But this album really has made me sit up and pay attention again. When "International Blue" came out I thought it was such a good song. In particular the sound of the guitar during the bridge is so pure sounding. The next single "Distant colours" I thought was even better. The chorus is so catchy and I can see this song becoming a permanent fixture in the Manics live set which must be becoming a more and more challenging task with their ever increasing back catalogue.
I think one of things the Manics have been particuarly good at over the years has been collaborations. Like with Nina Pearson on "Your love alone is not enough". This album again provides a classic collaboration with the Anchoress on "Dylan and Caitlin". This is a fine track and the vocals between Dean and Anchroress compliment each other so well. "Hold me like Heaven" is another classic track on the album. It is one of the less rockier tracks on the album and is more ballady rock. One track which I did think was a collaboration but isn't is the "The left behind" as its Nicky Wire singing on it. Don't get me wrong it is a nice track but it just doesn't sound like the Manics and for me doesn't really fit on to the album. Maybe it is the position of the track being last. The album flows really well up until this point and then you are hit at the end with a completely different sounding track to the rest of the album. But that really to me is the only down point to the actual album.
I think the one track will stand out from this album for people is "Liverpool Revisted". Not because it is the best song on the album. In my opinion the tracks I have previously mentioned are better tracks but don't get me wrong it is still good. But for the actual meaning behind the track and what it is about. This is about the Hillsbourgh disaster back in 1989 where 96 Liverpool fans died due to overcrowding at a football match in Sheffield. The lyrics are straight to the point and you can feel the emotion throughout the song as James blurts out "there are angels in theses SK I I I I I ES". It's obviously something which is close to the Manics hearts as they have sung about the tragedy before and taken part in a benefit concert. I say its not the best song musically, although it does have a fine guitar part too, but in these circumstances its more about the meaning behind it. And I imagine to the people affected by the tragedy it will mean a lot that they are being thought of.
One thing which slightly annoyed me about this album was the deluxe edition. Now I didn't buy it, I just got the normal edition. But this was because the deluxe edition is just the album again but demo versions of all the tracks plus 2 new tracks. I just don't see the point in this. The reason they are demo versions is because they need to be done again in a more polished way to get on to the actual album. And to call this deluxe is like an oxymoron. I mean they are saying its deluxe but these are the versions of the tracks that are not as good and had to be re-done to make it onto the album. I wouldn't really understand people who would listen to the demo versions more than once when they have the actual album where the versions of the tracks are a lot better.
Anyway overall, despite my rant there the actual album itself is a very good effort by the Manics. I am not going to sit here and compare it to their albums over the last 15 years which I haven't heard. But in terms of the albums I have heard, from "Everything must go" to "Know your enemy". This album is right up with them. And for me anyway the Manics are right back on the music map.
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