Gold Against The Soul Discussion Thread

[Nabby]

Life Becoming a Landslide is the greatest Manics song ever.

There I said it

[PCCCP]

There's already a recent thread on this subject, actually
http://www.foreverdelayed.org.uk/for...ad.php?t=55085

Anyway.
It's a terrific guitar rock album. B-sides are mega too.
Could've benefitted from a couple of additional tracks might be the
only real criticism. Otherwise, I likey GATS.

[Nabby]

Originally Posted by ennanire

Life becoming a landslide is the best track they have ever done and will do (regardless if they're musicianship has improved.)

FACT.
Easily the greatest Manics song

[Nature's Discontent]

Originally Posted by harrijack

I love this album. Aware it's uncool, but I really fucking love it. It's so fun and overblown and great. I'd listen to it over most of The Holy Bible any day.

Yeah, deal with it!

Fair enough!

[scott_laconia]

for alot of years GATS was my favourite album, its a tremendous over the top rock album and I love it. suprised the band didnt achieve huge things in America off the back of it considering what was out around the same time over there

Sleepflower and From Despair are ace. LTD & Roses; pretty good, and Landslide is good.

Rest of the album; hmmm, a bit of a disappointment. Yourself is ok, just didn't like many of the songs at the time, never got into loads of them.

I think Comfort Comes and Starlover should have been on this album.

[Mr Richey]

As I already did my star ratings in the TIMTTMY thread, here are my star ratings for GATS:

1. Sleepflower - 5/5
2. From Despair To Where - 5/5
3. Scream To A Sigh (La Tristesse Durera) - 5/5
4. Yourself - 4/5
5. Life Becoming A Landslide - 4/5
6. Drug Drug Druggy - 3/5
7. Roses In The Hospital - 3/5
8. Nostalgic Pushead - 2/5
9. Symphony Of Tourette - 2/5
10. Gold Against The Soul - 2/5

So yeah...as I've said before, half a great album and half a poor album.

[2004567]

1. Sleepflower - 5/5
2. From Despair To Where - 5/5
3. Scream To A Sigh (La Tristesse Durera) - 5/5
4. Yourself - 4/5
5. Life Becoming A Landslide - 4/5
6. Drug Drug Druggy - 3.5/5
7. Roses In The Hospital - 5/5
8. Nostalgic Pushead - 5/5
9. Symphony Of Tourette - 2.5/5
10. Gold Against The Soul - 2.5/5

[Pedro8]

Donkeys should certainly have been there, it has great lyrics and solo, whilst adding a more mellow break from the overblown rock production. It used to me my favourite before I listened to far more music and realised how utterly incredible Holy Bible is. Not into the whole rating albums compared to each other after that. Still a great album in the right mood. I'm predictable and like the popular five, Yourself and GATS. Other three are good in context too. All are better than Patrick Bateman, probably my least favourite GATS original b-side, far too cheesy, US Against You and Comfort Comes do angry Manics much better.

Edit: I remember crying the first time I heard Life Becoming A Landslide, so young and sensitive!

[Ken Korda]

Love this album. My 4th favourite all on the merits of the first half:

1. Sleepflower - 5/5
2. From Despair To Where - 5/5
3. Scream To A Sigh (La Tristesse Durera) - 5/5
4. Yourself - 4/5
5. Life Becoming A Landslide - 5/5
6. Drug Drug Druggy - 4/5
7. Roses In The Hospital - 4/5
8. Nostalgic Pushead - 2/5
9. Symphony Of Tourette - 2/5
10. Gold Against The Soul - 1/5

[Inglorious]

Its my favourite album but that may be because I was just happy at the time that they could make an album that sounded so much more complete than GT.
I really like Symphony of Tourette, which I realise makes me pretty unpopular around these parts.
Are Mothers Saints and even Charles Windsor are superb as well. And Patrick Bateman I love because it just sounded so lyrically awkward at the time and still does...a bit like Natwest Barclays etc..

[Pedro8]

I think people tend to ignore GATS since they've had to trawl through the weaker songs to get there. Listen to it in isolation people and hopefully you'll get into it more. I think it's a great song, and looks like there are plenty who agree too if you look hard enough.

[Dean V]

1. Sleepflower - 5/5
2. From Despair To Where - 4/5
3. Scream To A Sigh (La Tristesse Durera) - 4/5
4. Yourself - 5/5
5. Life Becoming A Landslide - 5/5
6. Drug Drug Druggy - 4/5
7. Roses In The Hospital - 4/5
8. Nostalgic Pushead - 5/5
9. Symphony Of Tourette - 3/5
10. Gold Against The Soul - 4/5

It is that damn good.

[Mr Richey]

Originally Posted by Pedro8

I think people tend to ignore GATS since they've had to trawl through the weaker songs to get there. Listen to it in isolation people and hopefully you'll get into it more. I think it's a great song, and looks like there are plenty who agree too if you look hard enough.

If you're talking about the song, it's the political/cultural references in "Gold Against The Soul" that bring it down so heavily for me. They suffer from the same problem as the whole of Some Time In New York City by John Lennon; the references are out of date within 6 months of the album coming out, meaning they just don't resonate anymore. It's different when songs have political/cultural references that are large enough to still be remembered years later and/or have heavy influence on popular culture. But the majority of the references in a song like "Gold Against The Soul" would mean nothing now to a modern audience.

Plus I think the tune itself is a bit cheesy

[sculptureofabloke]

1. Sleepflower - 5/5
2. From Despair To Where - 5/5
3. Scream To A Sigh (La Tristesse Durera) - 4/5
4. Yourself - 3/5
5. Life Becoming A Landslide - 4/5
6. Drug Drug Druggy - 3/5
7. Roses In The Hospital - 4/5
8. Nostalgic Pushead - 3/5
9. Symphony Of Tourette - 5/5
10. Gold Against The Soul - 5/5