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Here�s some reviews I came across while surfing the internet, taken from my Manics News and Links page  scottishsocialistvoice.net: The bulk of the first CD here is made up of older, classic Bs like Sorrow 16, Democracy Coma, Comfort Comes and Strip it Down. It's why the Manics appealed to so many back in the early 90s - it's punk attitude and guitars with great lyrics. Take Democracy Coma: "To me, the Coronation's another auto-da-fe/Taught in schools to see her as a glorious being/I don't see happy homes, but the Belfast wall/In Walkman sounds, hear Sony control." And Strip it Down: "Success and love dictate while skin touches fashion/Consumerism beauty for cheap appeal/I don't wanna dance for people to watch/Smother my life in interest accounts." But Faster B-side Sculpture of Man wins the greatest ever Manics lyric ever award: "Wills and Harry, dressed in drag/Standing over the sodomised body of their mother/Would make a great poster in Athena." Classic pop. thisisthenortheast.co.uk: Lipstick Traces has enough true Manic moments to make it a worthwhile collection. Prologue to History is the track that most directly deals with the disappearance of Richey Edwards and could happily sit on their masterpiece Everything Must Go. Chugging guitars and piano propel the song along and lines such as, 'my former friend who is now undercover' tackle the disappearance with dignity and poignancy. The ghost of Edwards is ever present on this album and never more so than on Judge Yourself, one of two previously unreleased tracks. The song comes straight from Holy Bible era Manics sounding like a dark cousin of Nirvana's Sliver. Its the unexpected tracks that fare best, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head and Can't Take My Eyes Off You are two highlights. Best of all though is the final track, a version of Wham's Last Christmas. This will bring back special memories to the Manics hard core fans as it was one of the last songs played in their final shows as a 4 piece in late 1994. eircom.fusio.net: Rarities compilations are usually just an excuse for a record company to make a quick buck. When it comes to a band as important as the Manic Street Preachers, however, even the most obscure recordings can be of artistic interest. Lipstick Traces does a fine job of tying up the loose ends of the Welsh revolutionaries' career, rounding up their B-sides, non-album singles and no fewer than 15 cover versions in a neatly-packaged double CD compilation. Among the highlights are 'Judge Y'rself', the last song ever written with the ill-fated Richey Edwards, and the half-forgotten single '4 Ever Delayed', which finds the band at their most fiercely polemical. Elsewhere, versions of Burt Bacharach and Andy Williams songs show that behind their punk roots, James Dean Bradfield and co. had more than a soft spot for the kings of easy listening. If you're new to the Manics, this is hardly the place to start - but as an historic document, it's pretty much flawless.  Hundreds of Manics fans queued for hours to meet their idols at a Glasgow record store last night. More than 300 fans queued throughout the day for a chance to meet them. A spokesman for Virgin Megastore said: "The first fans turned up at 5am and we were queued round the block by lunchtime" Lorrae Barclay, 15, from Kilmarnock was first in the queue. She said: "I got out of my sickbed to be here but I wouldn't have missed this for the world. I got sunstroke at T in the Park but I was determined to be the first here. I have been into the Manics since I was seven" Her friend Joseph Brown, 16, also from Kilmarnock, said: "I got the band to sign my guitar. The Manics are the best band around and it was worth the wait"  The Fans On Move @ bbc.co.uk/manchester: Edward from Wirral: Excellent! Best band in Britain at the moment. The crowd were well up for it. Design for Life was brilliant. Just everything! Jason from Liverpool: Great set list. Lots of B-sides and covers. Highlight was Prologue to History. Excellent! Steve from Blackpool: End of an era. Going onto a new phase but as good as ever. This is Yesterday was a beautiful moment. Great band - probably the best band in the world. efestivals.co.uk: Finally it was the Manics. They performed with professionalism and talent but appeared to be going through the motions. James Dean Bradfield perhaps had the explanation when he said he wanted to give these songs a final play before moving on to something new. The crowd still lapped it up however with Motorcycle Emptiness and you Stole The Sun From My Heart being particularly anthemic. There were poignant moments with the heartfelt dedication to Richey Edwards and the tongue in cheek dedication to a Daily Star newspaper that had, wrongly, claimed his bones had been found. The Manics filled an allocated 90 minutes with only 70 and did not return for an encore. dotmusic.com: At the festival, Manics frontman James Dean Bradfield unleashed a torrent of abuse at Daily Star employees, urging them to "kill themselves" following publication of stories about their former bandmate Richey Edwards. An otherwise relaxed Bradfield also hinted that this summer's shows marked a period of closure for the band. His comments implied that older songs wouldn't feature in future Manics' sets saying, "next year we'll return a very different beast" guardian.co.uk: In its second year, Manchester's Move festival is starting to shape up as the anti-Glastonbury. Glasters is synonymous with country air and green fields; this "urban music festival" sees the hallowed Old Trafford turf covered with polythene. It provides a perfect setting for anyone with phobias about cow dung, camping, mud and people on stilts. The only animals to make it past security are Super Furry ones and the Flaming Lips, who bring their extravaganza of happy death songs and dancers in fluffy gorilla suits. On Friday the Manic Street Preachers delivered a classic, contrary set, kicking off with a hilariously inappropriate Die in the Summertime. Singer James Dean Bradfield's cheery mood darkened as he dedicated a song to the Daily Star, who recently ran a story about male human remains found in the River Severn, referring to missing guitarist Richey Edwards. Eerily on cue, as the band played Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky, the clouds turned an angry black. bbc.co.uk/manchester: The problem wasn't the Manics themselves, but their obsessive fans that seemed intent on watching and enjoying the main event only. For half of those present, the support bands were never going to be anything more than an irritation, and as the Flaming Lips fans left the arena, the leopard skin jackets, sloganed t-shirts, feather boas, daft sunglasses and smeared make-up of the Manics fans moved forward to worship at the feet of, in particular, Nicky Wire. manchesteronline.co.uk: Fortunately, The Manic Street Preachers were able to raise their game and produced a crowd-pleasing set to send the die-hards and floaters alike home happy. The band were clearly up for it, and they started with intent, casually throwing in the usual encore of 'You Love Us' right at the start, and the energy between the stage and the crowd was apparent from the start. James Dean Bradfield stated his intention from the off, saying it was going to be unashamedly 'like a wedding reception' - ie. greatest hits all the way. Nicky Wire had a grin on his face the size of the Menai Bridge for most of the hour-and-20-minute set. And hits there were from across their lengthy career, with nods to the past with songs written with Richey Edwards, to B-side airings in readiness for the forthcoming release of a double CD of rarities, covers and flip-side tracks. The masses lapped it up - the closing salvo of 'Everything Must Go' and a triumphant 'A Design For Life' were a fitting way to end the day.  rockfeedback.com: Tonight is an admirable, no-holds-barred fifteen songs in a taut, wired hour: the sound of a band returning, at long last, to form in the live-arena. From a blistering �Masses Against The Classes�, onwards past a deluge of b-sides (to plug new compilation-LP, �Lipstick Traces� � ker-chiiing), a peerlessly romantic �Little Baby Nothing�, massive �Motorcycle Emptiness� and melancholic �This Is Yesterday�, there is venom in a slimmed-down James-Dean Bradfield, fire in the eyes of extravagant, cross-dressing bassist Nicky Wire, and, er, Sean Moore continuing to drum nicely. By the inevitable culmination of a blinding, simmering, outright emotional �A Design For Life�, this is the hunger proved of a band once loved and rediscovered again, a cry away from the (now) unjustified provocations tied against them. Welcome back. timesonline.co.uk: Singer James Dean Bradfield tried hard to bring some grit to yesterday�s set [after Glastonbury 99] There were political songs, including the set opener, Masses Against The Classes, Die in the Summertime, and the decade-old breakthrough single, Motorcycle Emptiness. There were bizarre covers [including] Camper Van Beethoven�s Take The Skinheads Bowling, and a new song provisionally titled Everything Will Be, featuring Andy Cato of Groove Armada, and the former chart-topper A Design For Life, introduced by James Dean Bradfield as �about f**king and drinking�. Did the Manics redeem themselves? The jury is still out. virtualfestivals.com: The first third of the set, then, is Manics at their finest. After opening with 'Masses against the Classes', they proceed to unleash a tear-inducingly beautiful 'Motorcycle Emptiness'. However, after a listless 'You Love Us', it all goes very downhill, as the b-sides come out, and the band themselves even look bored witless [THEY LOOKED LIKE THEY WERE ENJOYING IT TO ME] Things pick up when the rain starts pouring, and James celebrates with an a capella 'Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head' to raptuous applause and Welsh flag waving. And they truly redeem themselves with the last portion, which has the crowd singing along hysterically to 'Australia', 'If You Tolerate This', 'You Stole The Sun...' and finale 'A Design for Life'. playlouder.com: Do they have a criminal charge to face in the morning? Well, not of being crap. Not this week. The Manics have always been a reasonable commodity, thanks largely to their ten-year legacy of fine singles. Sure, there is a LOT of garbage in there [blah blah blah] But tempered with the lameness are the likes of 'You Love Us', 'Stay Beautiful' and (forgotten favourite) 'The Masses Against The Classes'. Oh, and a cover of Camper Van Beethoven's 'Take The Skinheads Bowling'. See, they're not always great, the Manics, but give them a decent set of circumstances, like this, and enough time to plough through a chunky selection of their weaponry, and some of it is going to work. The girl with the slasher arms in front of me thinks so, anyway. She's up for the good stuff - down for anything that doesn't have Richey's signature on it [a bit like Playlouder then] And apart from anything else, all those flags will have looked great on the telly. Andy Barding (proud to have REALLY pissed off Nicky Wire with his reports from Cuba for the Daily Mirror a few years back) 6 Music Glastonbury Weblog: Flippin 'eck, Tucker, this Glastonbury Festival just doesn't know when to quit. Yes, it's Mark Sutherland here again, back from the Manics with the surprising, nay, staggering news that it was their best gig in, well, ages. Not quite up to the filth and fury of Glasto 94 but it still urinated from the top of the Pyramid Stage upon their 99 headline slot. True, only the Manics could get away with their, um, idiosyncratic idea of a festival treat or two - playing 'Judge Yourself' for the first time ever, and digging out 'Die In The Summertime' ("Cheers!" says The Summertime) for the first time in nigh on 30 years. Nicky Wire - who we grabbed earlier in yet another 6 Music exclusive - even got his wish for it to rain during their set and James looked almost lithe. So it's Not All Over, after all and we can celebrate the return of this most contrary of British bands. Long may they continue to confuse the bloomin' heck out of us [6/29/2003 10:34:56 PM] Especially as Sunday, traditionally the home of snoozesome old folk and the occasional novelty "turn" has proved to be possibly the most musically mighty day of the lot. Feeder, the Manics, the Doves proving that they're not just boring blokes in anoraks actually... plus a shedload of exclusives that have made the 6 Music "caravan" the envy of every other media conglomerate on the planet. No wonder Nicky Wire says he bought digital TV especially to get 6 Music [6/30/2003 12:20:52 AM] bbc.co.uk/radio1: When we caught up with the Manics, Nicky Wire was getting concerned because he couldn't find his hairspray and eyeliner. He told us Billy Bragg had left them a toilet roll saying 'no hard feelings' after he slagged them off for bringing their own toilets a few years ago, and James Dean Bradfield admitted he too was bricking it: "The most nervous I've been for a festival in a long time. Kind of like rapid degeneration of the nerve system through too much alcohol and cigarettes. Perhaps it's just getting old. I don't know" |
