Lifeblood - Manic Street Preachers

In 2001 the Manic Street Preachers turned their back on the recent commercial success they had enjoyed with 'Everything Must Go' (1996) and 'This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours' (1998) with the release of Know Your Enemy. Know Your Enemy was truly an album of a band having fun, and doing what they wanted to do. Follow-up album, Lifeblood, saw them refocus their efforts once more on to one coherent style and settle back down to the hard work of pleasing record companies and, well, being a serious band. This album is certainly the most experimental of the Manics' output, and you'll find a lot of electronic work here. It is very melodic, very beautiful ...  Read the complete review

And so it goes like this: great record + tragedy = auto promotion leading to reverence...This is what happened to Manic Street Preachers in the mid 90's, the juncture that preserved the somewhat punk from the descent into comfortable Brit pop adoption. There was a time when I was quite interested in the Welsh band (and admittedly like many it wasn't before '96) but if I'm to be honest their stuff prior to The Holy Bible is as hit and miss as the records from the late 90's (this included). The fuel that appears to keep them going is: strength of brand plus a fairly cemented fan base =ing laziness and indifference. Lifeblood sees the Manics return ...  Read the complete review

I’ve been quite a big fan of the Manic’s for years. I first heard of them back in 1996 when I bought Everything Must Go and since then I’ve acquired all of their albums. It’s now been almost 10 years since Richie, the bands guitarist disappeared before they recorded that album in 1996. Since then the Manic’s seemed to have been trapped in a time warp, trying to recreate the sound from their earlier albums and the new material suffered as a result. With Know Your Enemy being the prime example. It seems almost fitting though that its taken almost 10 years for them to embrace Richie’s absence and move on. I really feel that Lifeblood is the Manic’s best album ...  Read the complete review