RTF - (hysteric) reactions, ranking...

[Mr Richey]

Originally Posted by hummingbird

I'm suddenly worried about the chart placing for this. Fuck knows why cos it doesn't matter right? RIGHT??

I've already said this, but...do you like the album? If so, then what the fuck else matters?

[Son of Stopped]

Might, might, might, might be able to join on tomorrow. Might do. I know it's on Spotify, but as I might x 5 be getting it tomorrow, I can wait a bit longer.
Plus I won't have adverts popping in between songs.

As as for chart position, it'd be good to have as many other people joining in as possible.

You never know, this might attract a lot of fans who don't even touch this forum! You might get your band stolen off you!

[hummingbird]

Originally Posted by Mr Richey

I've already said this, but...do you like the album? If so, then what the fuck else matters?

I ADORE it. But still.

*chews fingernails and barely eats all week*

[Dancing Kirby]

Chart positions matter massively to them. Nicky's obsessed. Remember when he phoned in to Soccer AM on a Saturday morning to beg viewers to buy more copies of SATT when it had a chance of going to no.1?

[hummingbird]

Originally Posted by Dancing Kirby

Chart positions matter massively to them. Nicky's obsessed. Remember when he phoned in to Soccer AM on a Saturday morning to beg viewers to buy more copies of SATT when it had a chance of going to no.1?

thankfully i missed that I think I realised the manics were back when they played Glastonbury

[Carson]

My local ASDA had them at a preliminary position of 7.

[roi]

They've a better chance of a high position with a album than a single as less people buy albums now (see also Nick Cave getting a UK number one album this year with a pretty uncommercial LP)

[who's responsible?]

I just checked iTunes chart and it is a little confusing....
Deluxe edition is at number 17, normal edition at 18. What the combined total would be placed at is anyone's guess...

[Littlesue]

I've no doubt my Wednesday Nicky will be twittering how its only so many copies behind the Arctic Monkey's and Elton John.

[Son of Stopped]

Well that will teach me to be unemployed and only able to buy the standard CD... no Captain Beefheart sample!
And do you think, just once, record companies will be able to release just one CD this year that doesn't leave sticky residue on the CD case when you remove the security label? (And I can't load the smilies to show my tongue in cheek)

As for the album, I do like it. I'm looking forward to listening to it a lot more.
4 Lonely Roads surprised me. Although I did find the last half of the album blends into one song.
I'm gutted Cian Ciaran isn't on this album. Maybe he'll be on the next one.
At the minute I'll give it a 7. It can only grow from there. Not sure it'll touch 9 just yet. But I don't regret it. But at the same time, I'm not bouncing around with new Manics stuff.

[Abstract Unknown Girl]

I've been holding back on posting my thoughts until I had the actual album in my hands and have had the opportunity to sit and listen to it all the way through, whilst reading the lyrics and with no distractions (yes, I'm old-fashioned like that). I had heard the radio rips (and some of the tracks live), but I didn't feel like I was ready to form proper opinions on everything at that point. But now I think I'm ready.

Overall I am really, really impressed. I'd become a bit disheartened after categorically disliking Postcards (normally I can find at least something to like about every Manics album even if they aren't perfect, but I'm afraid Postcards failed on all levels for me) and won't lie when I say I was more than a bit apprehensive about how RTF was going to turn out, especially with all the talk of guest vocalists and whatnot. But I am very pleasantly surprised. It's wonderfully atmospheric, with beautifully haunting melodies, but with small elements of fight/conviction mixed in for good measure. I'm very impressed with the lyrics overall too, even if they do often make for quite depressing and bleak reading.

One of my favourites so far is This Sullen Welsh Heart. I'm less bothered by Lucy Rose's vocals than I expected to be, although think James can manage the song fine by himself too. I liked the way he altered the pitch of his voice at the Newport/Portmeirion gigs when singing Lucy Rose's parts and he's done the same on the demo as well. Please don't kill me for saying this, but I have to admit the first time I heard this song the 'So line up the firing squads, kiss goodbye to what you want' part reminded me of the 'Find me and follow me, through corridors, refectories' part of Dark of the Matinee by Franz Ferdinand

Another favourite so far is 30-Year War - loved the 'I ask you again, what is to be done' bit immediately and a great closer to the album...and possibly bridging the gap nicely between this album and the next. The lyrics remind me of what SYMM tried to do on Truth, but this time I think they got the music spot on (I'm afraid I find the melody of SYMM god awful).

I think Builder of Routines actually contains the lyric that sums up the general feel of the whole album for me - 'in between acceptance and rage'. You could argue the tracklisting is a bit all over the place and veers a bit disjointedly between the slightly more experimental, fragile side (the title track and I Miss The Tokyo Skyline for example) and the soaring, anthemic melodies we're more used to from the band (Show Me The Wonder, Anthem For a Lost Cause, As Holy As The Soil), with a bit of slightly angrier/heavier sounds thrown in (30-Year War and 3 Ways To See Despair), but I think that lyric from Builder of Routines explains the tone of the album perfectly and what mindset they were in when writing it. Also love the addition of the horn on this track; so haunting and really lifts the song to another level for me.

Rewind The Film has really, really grown on me since we first heard it a couple of months ago. I still think it'd benefit from more James, but it's such a beautiful song and the lyrics make me want to cry. I think I love it even more after hearing it live with Richard Hawley's vocals as well. It sounded huge.

I have to say Show Me The Wonder has grown on me a lot more since I first heard it too. Well, in actual fact, I liked it initially, then started to find it a bit irritating and OTT, but since hearing it live both acoustically on that Radio 2 session they did as part of the Hyde Park gig and also live on the tour with live brass, it's gone back up in my estimation. It's ridiculously catchy and I can't help but get it stuck in my head. I did find its place on the tracklisting a tad jarring at first, but it reminds me a bit of You Stole The Sun's placing on Truth. Nothing else on Truth is really like YSTS and I don't think it represents the tone of that album either, yet that was one of the big singles off it. Basically, they are always going to be suckers for writing a catchy pop song and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. There's enough melancholy in the other tracks on the album for there to be space for a bit of light relief (musically speaking).

(I Miss The) Tokyo Skyline was a pleasant surprise and I wouldn't say it was really like anything they've done before. I love the violin at the beginning of the song. Couldn't help but think of the Motorcycle Emptiness video when reading the lyrics either.

I wasn't sure about Anthem For a Lost Cause at first, as initially it did remind me of something off Postcards (crossed with The Wrong Beginning from The Great Western), but after a few more listens, I realised it's got so much more depth and soul than anything off Postcards. I also keep getting the chorus stuck in my head, which is more than can be said for anything from Postcards.

As Holy As The Soil - is it me or is the Captain Beefheart sample from the beginning of the version on the radio not actually on the album? I have the deluxe version if that makes any difference, but not sure what happened to that! It was the first thing I noticed after listening to my CD all the way through for the first time this afternoon. As for the song itself, I'm not usually a massive fan of Nicky vocals, but I like this one and think James' vocals lift it even more. It sounded great live at Newport too.

3 Ways To See Despair reminds me of the darker side of Truth; when the guitars kick in and give it a heavier feel, it reminds me of Nobody Loved You. Not a bad thing and I realise I've made quite a few comparisons with Truth actually.

I like Running Out Of Fantasy too, although before I heard the song and just saw the title, it sounded like some sort of dance-pop chart fodder title, but thankfully the track itself is nothing like that (obviously) The intro reminds me of I Understand It by Idlewild for some reason.

I can't say I'm usually a fan of instrumentals and on one hand, it feels a bit like Manorbier is a bit of a waste of a track, but on the other, I quite like it. It's weird and atmospheric...and as I've found out on this tour, it makes good intro music just as the band come on stage.

I'm afraid the only real clunker of a track so far for me is 4 Lonely Roads. Not massively keen on Cate Le Bon's vocals and I find the song itself really dull and it doesn't go anywhere. I would actually have preferred Melancholyme to have been included instead. It's a shame, as it's the only track so far I feel the need to skip.

So yes, it's still early days and I wouldn't like to say how I rate it compared to the rest of the back catalogue, but I'm not actually worrying about that right now. Sometimes it can take months or years to truly understand/appreciate an album; I'm just enjoying the fact I like listening to it at the moment.

[UEF]

Originally Posted by Abstract Unknown Girl

One of my favourites so far is This Sullen Welsh Heart. I'm less bothered by Lucy Rose's vocals than I expected to be, although think James can manage the song fine by himself too. I liked the way he altered the pitch of his voice at the Newport/Portmeirion gigs when singing Lucy Rose's parts and he's done the same on the demo as well. Please don't kill me for saying this, but I have to admit the first time I heard this song the 'So line up the firing squads, kiss goodbye to what you want' part reminded me of the 'Find me and follow me, through corridors, refectories' part of Dark of the Matinee by Franz Ferdinand

To me it sounds like Dark of the Matinee and, in the verses, a slowed down Motown Junk.

[Son of Stopped]

Listening again. I forgot to say how much I love the "Wah... wah wah wahhhh" guitar bit from "4 Lonely Roads". Now if ever there was a moment to get Sean to join in on his trumpet!

[Dext37 Fielding]

Having listened to the album in it's full beauty now, I have come to say that, 'actually, I quite like it' - one things the Manics do well at is, melody, which this album has plenty of.

A stunner I think, a lullabyable Lifeblood!

[tzb]

If you cut Manorbier, ROOF flows really beautifully into 30 Year War.