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#31
22-02-2017, 20:00
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Looking forward to reading this muchly
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IS IT MANICS O'CLOCK YET?
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#32
28-02-2017, 09:06
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Finished this last night, and definitely recommend for anyone with more than a passing interest in the album.
The third section, about memory and archive, was the one I found most interesting and most intellectually challenging. I particularly liked that it was more about The Holy Bible as an archive, and the impact of the album and of Richey's disappearance on the rest of the band and their subsequent work, both lyrically and musically. I could possibly have done without the long remeniscence of the author attending the Holy Bible 20 tour and British Sea Power gig though. I wonder whether the book would have been more easily readable and have reached a wider audience if it had included a) a brief history of the band, and b) the lyrics to The Holy Bible (doesn't seem to be a copyright issue with quoting them, the second two sections do so freely). In summary - second best book I've read about the Manics (I love Everything, subjective or not), if you are the target audience.
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#33
01-03-2017, 19:36
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A good in-depth review here - gives you a true flavour of the book http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/trip-ticks-1/
I've read the first part and the final part and now I'll go to the middle. Overall I find it a peculiar mix of fanzine flavoured fan personal reminiscences from the author mixed in with academic pieces on the album or rather on the context of the album - it's not a line by line breakdown or review....it doesn't bother me that it doesn't include lots of lines drawn from the songs with analysis alongside as it's more about drawing out the links between songs and setting them in their wider historical, social contexts. Personally I liked Rhian E Jones pieces on the album and she brings in a feminist slant too which was interesting. I was less keen on the final piece by Larissa Wodtke....it's very verbose. Overly so. Sure maybe I just don't understand but it seemed to me in essence to be saying that when Richey left he left his story open and we all but particularly the band keep trying to piece the ending together and sometimes try to rewrite the history either as a means to try and distance themselves from him or rather from the pain or to understand and answer the big question mark a disappearance leaves. If that is the idea it's quite a simple idea but the piece seems a laboured phd philosophy dissertation. Or maybe I have no patience nor attention spa...... There are a lot of references scattered throughout in the form of author's or band interviewers names in brackets which also lent it all a dissertation feel and slowed the pace but I enjoyed some of the references to other bands around - Rhian Jones is clearly a big Courtney Love fan - yay! And Daniel Lukes misinterprets the Wildhearts in my humble - listen to the lyrics that was not a happy band, don't accuse them of happy.... though they dressed them in poppy rock melodies. And they were pretty political too...but I digress And the intro by Simon Price - who feels the need to mention that he wrote a biography of the band, called Everything, just in case any die hard Holy Bible follower has failed to hear of him. So many things wind me up.... On to Daniel Lukes part
__________________
"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more," - Byron 'I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.' (from Sea Fever - John Masefield) "Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all" - Emily Dickinson
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#34
07-03-2017, 09:51
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I just finished reading it and really liked it. I agree that the final section did read a bit like a PHD thesis at times which at first I found frustrating. But as she began talking about the albums after THB I felt her language and style changed a bit - became less academic. I wondered if she was reflecting what the manics did themselves? THB was full of words and ideas, was almost exploding with language - this changed in EMG? I may well be wrong but I thought this was quite clever and quite effective.
I actually quite liked reading her memories of the three gigs at the roundhouse too - maybe because I missed out!
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#35
29-03-2017, 15:52
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I just finished reading this and came here to post my thoughts. I loved it although found some of it very challenging but in a very enjoyable way. Not for "beginners" or new fans, but for anyone who has "lived" THB - ie experienced anorexia, self-harm etc it has real impact. Also the chapter about Sylvia Plath and the holocaust is brilliant.
I agree with Glass Angel. The final chapter of the third essay (about going to see the Roundhouse gigs) was totally pointless and detracted from the brilliant writing and insights that came previously.
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#36
14-04-2017, 22:47
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__________________
"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more," - Byron 'I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.' (from Sea Fever - John Masefield) "Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all" - Emily Dickinson
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#37
16-04-2017, 01:14
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Quote:
__________________
Please, he prayed, now - A gray disk, the colour of Chiba sky. Now - Disk beginning to rotate, faster, becoming a sphere of paler gray. Expanding - And flowed, flowered for him, fluid neon origami trick, the unfolding of his distanceless home, his country, transparent 3D chessboard extending to infinity. Inner eye opening to the stepped scarlet pyramid of the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority burning beyond the green cubes of Mitsubishi Bank of America, and high and very far away he saw the spiral arms of military systems, forever beyond his reach. And somewhere he was laughing, in a white-painted loft, distant fingers caressing the deck, tears of release streaking his face. Last edited by Tim; 16-04-2017 at 01:21.
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#39
17-04-2017, 10:05
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Quote:
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#40
18-04-2017, 01:01
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I do love that the band inspires this sort of thing and not some poxy indie band like, god forbid, another kinesis or something. So i'm down with that and i'm sure wire would be thrilled to know they inspire this kind of analysis but the little digs at later material really grinds my gears, as if there's nothing of worth to be gained from it. For example, you have rhian jones making a bizarre comparison between PCP and its supposed 'soft-centred descendant "the love of richard nixon"' and concluding the latter comes off worse. Other than the fact there is zero lineage between the two most of their songs will come off worse against PCP. You have daniel lukes who felt betrayed by everything must go, which is fair enough but to provide this insightful dissertation on the manic's literary references and then to say he didn't understand what they were aiming for with the band's 'bland' image at that time quite surprised me: how can you not get that they were aiming for a clean break with their past? In the opening to larissa wodtke's part she seems to think fans are still polarized between the generation terrorists, holy bible and everything must go eras. Really? I would say that that splitting of the fans has long passed into history since most of those older fans have fallen by the wayside, it just ain't a thing anymore.
__________________
Please, he prayed, now - A gray disk, the colour of Chiba sky. Now - Disk beginning to rotate, faster, becoming a sphere of paler gray. Expanding - And flowed, flowered for him, fluid neon origami trick, the unfolding of his distanceless home, his country, transparent 3D chessboard extending to infinity. Inner eye opening to the stepped scarlet pyramid of the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority burning beyond the green cubes of Mitsubishi Bank of America, and high and very far away he saw the spiral arms of military systems, forever beyond his reach. And somewhere he was laughing, in a white-painted loft, distant fingers caressing the deck, tears of release streaking his face.
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#41
19-04-2017, 00:06
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I did like her piece best though I also think that although Wire and Richey have similarities they're very different lyricists....something the book misses maybe? And Lukes dismissive comment about the band never regaining a grip on contemporary events as he sits thinking about Fuck the Brady Bill & thinking of the racism of the Second Amendment against the news of black men being shot by police officers is a strange example ... I think there's a certain irony in the Manic lyric/reference If God made man Sam Colt made him equal....maybe missed by Lukes for while it's true that the majority of guns are sold by and to white men in the US and the majority of victims poor and black ..... arming every last person won't resolve the problems of race and poverty....anyway that's my view And sure the comments about the band being a nostalgia act in the years since. Makes you wonder if he's listened to there other albums. Still since when was being a fan of the band also about agreeing with each other? About anything? Ever
__________________
"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more," - Byron 'I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.' (from Sea Fever - John Masefield) "Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all" - Emily Dickinson
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#42
19-04-2017, 01:01
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I'm still not fussed on the dissertation style for any of it really but her essay did seem the most coherent and like you i found the linkage between the holy bible and feminism interesting and worth exploring. She brings up the dismissal of female manics fans by the 'majority-male criterati' as somehow being less credible and legitimate than male fans and that was particularly spot-on i thought. The themes she delves into for each song makes for good reading it's just the swipes at later stuff (mostly in daniel luke's piece) that annoy the crap out of me. Still struggling through the last part though: it really is kinda overwrought huh?
__________________
Please, he prayed, now - A gray disk, the colour of Chiba sky. Now - Disk beginning to rotate, faster, becoming a sphere of paler gray. Expanding - And flowed, flowered for him, fluid neon origami trick, the unfolding of his distanceless home, his country, transparent 3D chessboard extending to infinity. Inner eye opening to the stepped scarlet pyramid of the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority burning beyond the green cubes of Mitsubishi Bank of America, and high and very far away he saw the spiral arms of military systems, forever beyond his reach. And somewhere he was laughing, in a white-painted loft, distant fingers caressing the deck, tears of release streaking his face.
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#43
03-05-2017, 00:31
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So here's the thing... larissa wodtke's essay, now having completed it, actually has some great things to say about the later stuff. From the 'underrated' lifeblood to a thorough deep dive into journal to better understand the bible.
__________________
Please, he prayed, now - A gray disk, the colour of Chiba sky. Now - Disk beginning to rotate, faster, becoming a sphere of paler gray. Expanding - And flowed, flowered for him, fluid neon origami trick, the unfolding of his distanceless home, his country, transparent 3D chessboard extending to infinity. Inner eye opening to the stepped scarlet pyramid of the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority burning beyond the green cubes of Mitsubishi Bank of America, and high and very far away he saw the spiral arms of military systems, forever beyond his reach. And somewhere he was laughing, in a white-painted loft, distant fingers caressing the deck, tears of release streaking his face.
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