Most atypical Manics song

[cherrybomb]

All this talk of the band really pushing the envelope on the new album made me think. Despite all the different sounds, styles and even images they've had over the years they've always sounded like Manic Street Preachers, maybe that's down to JDB'S voice or something else I dunno. The one exception I can think of, for me at least, is Lost Voices, I can hear early Oasis in there and ELO and maybe even an Ozzy Osbourne vocal line, but that particular song just sounds nothing like Manic Street Preachers to me and it's the only example I can think of. Any others?

[Son of Stopped]

Engage With Your Shadow.

Atypical doesn't cover it!

[cherrybomb]

Originally Posted by Son of Stopped

Engage With Your Shadow.

Atypical doesn't cover it!

Ah! I haven't dared to go there yet.

[amaitheanhorn]

I think Lost Voices is very manicsy

Completely agree with Engage With Your Shadow. It has a KYE feel to it but yeah, definitely atypical.

[Son of Stopped]

And there's never been a better thread or time to get re-introduced to it's wonderment!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVAae4m24b4

[Bathtub]

Engage with your Shadow is fantastic. I'd love Nicky to do a whole album of that sound.

[Dac X Lee]

Engage with your Shadow is good, but that's not the point. It is an atypical song indeed. And so is Failure Bound. Basically anything without much instruments?

Sculpture of Man isn't the most "typical" Manics' song either, it's a purely hard core punk one, which isn't really the type of music the band played to, even at the beginning of their career, as far as the demoes prove it.

Miss Europa Disco Dancer is a pretty unusual one too, I'd say.

All these songs I personally like, not to be misunderstood. I welcome artistic experimentations and deviations from a typical style.

[cdrw1992]

Thanks for the link, that's the first time I've heard Engage with your Shadow…very very weird…

Miss Europa was the one that came to mind first, but I suppose you could also add So Why So Sad or Year of Purification from KYE. Being the Beach Boys or REM are styles they've never really repeated.

I guess the difficulty with the question is because the Manics have embraced so many different styles and influences throughout their career and carried most of them through an album or so that it's difficult to define the typical Manics sound - though James' voice is very distinctive of course.

Maybe it's one reason why I identify the Manics by the lyrics not the music, to me they're nearly always a 'lyric first' band. Doesn't take long to realise a song like Black Square as a new example would only be penned by MSP.

Ballad of Bangkok Novotel was my other suggestion.

[allisvanity]

Originally Posted by cdrw1992

Miss Europa was the one that came to mind first

Same here.

Engage With Your Shadow is possibly more atypical though. I also think that Europa Geht Durch Mich is fairly atypical for the boys mind.

[Dac X Lee]

Originally Posted by cdrw1992

I guess the difficulty with the question is because the Manics have embraced so many different styles and influences throughout their career and carried most of them through an album or so that it's difficult to define the typical Manics sound - though James' voice is very distinctive of course.

Agree.
But no matter how different is each album from one another, there still is that Manics scent to them, that overall "Manics style". I guess that was what the author of this thread had thought. Also, James' voice is distinctive for sure, but still it isn't enough to take it out to make the song non-Manics sounding. Take all the Nicky vocal songs, for example, Rewind the Film (song), which James doesn't sing much in and Between the Clock and the Bed or Four Lonely Roads... Even No Comfort For Your Skin, which is officially not a Manics song sounds still pretty much like a song of theirs to me.

Of course, to some these songs might sound atypical as well, I guess that's a subjective matter. It all depends how you perceive this Manics musical/artistic entity.

Originally Posted by cdrw1992

Ballad of Bangkok Novotel was my other suggestion.

Dunno, still the Bangkok Novotel sounds quite Manics to me....

[cdrw1992]

Yeah I definitely see what you mean, though that's where the unique lyrical aspect comes to the fore for me, ie you don't necessarily need to hear James to know it's a Manics song, you can tell pretty quickly from the lyrics. So really it's less of a musical/stylistic thing for me...

I was just going to mention Rewind The Film as well

EGDM like All is Vanity said and The Last Time I Saw Paris too as you said Dancing Kirby - though I guess if the next album contains no English neither would stand out!

[Dancing Kirby]

The Last Time I Saw Paris.

Too good for them. They've blatantly stolen someone else's obscure song and stuck a JDB cameo over the top of it, hoping that no one ever notices. (A bit like Rewind the Film.)

[cdrw1992]

I'll have to play it so some French friends, see if they recognise the tune at all (B-side conspiracy)...hope it's all original though, it is seriously good!

EDIT - which was the obscure song they used for Rewind The Film?

[Dancing Kirby]

Originally Posted by cdrw1992

EDIT - which was the obscure song they used for Rewind The Film?

David Axelrod's Little Girl Lost. There's no YouTube link.

http://open.spotify.com/track/6jMwCGOFwLXwpfsuF8sf50

[cdrw1992]

Thanks for the link

..we joked about Steps and It's Not War but they basically copied so much of that David Axelrod track. We all know the Manics like openly paying homage or using influences which is great but when you just take great slices of someone elses work...that's a real shame especially when it's so beautiful as well. Wouldn't surprise me with The Last Time then. Anyway...