| CD REVIEW (This review has also been published at www.701.com) |
| Lipstick Traces is a strange potpourri of music, stylistically very much influenced by the �Whatever You Like� Sixties (and a few of its torch-carriers), ranging from in-yer-face garage rock, lounge-lizard schmaltz, tinges of psychedelia and folk-rock ballads � talk about your Magical (Musical) Mystery Trip! With a probable record-breaking 35 songs in total on the double CD, the first CD is entirely devoted to original compositions by guitarist/vocalist James Dean Bradfield, and the second contains unusual but sometimes lame interpretations of covers by Guns�n�Roses, Chuck Berry (a not too shabby stab at �Rock and Roll Music�), Burt Bacharach (an even dorkier than Burt�s �Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head�), Franki Valli (ditto), several by The Clash�s Joe Strummer, and Kurt Cobain (R.I.P., at his most insensitive). I admit to having zero prior exposure to the Manic Street Preachers (a.k.a. The Manics), although I had heard their name dropped hear and there, and somehow confused them with the Shuffle Demons (who also did some street-preaching of their own). I won�t bore you with the lurid details, but, among the large number of fan sites, there�s a very succinct textual snapshot of the manic ones� rather colourful history at http://homepage.eircom.net/~manics/ for any other �Manic virgins� to get their initiation. Just as with the deaths, disappearances and mental illnesses associated with Iron Butterfly, Pink Floyd and even the Rolling Stones, this South Wales band has its own aura of intrigue and mystery about it, which ties in rather nicely with the title of this CD. The Manic Street Preachers even got a bit of legal notoriety in 2002 with a song called �S.Y.M.M.� (an acronym for South Yorkshire Mass Murderer), although they first shocked the British press with their grisly antics in the early �90s, thereby amassing a rabid cult following. In this regard, Channel 4 TV in London is currently filming a documentary, �Celebrities and Fans�, and is appealing to anyone who has �ever felt a sense of despair over your feelings for The Manics�. While there are certainly �glam� overtones to it, I didn�t really hear anything mystically sinister on this particular CD, so maybe they are �all bourgeois now�. Lipstick Traces is certainly a fun listening experience for anyone suffering from genuine rock�n�roll deprivation, but personally I prefer Cheap Trick or the Hoodoo Gurus/Persian Rugs. |
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| LIPSTICK TRACES (A SECRET HISTORY OF THE MANIC STREET PREACHERS) - MANIC STREET PREACHERS |
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