‘National Treasures‘? There aren’t many bands that could get away with such an arrogantly named singles compilation. Then again, this is a group who released ‘You Love Us’, so it’s hardly surprising. The Manic Street Preachers are worthy of the album title because they are just that – national treasures, as are many of their songs.
Everyone has got a favourite Manic’s album and you’d be hard pushed to find many who would give you the same answer. The glam punk of ‘Generation Terrorists’, the dark, sinister, confessional ‘Holy Bible’ or the stadium sized, anthemic, mainstream rock couplet of ‘Everything Must Go’ and ‘This is My Truth, Tell Me Yours’ – there’s almost something for everyone from this band’s colourful history. The likes of early singles ‘Motown Junk‘ and ‘Stay Beautiful’ have aged very well, still sounding fresh, brash and as uplifting as ever.
‘Motorcycle Emptiness‘ remains arguably their best ever track and that riff alone can still bring an entire field of grown men to tears. Moments of politically charged aggression, experimental leaps into Beach Boy territory and the hits that ruled the radio airwaves – it’s all here on this singles package and every single one of them is remastered.
This new collection arrives in the wake of what has been a very prolific period for the Manics. ‘Send Away The Tigers‘, ‘Journal For Plague Lovers’ and ‘Postcards From A Young Man’ are damn fine records. In the space of four years they’ve released three albums that marked a return to form and demonstrated that magic which was spread far too thin on 2001’s ‘Know Your Enemy’ and 2004’s ‘Lifeblood‘.
There’s no denying that there was also some good to come out of this unsatisfying era. They started the decade in gloriously anthemic intent with stand alone single, ‘The Masses Against the Classes‘. ‘Ocean Spray’ is a sweet little gem and ‘Found That Soul‘ draws from that angry, punk energy of their infant years. None of these are to be skipped on the track list. After such a successful first decade of putting out brilliant albums, they were probably due a rough patch and to their credit they came out the other side all guns blazing with some of their finest material since ‘Everything Must Go‘.
‘Your Love Alone Is Not Enough‘, a highlight on 2007’s ‘Send Away The Tigers‘, is straight from the school of colossal, melodic, pop-rock that they perfected in the nineties. James Dean Bradfield has never sounded better and is one of few frontmen who was able to do his old classics justice on the live stage. The consistent appeal of his voice is that he can give the powerful, lung-bursting treatment to the epic tracks and can just as easily pull a smooth, croon out of the bag for the gentler moments. It’s this versatility that is one of the many reasons why the band have lasted so long and from the beginning and end of this collection it is noticeable how well his vocals have developed.
No less than 37 singles from the last 21 years feature on this album. From start to finish it’s an emotional journey, particularly if you’ve followed the band from the beginning. Lyrical themes in tracks such as ‘She Is Suffering’ and ‘Archives Of Pain’ are a glaring insight into the dark, troubled soul of Richey Edwards, but remain absolutely incredible powerful pieces of art that need to be heard again and again.
The disappearance of Richey is a huge negative that they’ve in some respects turned into a positive. Granted, he will be forever revered as a unique talent who played a highly vital role in the essence of the band and the glass will always be half empty without him, yet the band’s longevity and creative output since has been admirable.
A pivotal point in the Manics’ career post-Richey came quite recently when they released an album of new songs (‘Journal For Plague Lovers’) that contained his lyrics. It resurrected his soul in the spirit of the band, but didn’t harm their growth and development. It was a smart move and raised awareness to the newer generation of Manics fans, reminding them what a God-given talent Richey was. It almost feels wrong to speak about him in the past tense as there has never been any concrete proof as to what actually occurred, but whatever the case he left behind a legacy that planted the seeds of the band’s lengthy career.
It’s more or less a given that they will never exceed the commercial success of ‘Design For Life‘. Any band would be lucky enough to write one song as successful as this, let alone two, but it’s no hindrance as there’s so much more from the band’s catalogue to joyously consume. It does of course depend on how you measure success and is purely subjective, but ‘Design For Life’ is undoubtedly the staple, universal, sing-along Manics tune. It’s a song that still manages to steal the thunder of any band that dare appear on the same bill as them at a festival and it set the benchmark for writing anthems upon its release in 1996 during the peak of Britpop, naturally feeling very much at home among all the classics that were pouring out of a certain Mr Gallagher, Albarn and Cocker.
The more recent ‘(It’s Not War) Just The End Of Love’ channels the huge mainstream appeal of that type of song and is not bad at all for a band now settling into the second decade of their career. They’re probably past their best but as evident on recent albums, Nicky Wire and co are still hungry and it comes across in the quality of the music.
It’s a huge buffet of tasty snacks, a couple of less appetising, mediocre moments, but they generally get lost in a huge collection of songs that are of such a high standard and mean so much to so many people. The most exciting thing about the band in 2011 is what the future holds. Who would have thought they would be capable of coming back from their creative slump in the early 2000s?
You can never write off this band, and until they’re back again there’s enough here to remind you of just why they are indeed national treasures.
(Matt Humphrey)
