Music: Three Reviews

One of the benefits of moving is that I have had some time to actually listen to some new music whilst packing/unpacking, rather than just catching snippets of it whilst commuting. And this past week I’ve heard three interesting new records from established artists. So here you go, music lovers, three reviews:

Journal for Plague Lovers by Manic Street Preachers

The Manics are one of my favourite bands, but I do have to confess that their more recent records have been a little lackluster. Lifeblood was so overproduced that it was just a bit lifeless, whilst Send Away the Tigers could have be written by anyone, even *shudders*, the Stereophonics. But I had high hopes for Journal for Plague Lovers. After all it is the direct sequel to their best album, The Holy Bible, and is based on the lyrics of the missing, probably dead, Richey Edwards.

Of course, the album doesn’t live up to expectations. Although I have to say that the expectations were so high for me that it probably could never have done. But there are a couple of points that stand out as to why it just isn’t as good as The Holy Bible. Firstly, the music just sounds like fake angry, and manufactured rage. It lacks the discipline and clipped tones of The Holy Bible, which it is so desperately trying to mimic. And then you have the lyrics, which veer from poignant to angry to downright absurd. Yeah, Richey’s lyrics were always packed with obscure references. But on this album they just feel unfinished, or like they have been subjected to the cut-up technique that creates so may of Bowie’s lyrics.

The stand out song is the last one – “William’s Last Words”. The lyrics read like a suicide note (which, for all the world, they may well be) and they are rendered and delivered well by the music and singing of Nicky Wire (a phrase I though I would never type). The song provides a neat coda to the work of Edwards, and bring into sharp relief the tragedy of his disappearance.

The album is worth buying – it is a hell of a lot better than a lot of the rest of the dross out there - but it just doesn’t feel as good as it could have been. Part of that feeling comes from the nagging doubt in the back of my mind that if the album is good now, just imagine how awesome it would have been had Edwards not vanished and had it be produced over a decade ago.

Man of Aran by British Sea Power

British Sea Power are another of my favourite bands, so I many be a little biased when I say that this album is awesome.

But it is also a quirky, idiosyncratic album. It is the soundtrack to the re-release of the film Man of Aran, and as such is an album almost completely lacking in words. Instead, it is ambient guitar music that creates a pastoral, yet oddly impersonal effect. It reminds me a little of the soundtrack to 28 Days Later - except this is less manic and far, far better.

It’s a record I greatly enjoy, and think that fans of BSP will enjoy too. However, if you don’t know the band it may be worth checking out one of their more commercial records, then come to this. If you are interested, then check out Open Season first – not least because some of the music on that album resurfaces on this one.

Further Complications by Jarvis Cocker

Jarvis’s album, quite frankly, makes him sound like an old man. Which is fair enough, because he is certainly getting on a bit. But there is a bitterness to his lyrics that wasn’t there before. And the music, whilst pounding and quite compulsive, also sounds very 1970s.

Throughout the album, the lecherous Cocker that was there throughout Pulp’s work is in evidence. But now the lyrics seem to suggest that Cocker knows he is older, and probably less appealing to the opposite sex. The songs don’t sound like the work of an unlikely sex symbol and don’t have the same coy, arch timbre that they used to have. Instead there is almost a weary acknowledgement that he is getting a bit past it.

There is nothing wrong with the album, and it is easy to listen to. But I’m left wondering just how much better it would have been had the songs been polished, adapted and developed by the other members of Pulp. Whether it would have flowed better, sounded more energetic, and less lumpen. Like with the Manics’ new album, I’m left wondering what it would have sounded like had it made a decade ago.

All three albums are worth buying, and if I was going to recommend one, then it would be Journal for Plague Lovers. However, I can’t help but notice that these records show that both the Manics and Jarvis were great artists who are perhaps no longer as great as they were. Whereas British Sea Power are probably at the height of their power.