Early Press

After a few recordings under their belt people had a chance to hear what the Manics were all about....but how would they hear about them in the first place to know they even existed?  'Campaign' is probably the best word to describe the early Manics assault on the music press, targeting specific journalists who they felt would fall for their charms.

The first press in a major publication that I'm aware of is a feature in the NME from 4th August 1990.  As with much of the press that I'll be referring to in this blog, if you didn't happen to buy and/or keep the music papers over the years, you can find them in the NME Originals magazine which came out around the time of 'Forever Delayed' and contains the major articles and reviews about the Manics in the NME over the years.  I didn't pick this up at the time, so ended up with a slightly dog-eared copy bought from Ebay a few years ago.

The first thing to say about the feature is that the picture is hilarious....basically four music fans sat looking at the camera, James looking nervous with what appears to be a blonde bowl cut and Richey pulling down the neck of his shirt to reveal 'Riot'.  The opening line of 'We are the scum factor of the Mondays meets the guitar overload of Five Thirty/Ride while killing Birdland with politics' highlights their slightly lower aspirations before they decided to move on to the likes of Guns 'n' Roses and Public Enemy as reference points.

The article is written in an interview style but seems to be just one of their 'manifestos' cut up, with 'questions' inserted in between to make them sound a bit silly.  The quotes range from the slightly snotty 'We've spray painted our school shirts to wipe out the brainwash and the boredom' to the classic 'When we jump on stage it is not rock 'n' roll cliche but the geometry of contempt'.  Speaking as a maths graduate I'm highly impressed that anyone can manage to get the word 'geometry' into a rock interview.  Manic Street Protractors anyone?

The article is a positive one though, Steven Wells commenting 'They still sound too much like The Clash but by the end of the year they will be releasing songs that match the beautiful, stark, gibbering genius of their prose.  Then they will be the most important rock band in the world.'  The timescales weren't exactly correct, but an impression had certainly been made.

The same edition of the NME also contained a brief review of 'New Art Riot', being described as 'Sham 69 with balls and brains' by the resident reviewer before guest reviewers the Pixies decided it 'sounds pretty good...but it just didn't suck me in.'

After a brief feature and a single review, in the 11th October edition of the NME there was now a live review at the Camden Falcon, a chance for the Manics to really let the press sit up and take notice.  With a photo of Nicky kneeling, shirt adorned with the words 'Rock 'n' Roll Suicide' and a picture of Sid Vicious, it certainly put across a more exciting visual message than the photo attached to the previous feature.  Reviewer Simon Dudfield, later of Fabulous, has obviously been converted to the cause gushing forth 'I love their tight white trousers that make them walk funny, I love their spray painted T-shirts with 'Destroy Work' on them....and I love the way they look so alienated and misunderstood.'  It also touches on another common feature of the Manics early career - the fact that they seem to polarise opinion so completely.  Already it seemed you either love them or hate them.

Another live review in the NME followed in the 1st December edition, this time at Manchester International, home of the burgeoning baggy scene.  Accompanied by a photo of a screaming (and no longer blonde) James with Richey in the background, the review concentrates on the difference between the Manics and the 'glazed hordes of basin-cut lovemuppets.'  The Manics were getting themselves out there, with bands that were nothing like them (let's face it, who was?) and converting the few while irritating the rest - 'I'd be scared to come down the front if I was you as well!'.  Presumably a Nicky quote.

It was time to get back in the studio again, and another set of demos marked 'Winter 1990' turned up on 'Lipstick Traces'.  Disregarding those songs recorded on the first singles, this presumably represents their entire arsenal at this point in time, although despite having existed since the early days 'Motorcycle Emptiness' is conspicuous by its absence.

I have to admit to being slightly dubious as to whether these songs are the 'ten songs for two singles' requested following their recent signing to Heavenly, as referred to by Simon Price in 'Everything'.  There are 7 songs included, which minus the 3 songs on 'Motown Junk' does add up, however 'You Love Us' sounds slightly different and its B-sides (not included here) would push it over to 12.

'Repeat' kicks things off with a whimper, for what is an obviously energetic rallying cry live the band are definitely struggling to capture it on tape, this version seeming slow and lethargic with a strange echoey quality to it.  The first appearance of 'Methadone Pretty' shows more of a classic rock feel, definitely less punk than the other early songs.  This is effectively the same song that would turn up later on, just a little rough around the edges but with no real change to the lyrics or music.

'Faceless Sense of Void' (later to become 'Love's Sweet Exile') is next turning up like an old friend, and it is definitely starting to sound more like old material.  Shuffling along it certainly doesn't seem like it would have fitted in on 'Generation Terrorists' in this form.  However, it is another great version with a fantastic performance from Sean on the drum stool.  A new song 'You Love Us' follows, apart from a few bits here and there this is essentially the Heavenly version with an inferior production job.  Compared to their recorded output so far this is the first song that seems genuinely exciting, that meets the expectations you would get from reading one of those early manifestos.  Listening to this version actually reignited my love for the song after hearing all the more recent bouncy, cabaret live versions. James still says 'fake like saver' though.

Speaking of exciting, 'Generation Terrorists', later to become 'Stay Beautiful', continues the new material.  In terms of differences to the final version there are maybe 50% different lyrics, additional back up vocals, and the final two words of the chorus are actually spoken rather than being replaced by a squall of guitar (sorry this is a family blog).  Between this and 'You Love Us' there is most definitely more attitude in the new songs.  'Soul Contamination' then gets a recording, being a song that dates back to the Horse & Groom gig a year or so earlier, although compared to the rest of the material it sounds like it is destined to be a B side, which it ultimately was.  The last song, 'Democracy Coma', is another new one that, like 'Methadone Pretty', shows more of a rock leaning than the punkier songs, and that's not to say that either type is starting to get diluted, the songs are definitely getting better.  It seems like there are three types of song now - early songs still hanging around, the exciting, energetic punk songs and the more mature rock songs, definitely not the one-trick ponies that the music press might like to have painted them as.

Picture from NME Originals - look closely and you can see the scar on Nicky's  neck

Something I didn't have when I wrote this blog the first time around was the 'Generation Terrorists' 20th Anniversary box.  In there were a few more demos which may have also been from around this time, although I suspect some were earlier.  I've inserted them here as it fits with the other demos and rounds off the pre-Heavenly recorded output quite nicely.

'Poleaxed' had that early Manics shuffle and sounds decent enough but looking back it wasn't particularly surprising that it didn't ultimately turn up anywhere else, the "la la la-la-la" in particular makes it sound rather unfinished.  'Colt 45' is immediately recognisable to fans as an early form of 'Spectators of Suicide', different again to those other types of song mentioned above and adding another string to their bow. It's similar to the Heavenly version, although with different lyrics as hinted at by the change of title.  James seems a lot more restrained or self-conscious vocally, which makes me think this may pre-date the other demos discussed above.

'Spent All Summer' is a strange scratchy song with odd drum programming, much more in the old indie style than the punky songs that dominated their early output, again making me think that this is an earlier demo.  'Behave Yourself Baby' also turns up again, a different version to the one featured on a previous blog but essentially the same song.  I am intrigued as to who is doing the backing singing though, it certainly doesn't sound like James or Nicky which leaves Sean as prime suspect.

Lastly a 'Motown Junk' demo is also featured in the anniversary box which probably does bring us more into line with the demos featured here.  To be honest, given it's arguably my favourite song of all time, it's slightly painful to listen to given its slower pace and the lack of life that is yet to be breathed into it.  It wouldn't be too long before it was given a rocket up its proverbial......

-------------------------------

Now that the music was out of the way it's back to the business of stirring up the press.  An interview with the NME in the 5th January 1991 edition could quite possibly be the one that started it all.  Filled with loads of the quotes that you've heard over and over again this was the Manics translating the content of their manifestos into an interview situation (although it's debatable how much of an interview there actually was as the feature contains a lot of references to live gigs and letters to journalists).  'Smash Hits is more effective in polluting minds than Goebbels ever was', 'Parliament is more ugly than a gas chamber', not to mention starting as they mean to go on by trashing other bands, the 'bald-fat-ugly-glutton-filth' Inspiral Carpets coming in for some pretty heavy criticism this time around (they make them vomit apparently, although I've always liked them).

Headed 'Manic on the Streets of London' I have the feature both in the NME Originals magazine and a 1997 reproduction under the banner of 'Rock of Ages - Classic NME Interviews' (which incidentally feature different photos).  The photos show the band looking less like rabbits caught in the headlights and with the music and written bravado now starting to converge the image wasn't far behind, Richey in particular stealing the photos with his spraypainted 'London Death Sentence Heritage' top complete with a page of the A to Z while stood in front of Buckingham Palace.

If nothing else this feature would have taken the feeling of love them or hate them to a wider audience.  If they happened to slag off one of your favourite bands you'd probably hate them, if you were put off by blokes in eye makeup and big girls' blouses you'd probably hate them, if you generally thought that four white Welsh boys poncing around outside Buckingham Palace talking about Public Enemy and Kylie was a bad thing you'd probably hate them.  If you managed to make it past those, I imagine at this point the remaining hardy souls were curious at best.  If only they had some actual new material to release that could satisfy that curiosity.....

Live Review NME 19th January 1991

More Demos....plus First Appearance of 'Motorcycle Emptiness'

After the first tentative steps into demo-land the Manics pressed on with another song included on the 'Tortured Genius' collection, a song familiar to many Manics die-hards as the B-side to Stay Beautiful' - 'R.P. McMurphy'. This version is labelled as 'demo circa 1987/88' and is quite different to the one we all know as it features the full band (by full band I'm guessing that meant James, Nicky and Sean i.e. pre-Flicker and Richey, but correct me if I'm wrong).

The sound is still obviously demo quality and with the drums falling over themselves a bit you get the feeling that either Sean is being over-ambitious and pushing himself to play something he maybe couldn't quite manage at the time or maybe just that they recorded everything first take, warts and all.  As it's also slightly faster James has real trouble trying to keep his 'na-na-na's on the chorus in time with the music!  Aside from the slightly shambolic feel I think this is a really good version, and it's always interesting to hear songs that you're familiar with turned into something different (even if this was in fact the original).  This song certainly seems to me as though it marks the turning point from bedroom band into the pre-'Generation Terrorists' sound and feel.

The actual timing for the next set of songs isn't clear from the sleeve notes of the releases they feature on but I believe that the next set of demos are the ones featured on the 'Lipstick Traces' bootleg, which saw the light of day on LP through Media Slut productions in 1993.  I think it's a safe bet to say that these songs came before 'Suicide Alley' was released and they are similar in sound to 'R.P. McMurphy', so I'd place them around 1988.

I first picked up 'Lipstick Traces' on a simple copied CD with hand-written insert from Ebay around the same time as 'Tortured Genius' (how easy it is to fleece a Manics fan desperate to get their hands on early material), but then managed to pick up the genuine article on vinyl.

It starts off with the song most Manics fans would be interested in from the early material, marked on the sleeve as 'Motorcycle Emptiness' but I suspect at the time it was actually called 'Go Buzz Baby Go'.  It's easily recognisable as an early version of the anthem we all know and love, although with very different lyrics that hint at the song they would turn into - one of the 'Each day living out a lie etc.' sections contains the words 'Motorcycle emptiness, motorcycle empti....ness'.  The chorus is simply a repetition of the words 'Go Buzz Baby Go' and alongside 'R.P. McMurphy' it becomes quite clear that the Manics were already well capable of writing a catchy chorus that will stick in your brain for the next week or two.

The delivery of the song in particular is also improved from previous recordings, the Manics using acoustic guitar and tambourine to offset the usual guitar, bass, drums, making it sound less like a recording of a rehearsal and suggesting that more thought was now going into the writing process.

The next song is another early version of a 'Generation Terrorists'-era tune, probably the Manics song bearing the most different titles over the course of time - 'Just Can't be Happy', which would eventually turn into 'Love's Sweet Exile'.  Again it's interesting to hear how the song started life, which in this case is very different - much less Rock FM, which is fairly obvious at this stage, with more of a shuffling beat and generally understated performance.

I think the Manics have tended to disown the final version of 'Love's Sweet Exile', and while this certainly isn't the best you can see how that album version was bent out of shape from this original idea.  However, the final melodies remain even if the lyrics don't, 'ooh's replacing the words of the later title's chorus and a new refrain of 'Just can't be happy without you' taking the place of the 'Raindown alienation' parts. I really like this version as it motors along, the slightly out of tune singing, poor-by-James'-standards solo and the fact it sounds on the verge of falling apart being endearing rather than irritating.  Or maybe I'm a little biased...

'This Girl's Got Nothing' has a raw yet jangly sound, showing the Manics are developing more of an edge, although the quiet, slightly out of tune bass lets it down a little.  It's almost like a punk band has decided to cover a 60s Beatles-style hit.  'Sun-glass Aesthetic' (a contender for first Richey title anyone?) is fairly non-descript but shows that James' guitar playing is improving, perhaps as he becomes more confident with the recording process.  It also highlights how low down in the mix the bass is in these recordings!

'Suicide Alley' is next up, a little looser than the single version with more of a live sound but not quite as much edge at this point.  The build up to the chorus is more sedate, with less attitude than the studio take but overall it's not a million miles away from the 7".  The most interesting song from a musical perspective is 'Behave Yourself Baby', containing an early trumpet performance by Sean, acoustic guitar, handclaps and 'ba-ba-ba' vocals (no sheep jokes please).  It actually wouldn't sound out of place as an 'Everything Must Go' B-side and while that might not sound strange now I think your average 'Generation Terrorists'-era fan might have been shocked to hear 'their' band doing something that sounded so safe and, well, bland.  Anyone looking out for more of those early signs of later songs will note the line 'All I want from you is the skin you live within' which would later become 'All we want from you are the kicks you've given us' from 'Motorcycle Emptiness'.

The last two songs from this batch sound like they may have been recorded at a different time from the others as they are sonically different.  'Razorblade Beat' starts off with a bass intro (with bass you can actually hear this time) followed by a mass of discordant squalls kicking into the song proper.  With the benefit of hindsight this actually sounds like it could be an out-take from 'The Holy Bible' with its bass-led verses and slightly haunting feel before speeding up for a crazed ending.  'Eating Myself from Inside' is different again, being the most upbeat Manics song I can think of right now.  I'm left with images of bands like The Wonder Stuff and Kingmaker, a throwback to the Manics' original indie roots.

These songs also feature on another bootleg, 'Turning Rebellion into Money' (minus 'Go Buzz Baby Go'), another CD I picked up in my Ebay gaps-in-my-collection-filling days.  However, if you are on the look out for this set of demos it's worth hunting down 'Lipstick Traces' for the additional song.

So, to me, this phase of demos marks an interim period of moving out of the bedroom band phase to become more competent and on the verge of unleashing themselves on the big wide world of gigs and studios, a move that wasn't far away.....