Manic Street Preachers. Everything Must Go (1996)

Everything Must Go is the fourth album by Manic Street Preachers, released in 1996. It contains five songs with lyrics by Richey James Edwards, who disappeared on February 1, 1995 and is the last album to feature his contributions.

The album takes its name from a play by Patrick Jones, Nicky Wire's brother.

Everything Must Go represents a change of style for the Manics. Their previous album, The Holy Bible, had been a stark, disturbing album with a minimal amount of instrumentation whilst this album embraces synths and strings, has a more commercial feel and fits with the Britpop movement that was prevalent at the time. The lyrical focus of the album is also shifted, due in part to Edwards' departure. Instead of introspective and autobiographical tracks such as 4st 7lbs, Wire's predilection for grandiose, historical and political themes dominates. These themes would continue through their next album, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours.

Subjects tackled on the album include the tragic life of the photographer Kevin Carter, on the track of the same name, Willem de Kooning, and the maltreatment of animals in captivity on "Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky". The latter track, with lyrics by Richey James Edwards, can also be interpreted as an exploration of his mental state before his disappearance; the line "Here chewing your tail is joy" for instance may be as much about Richey's self harm as it is the tormented self injury of zoo animals.

Part of the rhythm guitar on "No Surface All Feeling" was played by Edwards before his disappearance, making it the only other instance of Edwards' own guitarwork being present on a Manic Street Preachers studio album, besides on the single La Tristesse Durera from their 1993 album Gold Against The Soul, in the band's history (Bradfield would typically perform all the guitar parts for their recordings).

So far the album has gone double platinum in the UK. In 1998 Q magazine readers voted it the 11th greatest album of all time, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 39 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.

As with the lead single "A Design for Life", the album peaked at number 2 in the UK charts. "Everything Must Go", "Kevin Carter" and "Australia" were also released as singles.

The working title of this album was Sounds In The Grass after a series of paintings by Jackson Pollock; of which one is to be found in the MoMA-collection: "Shimmering Substance (Sounds in the Grass Series)", Oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 24 1/4" (76.3 x 61.6 cm), 1946.

Track listing

1. "Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier" (Music Bradfield/Moore, lyrics Wire/James) – 3:28
2. "A Design for Life" (Music Bradfield/Moore, lyrics Wire) – 4:16
3. "Kevin Carter" (Music Bradfield/Moore/Wire, lyrics James) – 3:24
4. "Enola/Alone" (Music Bradfield/Moore, lyrics Wire) – 4:07
5. "Everything Must Go" (Music Bradfield/Moore, lyrics Wire) – 3:41
6. "Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky" (Music Bradfield/Moore/Wire, lyrics James) – 3:02
7. "The Girl Who Wanted to Be God" (Music Bradfield/Moore, lyrics Wire/James) – 3:35
8. "Removables" (Music Bradfield/Moore/Wire, lyrics James) - 3:31
9. "Australia" (Music Bradfield/Moore, lyrics Wire)– 4:04
10. "Interiors (Song for Willem de Kooning)" (Music Bradfield/Moore, lyrics Wire) – 4:17
11. "Further Away" (Music Bradfield/Moore, lyrics Wire) – 3:38
12. "No Surface All Feeling" (Music Bradfield/Moore, lyrics Wire) – 4:13

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Manic Street Preachers. This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (1998)

This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours is an album by the Manic Street Preachers. It was released in September 1998 on Epic Records and in the United States the following year on Virgin Records.

The title is a quotation taken from a speech given by Welsh British Labour Party politician Aneurin Bevan. The cover photograph was taken on Black Rock Sands near Porthmadog. It was the first Manics album to feature lyrics solely by Nicky Wire, while all the music was written by the habitual duo of James Dean Bradfield and cousin Sean Moore.

The album is a much more subdued affair compared to previous albums with many songs having a more acoustic feel. At the same time it shows the band experimenting with studio and production possibilities, as shown in the more spacey atmosphere of several tracks e.g. S.Y.M.M., I'm Not Working and Born a Girl. The album debuted at #1 on the UK Album Chart and spent three weeks at the top of the charts.

The album was preceded by the single If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, which debuted at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, their first single to do so.

Hidden behind the disc's tray is a quote from the 1995 book, "No Truce With The Furies" by R. S Thomas.

Track listing

1. "The Everlasting" – 6:09
2. "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" – 4:50
3. "You Stole the Sun from My Heart" – 4:20
4. "Ready for Drowning" – 4:31
5. "Tsunami" – 3:50
6. "My Little Empire" – 4:09
7. "I'm Not Working" – 5:51
8. "You're Tender and You're Tired" – 4:37
9. "Born a Girl" – 4:12
10. "Be Natural" – 5:12
11. "Black Dog on My Shoulder" – 4:48
12. "Nobody Loved You" – 4:44
13. "S.Y.M.M." – 5:57

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Manic Street Preachers. Forever Delayed (2002)

Forever Delayed is a greatest hits album by the Manic Street Preachers, released in 2002.

The album included three singles which had never appeared on the earlier albums ("Motown Junk", "Suicide Is Painless" and "The Masses Against The Classes"), the latter being one of the band's two UK #1 hits, along with "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next". Several songs were edited for length ("Motorcycle Emptiness", "You Love Us", "Australia", "Everything Must Go", "Little Baby Nothing" and "The Everlasting") so that more tracks could fit onto the CD. The album entered the UK Album Chart at #4.

The album featured two new songs; the single "There By The Grace Of God" and "Door To The River". "Door to the River" was originally recorded in the sessions for the Know Your Enemy album, but the band deemed the song to be too unfitting to the album's general style. "There By the Grace of God" can be seen as a foreshadowing of things to come, as it features a more electronic/keyboard-heavy style that would eventually be the main style of the band's next studio album, Lifeblood.

The tracklisting wasn't chronological; however it gave an excellent representation of the Manic's work so far and showed how far the band had progressed musically and lyrically since they formed.

The title of Forever Delayed is lifted from the lyrics of their song "Roses In The Hospital" (which ironically does not feature on the CD album). This title for their greatest hits package had also been planned for several years previous, Nicky Wire first mentions it in Everything - A Book About Manic Street Preachers published in 1998.

Track Listing

1. "A Design for Life"
   
2. "Motorcycle Emptiness"
   
3. "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next"
4. "La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)"
   
5. "There by the Grace of God"
6. "You Love Us"
7. "Australia"
8. "You Stole the Sun from My Heart"
9. "Kevin Carter"
   
10. "Tsunami"
    
11. "The Masses Against the Classes"
12. "From Despair to Where"
13. "Door To The River"
14. "Everything Must Go"
    
15. "Faster"
    
16. "Little Baby Nothing"
    
17. "Suicide Is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H)"
    
18. "So Why So Sad"
19. "The Everlasting"
20. "Motown Junk"

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