Manis Street Preachers

Everything Must Go - Sony 1996

Tracks: 1. Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier / 2. A Design for Life / 3. Kevin Carter / 4. Enola/Alone / 5. Everything Must Go / 6. Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky / 7. The Girl Who Wanted to Be God / 8. Removables / 9. Australia / 10. Interiors / 11. Further Away / 12. No Surface All Feeling

Comments:

It was very brave of the Band to open their debut album with the long, slow and dark "Tears of Rage" . They were praised for this at the time, but now "Everything Must Go" was the first album by Manic Street Preachers after lyricist and guitarist Richey's Edwards' mysterious disappearance in February 1995.

Stylistically, the group has moved in a direction of the more polished, with string arrangements on several songs and the group in general seems more than before influenced by the Brit-pop wave. The music is still strongly marked by distorted guitars, which stand as an exciting contrast to the mostly melodic songs.

The album is often reckoned as one of the group's best and the album is characterized by solid and dedicated songwriting which lyrically touch upon both political and personal themes. The group shows willingness and strength to move on after the loss of the distinctive personality Edwards who, however, actually contributes by having written lyrics to five of the album's best songs such as ”KevinCarter”, "Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky", “The Girl Who Wanted to Be God" and "Removables"

Other songs I wish to highlight are the three catchy hit singles "A Design for Life," "Everything Must Go" and "Australia" also the somewhat heavy closing track "No Surface All Feeling," which features guitar work from Edwards. This was an exception as James Bradfield usually took care of all guitar work during recordings.

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