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Manic Street Preachers | Know Your Enemy

CD, Epic/Sony

Tekst: Helen Stroebel

Publicatiedatum: 22 maart 2001

The Manics are back again! After waiting for over a year since their 'Masses Against the Classes' EP, now finally comes the proper return of the Manics. And as we all should know, the Manics always go through some sort of style/image change each time they come to please us with their tunes. So they started out as the glammed-up version of the Clash, then went on to near Bon Jovi-ish stadium rawwwk, Richey then gets even more depressed and delivers one of the 90s' darkest albums, lose that same Richey and come back to show us their new 'Design for Life', to then sadly fall down into the horrible depth that's called MOR teeny/housewife rock. Now, we all ask, what the hell are they going to bring us this time?! Well, we all were promised that the 'Masses Against the Classes EP' was a good taster for the album, all a bit more old, punky Manics, rather than mince pie New Manics... Nicky Wire told various publications that 'Know Your Enemy' was going to be "our best work yet, back to our roots." I hear you scream: "So, is it true then?" Well, err... I should say 50/50. Yes, the album starts off very, very strong indeed, with latest single 'Found That Soul'. You can definitely hear that old flame throughout the track, and it's bound to be a favourite on the forthcoming UK and European tours. Fans of 'Everything Must Go' and 'This Is My Truth', watch out! Other tracks that go back to the sweet sound of 'You Love Us' and 'Revol' on this SIXTEEN-track album (another similarity to their old days: Only their first album had a whopping number of 18 tracks, to then release only ten-twelve on later albums.) are tracks like the quite punky 'Intravenous Agnostic', the 'Holy Bible'-sounding 'Dead Martyrs', and - the Manics' fave subject - breaking down the monarchy on 'Royal Correspondent'. Throughout the album you just can't help not forgetting New Manics though. The 'Everything Must Go' fans I just scared off can come back now - the number of hard tracks that will win some of the old fans back is far too little to put you off getting this album. The good thing is that fortunately it stays EMG-esque and leaves 'This Is My Truth' alone. 'Let Robeson Sing', 'Epicentre', 'The Year of Purification', and the very, very daring 'Baby Elian' (about Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy that was the centre of a fight between the USA and Cuba last year. His dad in Cuba finally got him back in Cuba, and, according to reports of the Manics' Cuban gig last February, Fidel Castro stood up and led the applause when they sang "you don't just sit in a rocking chair/when you've built a revolution"). And then came the surprises. First of all, Nicky Wire's singing debut on 'Wattsville Blues'. It takes a while to get used to his voice funnily enough, but he sounds a bit like Mark E. Smith. His singing style definitely suits this song and its lyrics. Perhaps Mr. Wire should consider singing more of his more personal lyrics in the future? It adds this emotion to the lyric. Personal lives just can't always be interpreted by someone else, something always gets lost when that happens. The Manics have always done a pretty good job at it, because they're all so close, but the post-Richey, very personal Nicky lyrics were just waiting for him to sing them himself for a change. We were all stunned when we first heard other latest single 'So Why So Sad'. Is it the Beach Boys? Have the Manics been listening to too much Phil Spector? Are the Manics going to re-release this song around Christmas?! It took me quite a few listens to admit it, but this track actually grows on you. It's cheesy, and it's Manic Beach Preachers, but it's quite interesting and very brave to hear them attempt to write something quite the opposite of what we're used to of our Welshmen. But this track isn't all. Heard the rumour of a "full-on disco track"? Well, it's called 'Miss Europa Disco Dancer'. It starts off with a very disco guitar riff, sounding very much like the Bee Gees' 'Staying Alive', believe it or not. It sounds very much like a summer dance smash dicso dancefloor-filler, and I've got this feeling that some record company bigwig will think exactly that in a few months... Expect to strut your stuff this summer to the sweet sounds of disco, mixed with probably this album's most catchy lyric: "brainless motherfucker/brainless motherfucker." I'm hearing quite a few die-hard Manics fans throwing up at the thought alone that some lollipop-disco tarts will be singing along to this, but as the last track I discussed... it's actually worth hearing. I'll hope and pray like you do that this won't become a single and give us Manic Dance Preachers. The thought alone of James, Nicky, and Sean dancing around in matching shiny tights on stage at a disco near you is quite sickening! On the overall, it's a good attempt at getting back where they stepped on the breaks after Richey left, but the old Manics feeling is still not all there. The surprises are sweet, and the old-time tasters are bliss, but the other tracks all can't shed that New Manics feeling. Has the old Manics flame finally gone out forever then? Maybe it's wishful thinking that that will ever come back. Maybe we all just have to shut up and move on like the band did. And you know what? I think I'm NOT going to bring along my feathered boa and tiara to their gigs next week. I'm prepared to move on. This album is my reason.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/manic-street-preachers/know-your-enemy/264/
Meer Manic Street Preachers op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/manic-street-preachers