New song - 9th March

[Marat Sar]

Originally Posted by Routine Builder

You know, I've been thinking lately. It's not liking bad things that makes us stupid, it's not liking good things. It's the things we don't have the capacity to appreciate, internalize and understand that make us into imbeciles. Missing the point and reverting to past darlings and emotional ground. No one has bad taste in music because they like a bit of cheesy shite, people have bad taste because they don't like, know or appreciate clearly excellent stuff. And aren't capable of turning perfectly serviceable 7/10s and promising b-sides into big things for themselves, via analysis and imagination.

There is considerably more good music than good listeners.

Touche, sir.

In my defense, I tried. I really did. I like Golden Platitudes for the lyrics and songwriting and The Future Has Been Here 4 Ever because it has trumpet and funk elements, a welcome break from the blandnesss elsewhere. It could have been a nice album, Some Kind Of Nothingness is a genuinely tremendous lyric, could have bee an absolute all time great with Lifeblood production.

[Routine Builder]

Nah, PAYM is beyond hope. I was actually thinking on Friday starting a topic on why it's the most disliked. It's bloody bizarre. I don't understand any of the musical choices they made. The production is so bland and passive and to this day I still can't hear whatever it is John Cale supposedly contibuted. Waited years for a Manics Cale collaboration and that's what we got?

Still though Golden Platitudes is still one of the best things they've done since Lifeblood.

[FacelessSenseOfVoid]

PFAYM is a real mixed bag. I quite like the first three tracks, but then it nose dives pretty badly up until around Golden Platitudes and doesn't really recover (although I don't mind Billion Balconies).

Some of the b-sides were a million times better than the album tracks - Midnight Sun, Distractions and Lost Voices, which are all in my top 10 favourite b-sides list.

[Suicide Aldi]

I quite like PFAYM to be honest. All we make is entertainment is a tune.

[UEF]

I like PFAYM. Coffee, motion, sleep.

[Porco]

I like PFAYM too. I think the idea that “everyone hates it” just comes from the more vocal people who do, but that doesn’t mean they represent everyone.

[Flint]

PFAYM is one of their weaker ones but there's still some good stuff in it, and if anything it's SATT done right to some extent.

[Dac X Lee]

Originally Posted by Porco

I like PFAYM too. I think the idea that “everyone hates it” just comes from the more vocal people who do, but that doesn’t mean they represent everyone.

I agree.
But then, I like their every album, without exception.
That may make me seem lacking of critical thinking, but I really only just genuinely enjoy anything the band has to show us. I like the diversity of their repertoire too.

[begging_to_be_cool]

Another vote for PFAYM. A Billion Balconies Facing The Sun is great, so is Golden Platitudes.

[Porco]

Originally Posted by Dac X Lee

I agree.
But then, I like their every album, without exception.
That may make me seem lacking of critical thinking, but I really only just genuinely enjoy anything the band has to show us. I like the diversity of their repertoire too.

I agree with your agreement.

I like all their albums too, it’s allowed. It doesn’t mean there aren’t albums in general, by all bands and artists where I don’t like some. But there isn’t a certain number of albums where it becomes impossible to like them all, is there? I mean I guess it becomes statistically more likely that the more they make, the more chance there will be one that you (/ I /we) don’t like, but then there’s bands with only 1 album and I don’t like it, and bands with a few and I only like a couple, and bands with loads and only a few I don’t like... all totally valid opinions. You can say the same kind of things about the authors of books, film directors, etc etc...

Further to your point, I think it sometimes feels like some people have an expectation, either of themselves or of others, that one ‘should’ dislike some things in someone’s work, as if to prove their critical faculties are discerning and they have ‘good’ taste. I think that’s misguided, whether it really is an expectation or it’s just an echo chamber of perceptions and few people actually, truly feel that way.

None of which is to dispite some people genuinely dislike stuff. That’s fine. But it is grating when people adopt the attitude that because they don’t like something (subjectively), therefore it is ‘objectively’ bad. Just no. Conversely, the same can be said about ‘recognised’ classics, that people ‘should’ like... but it does feel to me that those with negative views tend to shout louder, certainly online.

TL;DR version: you like what you like, nothing wrong with that.

[Cyle]

Postcards is the one Manics album I always forget exists, but I do like it.

[The Quatercircle]

PFAYM is the only album I rank below a 6. Listenable but not a favourite by any stretch.

[Automatik]

Originally Posted by Porco

I like PFAYM too. I think the idea that “everyone hates it” just comes from the more vocal people who do, but that doesn’t mean they represent everyone.

I don't hate PFAYM; I was just very underwhelmed by it. I don't hate any Manics track - *thinks* no, I really don't. I skip Miss Europa, but I don't hate it. PFAYM is just a shrug for me (although Red Rubber and I'm Leaving You For Solitude are two of my absolute favourite b-sides).

That the people who 'love' PFAYM are less vocal about their love than those who 'hate' it is perhaps evidence that they don't love it that much. It's hardly controversial to state that it's not the band's best work.

[jl45]

I havent bought a MSP cd on release, I usually pick up the deluxe version from Japan, but this one... im gonna get both the standard UK and the jp deluxe edition, this is first time I can ever remember being truly excited about a MSP release. Sadly my next visit is in 2 weeks so Ill probably have to wait till autumn on the following trip to pick the j version up, unless I get my gf's parents to mail it to me, but I dont wanna ask them to do that as Im sure they will mess it up somehow.

[sculptureofabloke]

People use the word hate too freely these days. It's music. I hate war, homelessness, poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, shit like that. A song that doesn't hit their previous heights doesn't quite ring with the same kind of injustice to me.