ALBUM REVIEW DOUBLE BILL ::: JAMES DEAN BRADFIELD & NICKY WIRE SOLO LPS

It’s difficult to be nasty about a band who’ve introduced you to a whole host of thinkers, writers and misfits. I’ve therefore always felt duty bound to speak well of The Manic Street Preachers - period. This unbridled and rather foolish loyalty doesn’t however include solo projects….

According to Nicky Wire – He Killed the Zeitgeist…I’m not so sure he did, and neither am I sure this LP is any good.

Upon pressing play, the first noticeable aspect here is the vocals – To be blunt, they’re duff. Like Christina Aguilera, Nicky Wire seems unable to hold onto one note and this together with the general tunelessness of the voice makes this LP become tedious very quickly.

If the music behind was better, this could be forgivable, but the tunes on Zeitgeist are also stripped down and unsophisticated - The sound is clangy, jagged and not particularly innovative or well done.

Call me conservative, but unless it’s brilliantly executed, such as is The Manics The Holy Bible, music has to offer some kind of hope and/or joy to get my vote and this record offers neither. More accurately, the whole tone of the project makes me think of the Sid Vicious solo record: a rather negative and pointless affair, especially when in this case, it comes from a middle aged man living in a wealthy retirement ghetto in the countryside...

So, if you’re feeling fucked up and bad about the world and like it that way get yourself a copy straight away, otherwise don’t bother.

Unlike I Killed The Zeitgeist, The Great Western by Manics demure, yet hugely talented and undervalued front man James Dean Bradfield has the same epic, thick musical warmth that defined the Manics finest stadium moments. So much so, that if it this LP said Manic Street Preachers on the cover you wouldn’t feel like you’d been ripped off.

Though at times this love of the string ‘whoosh’ and the big symphonic chorus makes the record sound a little like a collection of car adverts, when executed well (That’s no way to tell a lie and Bad Boys and Painkillers being just 2 examples) such music is grand, and just the sort of thing to sing whilst marching around the house of a morning trying to get oneself into an upbeat and indefatigueable mood with which to tackle the day….

Perhaps the biggest surprise with The Great Western is that lyrically it’s also very good. In fact, I’d say it’s a good deal better than Wires offerings, which is odd because lyrics were always said to be Nicky and Richeys domain.

So, to conclude, James DB is (for once) a lofty head and shoulders above Wire here. Indeed, hearing these two solo projects, side by side, makes one realise just how fucked the Manics would have been without James Dean Bradfields musical ability.

Clever political lyrics are one thing, but without Bradfields musical nouse and love of ELO, The Manics would have been a whole different proposition…

Currently listening : Great Western By James Dean Bradfield Release date: By 27 July, 2006

14:41 - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Tommy

I think you're spot on-whilst Nicky & Richey were always putting the revlon in rhetoric and spraying some pretty profound graffiti along the way; a massive chunk of the Manics sucsess rested on the understated but riffola heavy jukebox charm of James. His sorrow-filled sweet soul voice never gets the credit it deserves either.I always saw him as the musical glue that held the whole thing together-look how clumsily some of those lyrics juxtapose with his musical melodies...without him the Manics undoubtably would have been the next Birdland.. The trouble with solo projects is in the inherent chemistry that works within the group dynamic. If you remove one piece, something is lost. Look at the recent(ish) solo offerings from messers Barat & Doherty-Dirty Pretty Things are tight, professional and occasionally profound-but there's a flatness & workmanlike element that stunts it from a place in your heart. Babyshambles 'Down In Albion' on the other hand had heartfelt Pentonville-fuelled poetry abound, but never came within a country mile of a decent tune.(NME likened it to a masterpiece that had been dropped,shattered and then pieced back together-I think maybe they were referring to Pete) This is certainly true in these Manics 'side projects' (from the group that said they'd never stoop to such a rockstar-ish vanity )-on one hand you have James DB's love of classic rock,Goal of the Month backing, Coca Cola ad soundtracks, and on the other we have Nicky's sub C86 Bedroom punk .The two together have been awesome, but apart neither really work for me. James's offering is polished but bland,whilst Nicky's is woefully amatuerish-fine and dandy if you're a teenage leopard print amphetamine Gazelle, but a little sad if you're an educated,paunched middle aged millionaire. Returning to the scene of ones greatest triumphs shorn of the hardship & naivety that fuelled them is always a recipe for disaster and I have to say that I found Nicky's effort cringeworthy ( the low being the bit when he leers, in some half cocked ejaculation 'ooooh baby!') All of this is really sad when, like your good self, hold the Manics responisble for opening my eyes to a whole sylabus of writers,music,artists & thinkers-and making some damn fine pop music along the way. Generation Terrorists taught me more than five wasted,shit kicking years at high school ever did..maybe new group effort 'Banish The Tigers' can pull things round, but my expectations are low... Posted by Tommy on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 11:09 [Remove] [Reply to this]