After nearly two decades of noise, lipstick and confusion (mostly due to the lipstick), the Manic Street Preachers announced in 2005 they would be taking a well earned two year hiatus from the rock ‘n’ roll circus.
However, always the workaholic, Bradfield was quick to fold up his deck chair and return to the studio all by his lonesome, keen to step out of the shadow of chief Manics songwriter Nicky Wire and follow his own creative muse for the first time since ‘Ocean Spray’, a poignant meditation on his mother’s death, which featured on 2001‘s criminally underrated album Know Your Enemy.
But does he have what it takes to fly solo?
They say:
The Observer: “Grown up and expansive."
Maire Claire: “Packed with intense indie anthems that sound quite a bit Manicky and way too moody to play on the radio.”
Mojo: “Typically heartfelt and demonstrative.”
We say:
Although there’s an element of truth to Bradfield’s recent assertion that John Cale’s Paris 1919 and the work of the Steve Miller Band are the album’s primary influences, The Great Western is in essence the Manics album that never was.
As a result, it probably won’t win him any new fans, but established followers of the Welsh rockers will find much to salivate over: the familiar blasts of power chords (‘Run Romeo Run’), the enchanting injection of faux Motown soul (‘Émigré’), and the stately grace of recent output (Jacques Brel’s ‘To See a Friend in Tears’).
Best of all is ‘An English Gentlemen’, an altogether touching nod to the band’s late publicist Philip Hall, which combines workmanlike Kinks stomp with divine Phil Spector-esque vocal wails to stunning effect.
Oddly enough, the weakest track here is the only Nicky Wire contribution ‘Bad Boys and Painkillers’, a rather plodding affair that fails to live up to the album’s high standards.
While it is believed Bradfield has only wrote one song for the Manics album currently being conceived, the band can be rest assured that if Wire ever suffers a bout of writer’s block, Bradfield is more than capable of taking the reigns.
Like this? Try these:
The Manic Street Preachers – Lifeblood
John Cale – 1919
Badfinger – Wish You Were Here
RELEASED
24th July 2006
LABEL
Columbia
POSTED...
Fri 21 Jul 2006 at 9:09am
