The record companies really had us over a barrel in the 90s. Not only were CD singles usually retailing for £3-£5 a pop, but they were also issued in multi-formats meaning that fans/completists sometimes had to spend almost as much on one single as they would for the LP that it came from.
Sometimes I was mug enough to buy the different formats, but quite often I would take my pick of one or the other. As i did back in 1996 when I bought something by Manic Street Preachers for the first time.
It wasn't that I had any dislike for the Manics in their early years, but they were very much a band that I could take or leave in equal measures. I was never moved enough by any of their first three albums or near twenty singles to spend my hard earned cash on them - but equally I would never argue in the pub that they weren't all they were cracked up to be. Like most music fans, I was intrigued by the appearance of band member Richey James, and assumed the incident would be the end of the group.
But this, the 'comeback' single in April 1996 was something that I found pretty astonishing on first listen, which must have been on the radio in the morning before going to work. I recall phoning up a colleague who I knew was a big Manics fan to tell him how impressed I was with it all, and I recall him raving down the phone that if someone like me 'had seen the light', then at long last the rest of the world was going to come to realise that the Welsh combo were indeed the best band that walked the planet.
Quite.
Anyways, I did go out that same day to buy the single and I was faced with the dilemma of paying £3.99 for the one in the silver sleeve with four different songs on it, or the one with the gold sleeve that had an orchestral version of the single plus a track mixed by The Chemical Brothers.
I went for the latter - something I don't regret as I'm still quite fond of everything, and I still reckon the single is the best thing the band ever did:-
mp3 : Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life
mp3 : Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life (Stealth Sonic Orchestra Version)
mp3 : Manic Street Preachers - Faster (Vocal Mix)
Oh there is a fourth track on the CD - an instrumental version of the Stealth Sonic thingy, but its not all that different from the one with the vocal.
Happy Listening.
8 comments:
You've got to respect a band that start an anthem like this with the line "libraries gave us power". Can't see Oasis ever doing that. (Not sure either of the Gallagher's has ever been in a library, unless they were pissed and were looking to nick another Beatles biography.)
My favourite related Manics lyric is from '1985'...
"In 1985... my words they came alive, Friends were made for life... Morrissey and Marr gave me choice."
If the MSP were any more pompous we would all have to kneel, heads bowed at their concerts and produce a 10,000 word thesis on why they are SO important to be handed in before leaving.
And that is why the SSO version without the vocals is the best version.
A Design For Life was a powerful anthem, but it will never connect with me in the same way as their masterpiece The Holy Bible does. I often think A Design For Life had the misfortune of being misinterpreted by yobs - they were just interested in the "We just want to get drunk" refrain, disregarding the satirical intention entirely. Those people were probably Oasis fans.
No, the Manics were never perfect, but the meaning they have for their hardcore fans is something that their detractors can never take from them. I have no problem saying that the Manics changed my life because they truly did. They smuggled politics and intellect into the rock arena in much the same way The Clash did in their time.
For little old me, the lyrics are generally twaddle. The drumming is top quality mind.
I really enjoyed seeing them last year in a smaller University hall. Tight as a camel's chuff they were .. and that wall of sound clears the sinuses. If in the mood for it, 'Autumnsong' and 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough' sound as good as the old gear to my hairy, wax plugged ears.
If they enjoy themselves and bring pleasure to old goats like me, you can't knock it.
Still a top live band, but agree that The Holy Bible is their masterpiece.
As for b-sides, I have to confess that not only did I buy both CD singles but I also bought the cassette single, which had James doing a solo version of 'Bright Eyes' the Art Garfunkel song.
I shudder to think what I was listening to instead of this band. You've given me more homework, JC, damn you! .... Well, not really, of course, I'm more than intrigued on this one xoxo
I also bought all 3 version. I did that a lot back then, I hadn't long started working and disposable income was a novelty to be thrown away on stuff like records.
The Chemical Brothers mix of Faster is worth the price of this alone though, I;d say.
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