The Musical Change In Direction After The Holy Bible?

[TheCasual]

I'm new to the Manics so bare with me.

I'm know I'm stating the obvious but there a huge different in sound between The Holy Bible and Everything Must Go. It's like going from Paranoid to Pet Sounds.

There's only 21 months between the albums.

I know Richey is credited on four EMG songs.

Is it case that Nicky's writing is more suited towards anthemic types of songs, was it the band wasn't in the mindset to create a dark album or had they gone as far as they could with THB?

Just interested in what more knowledgeable people have to say.

[goldentouch]

The answer is in the title of the album 'everything must go'.

After THB and Richey going missing there was no other way to go but escape from their history and start again. I have always liked the fact that if you listen to the band's lyrics you can get all the answers to how they have evolved as a band and the reasons why.

[Bathtub]

I think Mike Hedges probably had a lot to do with it; he has a history of making "big" sounding albums with other bands. I reckon he pushed them towards making it as anthemic as it is.

[Porco]

I agree the production was part of it, and think 'anthemic' is a fine choice of word for Everything Must Go, but I would also call it 'triumphant'… I think other than Removables and Small Black Flowers... (perhaps tellingly two of the four Richey-infused songs) the music on the album is an expression of what for me is a key lyric on the album, from Enola/Alone, "all I wanna do is live / no matter how miserable it is" - the expression of wanting to carry on in the face of adversity, the very antithesis of The Holy Bible's "I wanna die / die in the summertime…" in some ways.

[Sheraz]

If you watch the everything must go documentary, James talks about how there were musical differences between him and Richey (based on taste, and ideas about what the future direction was going to be). Even if Richey had stuck around, it seems unlikely that the manics musical direction was going to continue along the lines of the holy bible.

[River Boy]

Also, regarding the lyrics, they've often said they wanted something that was singer friendly, rather than over-challenging.

Musically it's different but still very much guitar based. I think a bigger shift was between EMG and Truth, which relied on a whole range of different instruments.

[junkymotown]

This is the thing with this band though... every album is significantly different to the one before/after it.

A couple of examples...

Generation Terrorists to Gold Against the Soul - the G'n'R with synth drums and solos through to massive rock monster at times pseudo-power ballads.

This is My Truth to Know our Enemy - the contemplative tenderness with intricate guitar work through to a spikey half-punky half-melodic collection of shards of new ideas.

It happens every time - that's what makes them great. You hear a new album is coming out and you think 'crikey, what next?'...

[junkymotown]

And that's not even going near the lyrics...!

[roi]

This Is Yesterday and She Is Suffering do hint a little at the direction they were going in. But yes, a massive difference otherwise.

[junkymotown]

The other thing with THB and EMG is ... is you listen to THB then JFPL then EMG... then it kind of makes sense. JFPL actually works really well at bridging the gap.

[Radiomanic]

Some songs off EMG were either demoed or recorded shortly after THB and even before the Astoria shows. They appeared to have a new direction in mind before Richey went missing, if you think about how they trashed everything at the last Astoria gig. They did that to draw a line under the turbulent year they'd had and move on from it (although they still played THB songs live frequently the following year). You can hear hints of the harsher MSP in parts of EMG and especially on the B-Sides of the era. The change from GATS to THB was much greater than from THB to EMG. TIMTTMY was when they really started to branch out into unchartered territory with songs like SYMM.

[Radiomanic]

Originally Posted by junkymotown

The other thing with THB and EMG is ... is you listen to THB then JFPL then EMG... then it kind of makes sense. JFPL actually works really well at bridging the gap.

So do Removables, Judge Yrself, Further Away, First Republic, No One Knows What Its like to Be Me. All those musically could fit in either era.

[Radiomanic]

Originally Posted by junkymotown

This is the thing with this band though... every album is significantly different to the one before/after it.

A couple of examples...

Generation Terrorists to Gold Against the Soul - the G'n'R with synth drums and solos through to massive rock monster at times pseudo-power ballads.

This is My Truth to Know our Enemy - the contemplative tenderness with intricate guitar work through to a spikey half-punky half-melodic collection of shards of new ideas.

It happens every time - that's what makes them great. You hear a new album is coming out and you think 'crikey, what next?'...

Until they ruined it with SATT and again with PFAYM. 'hmm, sure I've been here before...'

[junkymotown]

Originally Posted by Radiomanic

Until they ruined it with SATT and again with PFAYM. 'hmm, sure I've been here before...'

Haha, see that's interesting, cos I figures SATT was something new... well, in the context of 'it came after lifeblood'. I mean sure, it bears similarities to bits of TIMT, EMG, KYE... but in terms of being a change in direction from what went before, it certainly did.

As for PFAYM...
I've still not had the balls to listen to that after deciding I hated it. After listening to it twice. Which is a bit sad...

[Europa Gluten Free]

The realist/cynic in me says that they wanted to earn a bit of money and get some of the success that Oasis, Blur etc were enjoying. So it was orchestras and nice chord sequences. I actually hate listening to EMG - think the production is awful and its fucking too loud.