bourgeois Now being in there to Wattsville and Miss Europa feeling tacked on at the end. I would take them both out and re-arrange it to:

Found that Soul
Intravenous Agnostic
Masses Against the Classes
The Convalescent
Baby Elian
My Guernica
Dead Martyrs
Studies in Paralysis
Freedom of Speech
We are all Bourgeois Now

Anyway - a lot more listening to do this week. It's a fantastic reissue.

[Europa Gluten Free]

Originally Posted by Donkey

And I also don't believe we got the originally planned tracklists.

I don't think there were any original tracklists really. I don't know anything but I wouldn't imagine they even got as far as track listing two albums. But I don't know.

[Europa Gluten Free]

I also think that the only way to make putting Intravenous Agnostic as the first track on Solidarity up to us all is by doing some winter gigs in the UK and opening the shows with Intravenous. Now that would be something.

[theplague]

Originally Posted by theplague

Could someone help me to find where/which post that clarifies which songs that have been remixed, or only remastered?

Originally Posted by Vancouver

If memory serves, the main tracklistings for Solidarity and DTTR are the tracks that have been remixed.

Could someone please confirm? Or just direct me to any site/shop this is clarified.

[Routine Builder]

Pretty sure it's only the the new album tracks that have been remixed. For instance, SWSS sounds pretty much the same which is unfortunate given its native mono mix.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by theplague

Could someone please confirm? Or just direct me to any site/shop this is clarified.

Pretty certain after giving this a couple of listens that it's just the main tracklists which have been remixed - tracks 1-10 on CD1 and 1-12 on CD2. The rest have received your standard remastering job, and then there's separate Tom Lord-Alge mixes of Epicentre and His Last Painting that are pretty close to the original album mixes.

[counterlanguage]

This is my tracklisting so far, DTTR (the track) works really nicely as an opener like Sullen Welsh Heart on RTF, then Groundhog Days acts as a bridge into Solidarity, or the second half of the album if you treat it as one 21 track double album. Solidarity definitely benefits from being rearranged, especially restoring the original KYE opening and final tracks. They just bookend it perfectly. You could drop Miss Europa so it flows a bit better, but I really like the new version so it stays.

DTTR
01. Door To The River
02. Ocean Spray
03. So Why So Sad (Avalanches - I'll probably end up putting the KYE version in... my only big bugbear with the package, they really needed a 4 min version of the remix with the chorus put back in)
04. The Year of Purification
05. Rosebud
06. Just a Kid
07. His Last Painting
08. Let Robeson Sing
09. Epicentre
10. Groundhog Days

Solidarity
01. Found That Soul (TLA Mix)
02. Intravenous Agnostic
03. Studies in Paralysis
04. The Convalescent
05. Baby Elian
06. Masses Against the Classes
07. My Guernica
08. Dead Martyrs
09. Wattsville Blues
10. Miss Europa Disco Dancer
11. Freedom of Speech Won't Feed My Children