new introductory bit here.

This is a reviews page based on my own collection, which just keeps growing despite itself. If it isn't listed here, it's because I don't own it yet, or I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Also, bother your local "new rock" radio station and make sure they are playing "new rock" and not "Rock the Casbah," which is not new.

note: entries in red text indicate my pick for the artist's best available album. A gold numeral indicates the POPocalypse winner of the year's best album; second- and third-place winners are in blue. Green lettering indicates an obviously exploitative record company compilation without apparent artist input.

The Manics won't ever crack America. They clearly don't care whether they do or not. Their eye for art and intellectual movements, and their thunderous guitar attack have made them one of England's biggest and most successful acts, and one the critics have long adored.

Looking at the photos within their 1992 debut album, you wonder how this could possibly be so. It starts with the thunder of "Slash n'Burn" and doesn't let up over the course of 14 tracks. "Little Baby Nothing" is beautiful, and the guitar work on both versions of "Repeat" is really fantastic. They even displayed a passionate and longing side with the hit single "Motorcycle Emptiness." Their image, however, was reckless punk abandon filtered through glam, all cheetah print and eye shadow. James Dean Bradfield's tortured vocals and blistering guitar noise led their assault, while Nicky Wire, often wearing an audacious puffy-collared shirt, laid down a strong, thumping bass line. Richey Edwards once demonstrated his commitment to the destructive punk ethos by carving "4 REAL" into his arm in front of a shocked journo.

Wire and Edwards were behind the band's lyrics, which alternately called for an end to the monarchy or the controlling power of banks. "From Despair to Where," from the second album Gold Against the Soul, compares society to a mental hospital; the shocking "Symphony of Tourette" was self-explanatory.

Their third and most successful album to that point, The Holy Bible, was unreleased in the US. They changed labels to Epic, but the US arm wanted nothing to do with a controversially-named record with an ugly cover of three massively overweight and shirtless people, and with a song called "Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart." From the album, the third single "She is Suffering" was a top 30 hit. It includes a B-side live cover of Suede's "The Drowners," featuring Suede's Bernard Butler guesting on guitar. The album was made as Richey was undergoing massive drug problems and was hospitalized for dangerous weight loss. He checked out of the hospital in February 1995, allegedly recuperated, but vanished soon afterwards, never to be seen or heard from again.

More than a few people figured that would have been the end for the Manics, but the remaining three continued to even greater commercial and critical acclaim. Their 1996 album Everything Must Go is thunderous and engrossing, a rapture from start to finish. It contains the UK hit "A Design for Life," one of the greatest singles of this or any other decade and gets my highest recommendation. The band reacted to the loss of Richey with unexpected maturity in their dress and public conduct, respectable veterans of British rock with four hit albums in five years.

In 1998, the Manics released their fifth album This is My Truth Tell Me Yours. It debutted at #1 and knocked every critic in Britain on their butt. It was hailed by many as the best album of the year by far, if not the best album of the decade. Its power and energy are stunning, even for these guys. Unfortunately, since their last album bombed in the US thanks to the non-existant promotion by Sony, it went unissued here until Virgin Records America licensed it in mid-99 and then they did the usual half-assed Virgin US job of promotion and it too bombed. By late 1999, the critics had begun to turn on the album. Despite the usual number of energized discussions of obscure or controversial topics (the Spanish Civil War, the still-resonant Hillsborough tragedy), the critics began to make mumbling noises about a band losing their roots. The emotion-and-nostalgia filled hit "The Everlasting" didn't help.

British critics are a weird lot, and they cannot be pleased. In 2000, the band released "The Masses Against the Classes," a #1 single that proved their continued commitment to social change. Know Your Enemy followed in 2001. At 16 tracks, it was at least three songs longer than it needed to be, but it continued a commitment to modern art and to Spanish culture. The band considered the European union, warned that "Freedom of Speech Won't Feed My Children" and attacked America again on "Baby Elian." On the other hand, "Ocean Spray" was about a dying grandmother. It was a hit album which generated three top 10 singles ("So Why So Sad" the standout), but with muted critical response and mumbles that the band was trying too hard to recapture past glories. While it's true there's no pleasing some people, the media's right on this one. The Manics of old could make points effortlessly, without sounding bloated or preachy.