Stay Beautiful

The 25th May 1991 edition of NME was supposed to have contained your run of the mill live review of the Manics at Norwich Arts Centre.  They got more than they bargained for as the infamous '4 Real' incident changed everything.  A separate news story reports how Richey needed "17 stitches in horrific, self-inflicted wounds to his arm" prompting the cancellation of the next night's gig in Birmingham (I'm sure that wasn't strictly necessary).

I remember seeing the full gory picture at the time, and being a boy on the verge of my 13th birthday it was obviously one of those images you just can't help being fascinated by.  I think I'm with Nicky on this one - it obviously wasn't big or clever, especially with hindsight and the cult of Richey that it started, but it was pretty impressive.  He obviously planned it and I would believe the band if they say they knew nothing about it.  If they said previously that they didn't want to be in the likes of the NME, they just wanted to go straight for the tabloids, they were going the right way about it.  Life for the Manics would never be quite the same again.

The actual live review by Steve Lamacq starts with a description of the incident, heard by everyone reading this a million times before I expect, followed by what is actually a pretty frank, accurate summary of the Manics' career to date, honest and gracious but still written by someone who doesn't quite believe....but you kind of get the feeling that he wants to.  "The Manics seemed to be unwittingly standing in a caricature of rock 'n' roll rebellion.  Amidst all this they released the chunky, surprisingly good 'Motown Junk' and threw things into confusion.....And agreed, what wouldn't we give for a new political pop band back in the charts?  Someone who'd go further than just being 'worthy'.  But I'm not convinced the Manics have everything under control at the moment".  On the contrary, I expect it was more that, Richey in particular, they had EVERYTHING under control.

Days after the '4 Real' incident the Manics signed with Sony, doing a deal with someone who looks eerily like JFK.  Richey can be seen with a bandage still covering his wounds.  What a hilarious picture (found near the back of NME Originals), James in particular looking particularly pleased with himself.  Suddenly, from humble beginnings, the expectation and the publicity was going big league.

You know you're getting old when your own newspaper cuttings are yellowing.  An article from Melody Maker from 1st June 1991 was first on the scene following the major label deal and '4 Real'.  Aside from the lazy journalist spelling 3 of the 4 band members' names wrong throughout the interview (Ritchie, Nicki and Shaun), it's another one of those classic early interviews.  Remembering how nervous they seemed in the Snub interview, they seem absolutely unstoppable here, especially Nicki, sorry Nicky.

Quotes include:

"You can't create year zero again.  We're completely conscious of that....We don't respect punk.  We don't respect rock.  We don't respect Elvis.  We're just the best rock 'n' roll band there's ever been.  When our next single comes out, everyone will realise that."

Nicky - "Every concert or interview we've done, I've wanted people to beat us up because I know I'm prettier and more intelligent than they'll ever be...If Shaun Ryder walked up to me and started beating the f*** out of me, I wouldn't fight back.  I'd just stand there and take it.  Anyway, my father was in the army for four years.  If anyone came near me, they'd be dead".

Richey - "Personally, like, I only lost my virginity six months ago.  I never looked at girls and just stayed in my bedroom all day.  I never even kissed a girl.  Then the band started...."

Sean - "Those two girls I was with last night...all I did was help them out.  They had spent a lot of money travelling up to see us and they were only students.  So I took them back to the bedroom, showed them the beds, then I went to sleep on the bathroom floor with a single sheet around me.  The floor wasn't even carpeted.  It was made of vinyl.  Basically, I think we're all pretty romantic".

Sean doesn't say much but when he does it's pure gold.  You also get the back story of sitting in their bedrooms, waiting for the music papers, reading everything they could get their hands on, how Hanoi Rocks win over Morrissey every time, how they're "just a hopeless mass of contradictions".  If you were into the music by now, they were probably fast becoming your favourite band.

Later that month the Manics hit the news again after storming off stage at the Downing College Ball at Cambridge University.  After Nicky starts kicking a mic stand around the stage, the PA company pull the plug at which point Nicky and Sean start generally destroying things before James punches a member of the college rugby team.  Perfect, even more publicity.  

Another picture from NME Originals around this time shows the band in James' bedroom, Public Enemy and Guns 'n' Roses records casually laid on the floor, Slash poster on the wall.  Apparently James had the top bunk and Sean the bottom if you're interested.

July 1991 saw 'Feminine is Beautiful' seeing the light of day (already covered in a previous blog) and another feature in Melody Maker, which incidentally is where the backdrop to this blog was taken from.  This one contains more of the same stories of being bored back home in Wales, how they hate all other bands around at the moment, how they're going to have their one big album and disappear at the top of their game etc, etc.  You get the impression, though, that this time everyone isn't quite laughing so hard.  They're obviously going to fail, but maybe not quite as spectacularly as first thought.  The introduction also reminds us of something - this is a band who haven't yet had a hit record.  Imagine what it will be like when they DO.

The interview also gives a couple of unintentionally hilarious moments when saying that they interview Richey and Nicky because "singer James Dean Bradfield and drummer Sean Moore are hard at it a couple of floors below" and, when discussing the merits of being in love, Nicky says "I think I'll always be happier with my mother anyway".  Childish?  Yes.  Funny?  Obviously.  Nicky also shows that Mr Carbohydrate has always been there, "I'm always happiest just living with my mum and dad and my dog.  Watching telly and stuff like that.  That is my perfect scenario, when I can reach some kind of peace."  Says the man on the opposite page holding a gun....

It remained to be seen whether signing to a major label would change the Manics, but we were about to find out with the release of 'Stay Beautiful'.  Again, I still wasn't yet at the stage of buying the records, I actually bought the CD single (along with all the others) when they were re-released in 1997.  All those B-side titles that I had previously only read about in the 5 years before immediately came to life with those reissues.  We're talking pre-downloading and Ebay here kids (or at least very much in its infancy).  But 'Stay Beautiful' is still one of my favourites...writing this blog just makes me think what an amazing trio of singles 'Motown Junk', 'You Love Us' and 'Stay Beautiful' actually were!!

To answer the question of whether signing to a major would change the Manics, the answer is fundamentally no.  The money behind the band meant that the production was much slicker, crystal clear compared to before, and James' playing in particular had gone up several notches to match it.  Not to mention the title of the song had changed, presumably they had decided at this point that 'Generation Terrorists' would be better as the album title.  The only other concession to major label life was the replacement of two key words at the end of the chorus by James' guitar, I'm guessing keeping it as it was would not have been great for radio play!

With the benefit of hindsight you could say that it was perfectly written to appeal to what was fast becoming their fanbase - 'Love your masks and adore your failure', 'We're a mess of eyeliner and spraypaint', 'All we love is lonely wreckage' all being classic lines, but also starting to paint a picture of a stereotypical early Manics fan.  If 'You Love Us' was a taunt to critics, 'Stay Beautiful' was almost an anthem for the converted.

Even the artwork could have been seen to fit in with this - the band's name written in lipstick, a glamorous girl and a quote that starts out as sounding a bit morbid but ends up fitting the song perfectly:

"I saw some piglets suckling their dead mother.  After a short while they shuddered and went away.  They had sensed that she could no longer see them and she wasn't like them any more.  What they loved in their mother wasn't her body, but whatever it was that made her body live." Confucius.

They were now at a stage where they could start pulling out songs from their arsenal to use as B-sides - previously an early demo with the full band, 'R.P. McMurphy' was converted into a quieter vocals, guitar and tambourine combination.  Another one of those which has been changed at some point but still works both ways, it's a gorgeously melodic reminder that we're not just dealing with Clash copyists here.  And a bonus point for turning the word "drugs" into "dru-he-ugs", a favourite James tactic for fitting some of the impossible-to-sing lyrics into the music.  Another older song, 'Soul Contamination', is next which, while still being a decent Manics B-side, actually highlights how much they've moved on with the newer songs.

As far as videos for major label debut singles go, this was an odd one.  The band inside a strange house performing the song, getting covered with multi-coloured paint, before the house falls in on itself and becomes a strange spider/octopus hybrid.  Given the Manics' control over most aspects of their band's output it doesn't seem like one of their ideas.  Nicky and Richey are looking pretty deadly in this video, although James still hasn't got his act together visually.  My favourite part of this video is where James gets a face and a mouth full of blue paint, or whatever it was they were using!  I actually used to have an A4 poster of what must have been the aftermath of the filming, probably from Select, all four of them covered head to toe in various colours of dripping paint.  But I wasn't allowed to put it on my wall because my mum said it made her feel sick!!  She is now a fan, although mostly from 'Gold Against the Soul' onwards.

The single review in the NME from 27th July 1991 wasn't as glowing, although you sense it's more of a backlash at their major label deal than anything else.  'Stay Beautiful', with one foot in their past and the production values of their future was almost a bridge between the two Manics eras.  The Sony era had begun.

You Love Us

It's February 1991 and, apart from the 'Motown Junk' video, it's the first sighting in my collection of the Manics in the live arena.  The performance in question is found on the 'Televised Propaganda' DVD, listed as 'Live Oxford Venue 7:2:91 Damaged Goods B&W Promo Film'.  What kind of promotional purpose this could have served is questionable, unless you're happy with the picture quality of a black and white thermal imaging camera and the sound quality of standing outside a gig.  If I didn't already know the songs and what the band looked like, I'd be none the wiser by the end.

But it all adds to the charm doesn't it?  The set list features no surprises and is very similar to the demos recorded not long before, featured on 'Lipstick Traces' - You Love Us, Democracy Coma, Methadone Pretty, Strip it Down, Motown Junk, Sorrow 16, Generation Terrorists, Faceless Sense of Void.  The latter two songs ('Stay Beautiful' and 'Love's Sweet Exile) are still in their previous incarnations, only a matter of months before they turn up in their final recorded guise.

'Repeat' is uncredited at the end, perhaps because it never really goes anywhere.  After technical problems during the set, it appears as if James' strap breaks and he eventually abandons his guitar to play with the mic stand, Nicky sods off all together, while Sean soldiers on regardless and Richey has a half-hearted stab at breaking his guitar.

Apart from the finale they don't yet come across as the exciting live band the press might have you believe, but compared to the majority of bands around at the time they do actually move and possess a decent amount of energy.  Add that to the unconventional image and you can see the early appeal.  The roles appear to be set already - Nicky does most of the talking and awkwardly strides round the stage a lot with his long legs, James is the musical focal point, Richey is pulling all the right shapes, while Sean is holding everything together anonymously at the back.  There will be better gigs to come in terms of performance and recording, but it's a nice little curio to have in your collection.

As is a CD of interviews I picked up from Ebay, 'Mouthing off with the Manics', sold by music journalist and one-time drummer of Done Lying Down, James Sherry.  I guess selling your own interviews on Ebay isn't really the norm but it got me an interesting little Manics oddity.  The first interview is from February 1991 with Richey, described on the CD as follows:

"Kicking off with a phone interview with Richey recorded back in the early nineties when their debut album 'Generation Terrorists' was still just a collective twinkle in these four Welsh lads eyes, here is the evidence that they really did intend to release one, glorious life-affirming rock n'roll album and split up.  Here is their early uncompromising attitude fully intact, with Richey passionately claiming that the band would never get fat, get complacent and have their music turn into self indulgent wank.  Ironic, that. 12 minutes 50 seconds"

The first thing you notice after reading countless music press interviews is how awkward it all seems.  As the interviewer introduces himself, he tells Richey he's met him a few times, how 'I've got like orange-y hair and I've got like a green coat', Richey's response is '...yeah?...' followed by an awkward silence.  'I've talked to you a few times?'.  Made me laugh anyway.  Questions range from "What kind of audience reaction are you into?" to "Do you enjoy touring all the time?" (response: "It's got to be done hasn't it?"), there are a few more awkward silences until they get into a rhythm,

Richey talks about how there is going to be a new major label record deal, a new album and how they will probably be gone by this time next year.  He explains their original master plan of getting gigs in London and just phoning loads of music journalists, inviting them to attend.  How there will be another couple of singles after 'You Love Us', being 'Generation Terrorists' and 'Repeat', which will be produced by the Bomb Squad.  They will then go to America, play a few gigs, come back and split up.  It ends by confirming addresses to send the next edition of Metal Hammer (where it will be featured), before Richey makes sure he asks if they have some pictures too, very important (apparently Heavenly are going to bike some over).  It's interesting to hear something like this that isn't edited or in a very formal TV setting.  And obviously Richey fans will be happy to hear such a long conversation with their hero...I guess that's why it was on Ebay in the first place.

A one page interview in Select from around this time I think is the first Manics article I ever saw.  Given that there was no caption saying who was who, I played the 'match the band member to the lineup game'.  The one at the front must be the singer so that's James (WRONG), the little bowl-cut one doesn't look that interesting, so he's probably the drummer (Correct!), which leaves the other two.  The tall one at the back looks more rock and roll so he must be a guitarist, therefore Richey (WRONG), which leaves the one on the left as Nicky (inevitably WRONG).  Still quite a fun game to play, especially with metal bands - the one with less hair wearing shorts is usually the drummer.

But I digress...the interview itself is the first one I have in print that starts mentioning the idea of the HUGE first album that will set them up for life.  "We're not signing unless it's a contract for just one double album...then we'll make enough money from that to last forever" (Nicky).  When pushed on their idea of handing the album over to Public Enemy's production team to create a hybrid of 'Fear of a Black Planet' and 'Appetite for Destruction' Nicky has to reveal "we haven't asked them yet.  We want to get a lot bigger before we do it.  But we've always thought out of proportion to our means".

They are certainly getting into their role of (pun intended) Public Enemy Number 1.  Starting off with "We've been accused of slagging off every band there is, and we've been told to stop.  But our statement is we hate every other band" (Nicky).  Despite the value for money they provide as interviewees the interviewer is still suspicious though, talking about "tinny chords half-inched from The Clash's first LP and a squeaky voice snarling out lyrics intended to shake the world well off the end of the Richter scale".

Already mentioned in a previous blog, 'UK Channel Boredom' finally saw the light of day, being reviewed in the 30th March edition of NME as 'a truly dreadful recording', but 'once again proves the point that musically the Manic Street Preachers are a better band than The Clash ever were'.  I bet James was chuffed with that one.

Three weeks later they were back in the NME, with a live review at the Marquee in London.  Accompanied by a photo of Nicky in leopard print, as with the last single review it was written by Steven Wells and therefore almost nothing to do with reality.  I think he liked it though - 'Like to write more but the Manics are a star band and we've run out of space'.

The hype has been building gradually as the Manics worm their way into the press and the hearts and minds of the UK's music fans, but on 7th May 1991 the arrival of 'You Love Us' is like flicking a switch.  From this point on everything goes into overdrive.  'Motown Junk' was an excellent choice for first proper single, but 'You Love Us' is just so much more obvious, provocative and memorable in a more universal way.  From the record cover featuring a huge heart over a collage of Manics icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Travis Bickle, Bob Marley etc. to the extra effort made in terms of image, the Manics obviously also saw this as the right time and their way in.

'You Love Us' was the first song that properly got me into the Manics, probably taped from the Evening Session, as mentioned on the previous blog I had heard 'Motown Junk' but only really in passing.  I wasn't yet a prolific buyer of records at this point however, just a small random collection, so my 12" came later on, bought from Ebay.  I already had the two main B-sides after they turned up on later releases, but before then I was missing the live track.

It's a tough question trying to work out which version of 'You Love Us' I prefer.  Generally speaking, more often than not I would go for the first one I heard, which if pushed I would also say on this occasion.  If I can take the liberty of having the original with the album version's outro then even better.  It actually sounds like they're having fun recording it, still a bit loose round the edges sound-wise, but with all the whooping going on in the background they must have been enjoying themselves.  The song basically sums up everything the Manics stood for at the time - if you were a fan then you really did love them, if you weren't a fan then you probably hated them, so having them sing 'You Love Us' in your face probably wasn't going to change your mind.

Given that the video for 'Motown Junk' was just from a live gig this gives them the opportunity to star in their first 'proper' video.  'Star' is probably the right word.  It starts with some of the images from the record cover, before cutting between a glammed-up Manics performing the song and perfectly edited live footage of instrument smashing.  I say perfectly edited because it looks exciting in the video, whereas at the Oxford gig mentioned previously it all looked a little contrived.  James, on the other hand, looks hilarious, like the little boy shown in the Holy Bible booklet wearing a fur coat!!  James, for one, needed to work on his image, even Sean had grown his hair a bit to look a bit more presentable.

'Spectators of Suicide' is an odd choice of B-side given what you've just heard.  It's another side to the Manics, maybe another calculated move at this point to say 'you thought you knew who we were, but listen to this'.  And still they knew they had 'Motorcycle Emptiness' up their sleeve.  James sounds incredibly restrained with his vocals, shy even, and they have the addition of piano courtesy of a certain Mr Dave Eringa.  I first heard this as the B-side to the 12" of 'From Despair to Where' and just to contradict myself from earlier, I actually think this is better than the album version I'd heard a year or so before.  It's different in the way that 'Faceless Sense of Void' was from 'Love's Sweet Exile', more organic, more stripped down, more real.

'Starlover' was one of the last early B-sides I actually heard, I didn't have the CD of 'From Despair to Where' where it resurfaced and eventually picked it up as a filler on a compilation tape made by my brother's girlfriend before finally getting the original 12".  It's back to the punky, early Manics we love and I think it would be fair to say if you wanted a song that summed up the pre-'Generation Terrorists'-era quickly then this may be the one.  They seem keen on including samples on this single, the squall of strings at the start of 'You Love Us', the voice at the beginning of 'Spectators..' and their beloved Flavor Flav of Public Enemy on this.  A live version of 'Strip it Down' rounds it off, a quality recording given the video I mentioned earlier, and another song to indulge yourself in listening out for audible Richey guitar (just about audible in the left ear if you're wearing headphones).

Carrying on the Manics tradition, the quote on the sleeve is layered over a picture of Marilyn Monroe (so was presumably hers?):

"I knew I belonged to the public and to the world not because I was talented or even beautiful but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone ever".

A more perfect Manics quote you're never likely to hear.

The single's release is accompanied by a feature in the NME from 11th May and this definitely ups the ante in the glam stakes.  Richey and Nicky are glammed up to the nines, eye make-up aplenty, blouses and white jeans as per usual, Richey with the classic 'oops I shouldn't have done this in a mirror' VIH carved into his chest (a sign of things to come....) and Nicky chickening out with 'Culture Slut' on his, but only done in lipstick.  To top it all off they're all laid in gold lame (yeah it says 'lame', like me because I can't be bothered to find out how to get the accent on it).

It's another interview from a slightly suspicious journalist, James Brown, who can't help but print all of their lurid stories and grand plans, but to coin a phrase maybe still doesn't think they're for real - "They're confused, intolerant, jealous, angst-ridden snots whose only hope is their lust for life at the top, and their peculiar androgynous sex appeal".  They end up having a 'row' (I expect this is slightly over the top given the Manics' usually laid back interview technique), which with hindsight could have prompted 4 Real, which was just around the corner.  James makes a brilliant point with "We get compared to the greatest bands ever and are accused of being crap, if you start comparing the music journalists to the greatest writers ever you soon see how shit they are too".  Ouch.

It's a classic interview, Nicky's attempts at creating some kind of 'wild man of rock' reputation with his exploits are dashed with the description of him with his blouse, "a tube of Pritt stick, some scissors and an Irish pop magazine".  For every declaration of intent there's something like James and Sean still sharing bunk beds at home to bring it home that they're still just one of us.  By the closing line our writer seems won over to a certain extent - "Every man must know his limitations, Manic Street Preachers don't.  And they're better for it.  Love them or laugh".

A week later 'You Love Us' is reviewed in the NME by Simon Dudfield, so bound to get a good review then.  The last line sums it up nicely: "The Manics are still the most daring band in Britain.  Official."  If only there was some grand gesture that would capture EVERYONE's attention, not just the converted.......

Motown Junk

So you've stirred up the press, played a few gigs and got yourself a bit of attention - what next?  Ideally release a single that would live up to everything you've been saying and completely blow everybody away.  It didn't quite work out like that yet, but if anything could be that single it's 'Motown Junk'.  I'm really not exaggerating by saying this may be my favourite song of all time, top 5 definitely.  This also happens to be where I join the Manics story.

My older brother used to watch Snub on BBC2 regularly, so I would watch it occasionally too, and I'm fairly certain that I saw the brief interview and performance, although I didn't think too much about it amongst the multitude of other bands that would be on.  What I remember more was seeing a 10 second clip at number 9 in the Indie Charts on the Chart Show, mainly because they seemed pretty funny next to the usual shoegazers, baggy bands and transit van merchants.  At 12 years old I was only just leaving behind my early record collection of Aha, Rick Astley and Wet Wet Wet (unfortunately true), during the course of 1991 they would be replaced by the likes of The Farm, EMF and Flowered Up.

So I'd been introduced but not yet converted.  For 10 years I only owned 'Motown Junk' on record, as the B-side to 'Slash and Burn', and I think it's perfectly suited to listening on record.  The intro and outro, the generally tinny feel - maybe this was what Eddie Vedder was listening to when he wrote 'Spin the Black Circle' (I doubt it).  I picked up the 12" later on, in my early Ebay period, even though I had the B-sides elsewhere it was a gap in my collection that was relatively cheap to fill.  I also picked up the 20th anniversary 7" from Ebay more recently, as well as gaining another identical 7" inside the National Treasures boxset!

As with the other releases so far the artwork is fairly underwhelming compared to their image and press, although obviously a powerful image.  The mostly black back cover contains the lyrics from the chorus as well as an incendiary William Burroughs quote:

"Rock and Roll adolescents storm into the streets of all nations.  They rush into the Louvre and throw acid in the Mona Lisa's face.  They open zoos, insane asylums, prisons, burst water mains with air hammers, chop the floor out of passenger plane lavatories, shoot out lighthouses, turn sewers into the water supply, administer injections with bicycle pumps, they shit on the floor of the United Nations and wipe their ass with treaties, pacts, alliances."

The music and lyrics certainly matched the sentiment of that quote.  As the echoes of 'Revolution, Revolution...' first spring to life it's like all their small town boredom and resentment is being slowly condensed until that little crackle of feedback starts a chain reaction (no pun intended, Diana Ross fans) and it finally goes supernova as the band kicks in.

As far as opening lines go, "Never ever wanted to be with you, the only thing you gave me was the boredom I suffocated in" isn't a bad one, it fits the early Manics mood perfectly (interestingly, I linked the 'Motown Junk' video once to an American friend of mine who was previously oblivious to their existence, she has since always referred to them as the 'Whoo-hoos' after the sound following that opening line).

As good as their output had been to date, I don't think anyone would have expected THIS.  No one around at the time was playing music this wired, this exciting and with the closing line of "we live in urban hell, we destroy rock and roll" you may have just started to believe them.  I have to mention the fact that, even though they have avoided it for quite some time now, I still like the 'I laughed when Lennon got shot' line.  Not because I think it's funny when people die (obviously) but because it was just their way at the time to get up as many people's noses as possible.  Although maybe that was taken a bit too far later on....

One of the older songs, 'Sorrow 16', is the first B-side and shows they can do melody just as well as adrenalin-fuelled rock/punk/whatever-you-want-to-call-it.  I would go as far as saying this may be the best B-side of any band on any single, with the possible exception of 'Just a Day' by fellow Welshmen Feeder, although that can be ruled out of the running as they came to their senses and put it in its rightful place later on.

So, following the best song of all time and the best B-side of all time must be an anti-climax, right?  Yes and no.  'We Her Majesty's Prisoners' is the weakest track of the three but is still a great song.  Much more understated than the previous tracks, Nicky certainly wasn't stretched recording it, with a mostly one note bassline for a lot of the song.  Piano made an appearance on the chorus too, along with the controversy seeking line of 'Ceremonial Rape Machine', which didn't quite make it as the final title.  It all ends with a big rock outro with a brief vocal appearance from a Mr N.Wire to round things off.

The single was reviewed in the 26th January 1991 edition of NME, described as "the wildest sounding record this week by several universes".  They seem to get the idea, going on to claim it "makes you want to punch some poor bastard out or storm the Winter Palace".  The hype was obviously working on the press.

The Snub appearance I referred to earlier can be found on a DVD compilation (yes, you guessed it, picked up from Ebay) called Televised Propaganda.  It's another one I'll be coming back to over and again as time goes on as it contains pretty much all the Manics' television appearances up until the 'Everything Must Go' era over 3 discs.

It starts off with an interview, talking about topics such as youth culture, with quotes like "we just want to mix politics and sex and look good onstage and say brilliant things" and "we're the most original band of the last 15 years" rolling off Richey's tongue as if he has been rehearsing (he probably had).  But in print it sounds like some brash, loud, arrogant band making wild statements to grab attention.  In reality Richey is talking quietly and self-consciously, making minimal eye contact while the rest of the band stand awkwardly, eyes darting around the room.  Nicky in particular is almost rocking backwards and forwards waiting for his moment before contributing "we'll never write a love song ever, full stop.  We'll be dead before we have to do that anyway".  They then try and alienate themselves further from their peers by claiming they only want to appear in the likes of the Sun, the Star and the Mirror rather than the NME.  Talk about biting the hand that feeds...

It finishes with what will later become the 'Motown Junk' video.  Essentially a live performance with the studio version dubbed over the top it showcases the Manics in full 'stencilled shirts and white jeans' mode, although Sean is letting the side down a bit with his bright blue and yellow top.  The lads give it their all, throwing all their best rock star shapes to match the thrill of the music.  The slow motion ending sums it all up though at this stage, as Nicky flails around with his bass, James does his first recorded spin on one leg....while the crowd just stands there staring.  Still some way to go then before the public is won over, but they have the attention of the press and now, without any shadow of a doubt, the songs to back it up.

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......

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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

New Art Riot

After the release of their first proper single the Manics were to develop their studio tans over the coming months, being in and out of the studio recording songs for various releases.

Even though they didn't see the light of day for about 18 months, on the 'Feminine is Beautiful' 7", the next songs to be recorded were credited on the invaluable bootleg 'Tortured Genius' as being recorded in Xmas 89.  As I mentioned in the last blog, 'Feminine is Beautiful' is one of the Manics releases that has eluded me, simply because of its rarity and ridiculous price tag.  Maybe I should have bought it before I had a mortgage, then I might have felt less guilty about the expense!

This is where bootlegs come in handy, as you can hear the songs for a fraction of the price!  The two songs featured, 'Repeat After Me' and 'New Art Riot', sound like they were recorded in a hurry as the sound quality and performance sounds like a slight step backwards.  The stop-start nature of the early version of 'Repeat' seems to cause havoc with them all failing to come in at the same time, so it all sounds a little shambolic.  Well, in the case of 'Repeat' that should be more shambolic given that it's practically falling apart even when played well!

'New Art Riot' sounds slightly fast compared to the more familiar version, in actual fact if someone told me this was recorded live it wouldn't surprise me as that's how it sounds.  Sean in particular shines on this one, holding everything together with precision, a big difference to the previous track!

Again, in the spirit of 'going in the studio, bashing out songs and then giving them away' comes 'UK Channel Boredom' from April 1990.  This was given away as half of a flexi disc, to quote the inside of the sleeve 'This flexi proberbly (sic) got to you with Hopelessly Devoted or Coldmining FANZINE'.  Also appearing on the disc are The Laurens with the song 'I Don't Know What the Trouble is' - me neither, I think I probably listened to the song once when I got it and erased it from my memory (I obviously couldn't even be bothered to listen to it as part of this blog).

Everyone of a certain age knows that flexi discs are absolutely hopeless - if you put them on as normal then they jump constantly and if you try and weigh the needle down to stop it happening it virtually grinds to a halt.  Thankfully 'Tortured Genius' comes up trumps again so I can listen to it without the trauma (although the version on here is cut off at the end).

B-side connoisseurs will also know this song as 'A Vision of Dead Desire' from the second 'You Love Us' single.  In fact I remember when I finally got around to hearing this fabled rare track from the flexi disc, I was slightly shocked to find I already knew it well!  It's essentially the same song with a different chorus minus all the rock trimmings of the 'Generation Terrorists' era, however having said that it still has more of a rock 'n' roll feel to it than the Manics other material so far.

The cover of the flexi shows all four of them, the first sleeve to feature Richey who is trying to look cool with a cigarette in his mouth, while James nonchalantly turns away.  The rest of the artwork is typical cut and paste fanzine fare, with the lyrics printed and what appears to be Richey's address this time.  This would appear to be around the time where Richey takes over his role as master of propaganda and the lyrics are also taking on a more familiar format, lines like 'Underclass coma zone' and 'Mainline on a death fix' developing that classic Manics syntax.

For some reason I had ignored the existence of 'New Art Riot' until I finally bought the 12" around 1996.  Long free periods whilst at university wandering around Middlesbrough's record shops finally led to me picking up the record from Alan Fearnley's, a record shop known for its dance 12"s but also a good source of cheap indie and rock LPs or singles (it has since closed).  Many a time I would spend an hour browsing the whole shop and then wander up to the counter with a 50p CD single!  Even then the chaotic filing system behind the counter meant there was no guarantee they could actually find the record or CD to fit in the sleeve in your hand.

The 12" I actually bought was a little warped, so to this day I hear all 4 songs in my head swirling around even when I listen to them on CD (they are included on the 'Turning Rebellion into Money' bootleg)!  The last few chords of 'Teenage 20/20' were always particularly vulnerable to that.  My record is just a bog-standard version - blue cover, black vinyl with a green and silver label.  I can be a sucker for a bit of fancy packaging or a picture disc, but different coloured sleeves and labels don't really make me want to go hunting the different variations down.

Oh, the music?  Yes, there's some of that too.  I actually think that 'New Art Riot' itself was previously one of my most underrated Manics songs.  I have no idea why but for a while I didn't rate it particularly highly, now I think it would earn its place among their most important songs.  Then again this is coming from me, the idiot who really wasn't keen on 'A Design for Life' after a first listen (to this day I never trust my first listen to any song now).

After the dry run on 'Feminine is Beautiful', the sound quality is much better this time around, however on the whole EP the energy and the buzz of the early Manics that was evident on some of the live recordings at the time has been sucked out of them a bit in the sterile confines of the studio.  Maybe I'm being a bit harsh there because it still sounds great.  The song is unchanged from the earlier version in content, with the lyrics definitely continuing to take shape.  In fact, in terms of pure impact, I think 'New Art Riot' contains some of my favourite ever lines in the likes of the infamous 'Hospital closures kill more than car bombs ever will' and 'Revolution soon dies, sold out for a pay rise'.  It's a shame James still sounds a little on the polite side to fully do the lyrics justice.

'Strip it Down' is almost like a double A side, another strong song, punk with melodies with its clash (no pun intended) between punky and jangly guitar (almost as if James is trying to emulate Richey's onstage guitar sound!).  It's also difficult to avoid drawing a comparison with a certain chord progression in Mr Carbohydrate later on in the song.  It's interesting to wonder about the thinking behind the track selection for this EP - of the songs included in the Horse and Groom gig from just under a year earlier did they feel that 'Suicide Alley', 'New Art Riot' and 'Strip it Down' were their strongest songs and should be the first to be released properly?  Or were they holding back what they thought were their better songs for future use, 'Faceless Sense of Void' or 'Sorrow 16' perhaps?

No matter what the intention, the B-side definitely contained more appropriate B-side songs.  Not to say they're bad or even average, Manics B-sides very rarely are, but they don't quite reach the heights of the previous two songs.  'Last Exit on Yesterday' motors along with a shuffling beat, James showcasing his increasing grasp on his triple role of lead and rhythm guitar to go alongside his singing duties, while 'Teenage 20/20' and its Johnny B. Goode style intro and unorthodox drumbeat completes the lineup.  For some reason the latter has always made me feel like I'm somehow hearing the verses wrong, like I'm hearing the beat backwards or something.  Incidentally has anyone got any idea what James is singing on the chorus?  I know a lyric sheet is required at the best of times but this one certainly beats me!

The quotes on the sleeve are both ones that would be taken either completely or in part and used in future lyrics - "I am nothing and should be everything" - Karl Marx (later used in 'Methadone Pretty' of course) and "You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke too.  A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking.  All Cokes are the same and all Cokes are good.  Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it."  "NATIONALISM IS A CREATED PRODUCT" (shortened thankfully in 'Slash and Burn', although Madonna was obviously far more appealing to the Manics than Liz Taylor).

The cover itself seems fairly bland in comparison to the lyrical content, artwork was obviously not as high up in their agenda at this point in time as it was later on.  But onwards and upwards, another few releases under their belts and the press were now starting to sit up and take notice....

Suicide Alley

So this is it.  The big one.  The first release proper, the first 7".  I've had CDs produced before and know the feeling of holding a copy in your hand for the first time (I liked mine so much that I kept almost all the copies that were pressed...or was it that no one wanted one?).  So in 1989, when vinyl and cassette would still have ruled, the feeling of having pressed a record would be multiplied, the feeling of achievement magnified.  Like something a 'proper' band would do.

And the Manics were on the way to becoming a proper band.  They had moved on since the early demos, having their first (and second) lineup change with the introduction (and subsequent ejection) of Flicker on bass, and they had started playing gigs locally.  This was where it all started to get serious.

I have to admit straight away that this is not one of the original 300, as you can probably tell by the pristine condition of the sleeve.  I certainly don't claim to have been a fan at the time (I had just turned 11) and even though I have spent some silly money on Manics memorabilia in the past I draw the line at £1000-plus for a 7" record containing songs I already have elsewhere.  So, off the top of my head, 'Suicide Alley' and 'Feminine is Beautiful' (coming up in the next blog) remain the only proper Manics releases I don't own,  although as I mentioned the songs crop up elsewhere.

This particular 7" is one of those that used to crop up on Ebay where the buyer was offered the choice of either black or red vinyl.  So I was under no illusions that it was a re-press as we all know that the originals were never printed on red vinyl.  I obviously went for the black to keep up the pretence.  It's numbered as 063/480 which is another give-away as there were only 300 made - whether this number has any bearing on how many were re-pressed or if it was just a random number added for attempted authenticity is open to debate.  As an aside I now have another copy through the National Treasures box-set in a strange sepia-like shade, but that's for a much later blog.

No matter what anyone says you have to admit the cover is pretty hilarious, Nicky pouting at the front, Sean trying to look hard (it's never going to happen Sean) and James actually living up to his name with his best James Dean pose.  But it's probably the uniform white shirts and trousers and black leather jackets that do it, a million miles from their imminent switch to panda eyes and big girls' blouses.

The sleeve also features the first of many quotes (I love how this started from the very beginning), not credited to anyone in this case so may even be their own (I'm sure someone will correct me on this):

"Young people pose the only effective challenge to established authority.  Established authority is well aware of the challenge.  Established authority is moving against young people everywhere, it is now virtually a crime to be young ! !"

This is highly likely to have been the first Richey input to the band.  Also printed down one side is an address in Pontllanfraith, presumably James' house.  I wonder how many fans have been to this address!

Oh yeah, there's some music on it too....I love 'Suicide Alley', it's not likely to come in anyone's top 10 Manics songs, but I'd have it on any best of album any day, it's just two and a half minutes of energy.  I first heard it, as I expect many fans did, on the B-side of 'Little Baby Nothing' and it seemed like this funny little tinny punk song (which I suppose it is).  My brother once met James in HMV in Middlesbrough before the first Manics gig I went to on the 'Life Becoming a Landslide' tour, and I'm sure I remember him telling me that he told James that 'Motown Junk' and 'Suicide Alley' were his favourite songs.  How to endear yourself to a musician, lesson number 1 - tell them that their earliest and most primitive material is the best when they are going through a bit of a muso phase!

Compared with the demos discussed in previous blogs the music has improved immeasurably, Sean in particular keeps things much tighter.  Your band really is as good as your drummer - have a crap drummer and you can write the best songs in the world and they'll still sound awful.  And while it's by no means particularly flashy I've always loved James' lead part at the end - it shows that all their rehearsing and their live outings were starting to pay off.

The flip side, 'Tennessee (I Get Low)', was never really one of my favourite 'Generation Terrorists' tracks, although it immediately sounds more mature than 'Suicide Alley'.  On the whole it is very similar to the album version, although with different lyrics and the production making it sound a lot more jangly. Picking up on the earlier point about musicianship there is an amazing outro led by Sean, which could easily fall apart and sounds even more impressive given the limited recording time and therefore limited number of takes.

Both songs also turned up on the 'Underground Rockers Volume 2' compilation, a record I bought a few years ago mainly to complete my Senseless Things collection rather than for the two Manics songs, but two birds, one stone and all that.  Other highlights include The AB's with 'Englebert Humperdink's Racing Pigeon' - that's highlights in spelling and grammar rather than music (note the mis-spelling of Tennessee also).  It seems like a strange title and cover for what essentially seems to be a punk compilation.

Around the same time that 'Suicide Alley' was coming out in August 1989 the Manics ventured out for their first London gig.at the Horse and Groom, which is captured for posterity on the trusty old 'Tortured Genius' bootleg.

Kicking off with 'New Art Riot' they sound really good and really together given their inexperience.  Something tells me that if there were pictures to go alongside the music they might tell a different story, the bravado of the music balanced out by the slightly awkward, self-conscious soundbites between songs, such as 'Every time we turn to have a drink it isn't rock and roll, it's just we need one'.  Delivered in a classic Wire sneer that might just about work, but it comes from James like a mouse reading from a piece of paper...if mice could talk obviously.  And read.

As the first song ends there's a burst of what sounds to me like genuine applause, on this evidence I'd have to disagree with Simon Price's description of it being 'polite - if bemused'. The bemused looks may have greeted them as they set foot on the stage, but they do seem to be going down well.  'Ta, that's the most applause we've ever had' replies James genuinely as all readers inwardly sigh and say 'Bless'.

Next up are a couple of future B-sides - 'Soul Contamination' and 'Dead Yankee Drawl'.  Unlike some other early songs which turned up later on they're pretty much the same as the recorded versions and I can't help being surprised by how good they sound.  If some journalists were put off by their image at first, then hearing them without this distraction it's clear that they're already on form.

The next song 'Anti-Love' never turned up anywhere else other than this recording (apart from this same version on the 'Lipstick Traces' bootleg), however I expect it would have made a decent B-side, something the Manics would never be short of.

'Strip it Down' follows and this seems to be the first example of your classic clash between the Manics and an over-enthusiastic soundman - audible Richey guitar!  Listening out for it is always a fun sport to play, especially on live tracks where James momentarily stops playing.  The same thing happens again on the next song 'Destroy the Dancefloor', where you can hear Richey scratching away behind James' solo.  Another track which doesn't turn up anywhere else (again, apart from the 'Lipstick Traces' bootleg) it's preceded by James' claim of 'Can't sing this one'.  Like 'Anti-Love' it would have made a decent B-side and allows James to showcase his improved guitar playing with plenty of widdly bits.

'Sorrow 16' is next and makes you think what good songs they had even at that early stage.  In the early days of a band it's surprising how many good songs can get lost as a B-side just because the song was used too early, in the absence of anything else.  The Manics were obviously aware of that as a few of them ended up being re-used further down the line.

'Faceless Sense of Void' is the stepping stone between 'Just Can't be Happy' and 'Love's Sweet Exile'.  It's much faster than both of those songs, with Sean absolutely on fire, and the lyrics have changed completely from the former, much closer now to the latter, although without the chorus from which it took its final title.  It's an excellent version, making you wonder what prompted them to hold it back before recording it properly in its new state.

The show closes with 'Suicide Alley', a fitting set closer being the single and all, and oh look I think I can hear Richey again!  The song ends pretty abruptly, presumably before the Manics actually left the stage, but you imagine the applause from throughout carried on.  All in all it's a cracking set, which is even more impressive given that it's predominantly made up of future B-sides and is their first London gig. The Manics now had one foot in the door and with a 7" in the bag and an energetic and a very listenable live set were well on the way to making people sit up and take notice.

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.....