Enola / Alone (1996)Ī song provoked by Nicky Wire looking at his wedding photos and seeing both Richey Edwards and the band’s late manager Philip Hall, Enola / Alone sums up Everything Must Go’s winning sound – melodically rich, “uplifting but melancholy” as Wire put it, plus Wire’s glum brand of post-Edwards positivity: “All I want to do is live, no matter how miserable it is.” 22.
Last year’s The Ultra Vivid Lament – a far more focused album than its predecessor, Resistance Is Futile – was heralded by Orwellian, a despairing survey of 21st-century British life that still feels weirdly uplifting thanks to its tune, which perfectly fulfils the band’s stated remit of “the Clash meets Abba”. If you want to compare the Manics to the Clash – and the early Manics would clearly have been delighted if you did – then Gold Against the Soul is their Give ’Em Enough Rope: an overproduced second album that still contains a handful of potent songs, La Tristessa Durera’s sympathetic depiction of a war veteran among them.
0 kommentar(er)
