15 years of Lifeblood - Page 4 - Forever Delayed

PaulTMA · #46 11-11-2019, 13:11

This album was released at the absolute nadir of my interest in the band and was preceded by a single I thought was naff, so it was a very pleasant surprise when the album was absolutely fantastic. Very pleased to see it has found more favour with the fanbase over the years. If something is genuinely good, then that is what tends to happen. It may never achieve any kind of 'Pinkerton'-esque success, but I'd compare it to something like MGMT's 'Congratuations' in terms of it being regarded fondly despite a dodgy initial reception.

junkymotown · #47 12-11-2019, 06:59

OK, I take it back. Time has been kind to Lifeblood. I never really took to it back in the day, bar the first three songs, so I never listened to it much since.

Have had it on the last couple of days and am really enjoying it. It doesn't seem as long as it used to, passes quickly and enjoyably. There are some really emotive and powerful bits, and it gels really well as a single unit.

Sorry guys - I'm a late Lifeblood convert! Am wondering why I didn't like it so much all those years ago?

Routine Builder · #48 12-11-2019, 07:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by junkymotown

OK, I take it back. Time has been kind to Lifeblood. I never really took to it back in the day, bar the first three songs, so I never listened to it much since.

Have had it on the last couple of days and am really enjoying it. It doesn't seem as long as it used to, passes quickly and enjoyably. There are some really emotive and powerful bits, and it gels really well as a single unit.

Sorry guys - I'm a late Lifeblood convert! Am wondering why I didn't like it so much all those years ago?

Age maybe? It's an album about making peace with the past, embracing the present and not worrying about the future. This to me sounds like something most do in their mid 30s to late 40s.

junkymotown · #49 12-11-2019, 08:41

As a 34-year-old (1985!! Whoo) ... perhaps that's right.

And I've never really thought about it that way. Another listen is in order!

sitdown1985 · #50 13-11-2019, 21:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donkey

Ach, Lifeblood.

7) I believe it was the last time they did what they really wanted to do and they believed it would be a huge success. And you can hear it. There is no trying to do something because of this or that (Rendition? Imperial Bodybags? Postcards album?).

11) We got Futurology 10 years later, songs like The Next Jet to Leave Moscow and the Black Squary sound like Lifeblood2 and are great :-)

Point 7 is a great observation, although perhaps Rewind the Film and Futurology are exceptions to the rule. I see there being three phases of Manic Street Preachers: Pre THB, EMG - LifeBlood and then SATT - RIF.

IntlDebris · #51 14-11-2019, 01:06

Rewind the Film has Anthem for a Lost Cause which, although I really like it, I can totally see as the album's Design for Life-alike, following Autumnsong and Postcards.

hummingbird · #52 14-11-2019, 20:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by junkymotown

OK, I take it back. Time has been kind to Lifeblood. I never really took to it back in the day, bar the first three songs, so I never listened to it much since.

Have had it on the last couple of days and am really enjoying it. It doesn't seem as long as it used to, passes quickly and enjoyably. There are some really emotive and powerful bits, and it gels really well as a single unit.

Sorry guys - I'm a late Lifeblood convert! Am wondering why I didn't like it so much all those years ago?

Welcome. Better late than never

Agree with the age thing. Rewind the Film is an 'older'album too methinks

comradestripe · #53 01-12-2019, 19:40

I absolutely love Lifeblood. For some reason, when it was released, I'd assumed I wasn't going to be fussed by it, but it was just what I needed exactly when I needed it. It suited the cold autumn/winter perfectly. There are a few songs that I skipped back then and might still now (Always/Never, Fragments and Emily) but there are several on the album that are among the Manics' best.

Bobafettish · #54 04-12-2019, 07:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by sitdown1985

Point 7 is a great observation, although perhaps Rewind the Film and Futurology are exceptions to the rule. I see there being three phases of Manic Street Preachers: Pre THB, EMG - LifeBlood and then SATT - RIF.

I think RTF and Futurology have a kind of resignation to them - they know it won’t be the huge commercial success, so that’s freed them up a bit more creatively. Lifeblood was still very much with them still being in the mainstream

theraven1979 · #55 13-12-2019, 16:47

More love for Lifeblood - just one of my faves. I like the whole vibe about it and they're not really trying to rock out

Bambi · #56 11-02-2020, 17:37

'Oh when did you decide / that sleep could save your life?'

This never fails to make me sigh... a beautiful example of that soothing melancholy the band did - perhaps still do - so well, and yet in style it's quite unlike any other song in the canon. One of James' finest vocals too. All sorts of lovely.

BloodFlowerBill · #57 12-02-2020, 15:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bambi

'Oh when did you decide / that sleep could save your life?'

This never fails to make me sigh... a beautiful example of that soothing melancholy the band did - perhaps still do - so well, and yet in style it's quite unlike any other song in the canon. One of James' finest vocals too. All sorts of lovely.

James's voice is rather beautiful on that one. I also like 1985 and Cardiff Afterlife. But the album itself is a kind of half-successful experiment. I'd still love to hear those Visconti mixes.

socialist cook · #58 12-02-2020, 17:17

I agree with the comments on James' vocals and using different sounds/tones. For instance I remember when The Live of Richard Nixon came out and immediately thought "gosh that's low!" but it fits the song really well.

Marconi Delorian · #59 12-02-2020, 19:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by BloodFlowerBill

James's voice is rather beautiful on that one. I also like 1985 and Cardiff Afterlife. But the album itself is a kind of half-successful experiment. I'd still love to hear those Visconti mixes.

I thought all the Visconti stuff was either on the album or b sides?

BloodFlowerBill · #60 12-02-2020, 20:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marconi Delorian

I thought all the Visconti stuff was either on the album or b sides?

Right. So looking into it he produced three tracks and then they resumed with Haver /Elmhirst, Stent and Williams so maybe it just didn't work out. I thought they'd junked them all and had them mixed again, my mistake..I thought it was a shame he didn't do the whole album anyway as the likes of Empty souls sound sheened up and bolted on for me.

From Visconti's Quietus interview with Simon Price.

You produced three tracks on Manic Street Preachers'*Lifebloodalbum, including the last one and perhaps the best, 'Cardiff Afterlife'. What are your memories of that?

TV: They are a lovely bunch of musicians. I think that was a tentative period of their career and they were finding it hard to come up with material they were happy with. And sometimes the chemistry is not quite right, so they resumed recording with their long time producer.

Nevertheless, the 1985/Cardiff life mixes on the Patrick Jones videos have more grit than those that ended up on the album. Lifeblood ended up sounding like a compromise that ended up falling between two stools ie the icy synth-pop one and the stadium epics ones.