Whilst "Everything Must Go" had defiant lyrics and sparkling arrangements (remember the revelatory Northern soul stomp of the title track?), much of the new album takes on a more sober, mature stance, as if its the work of people experiencing deep feelings of betrayal and regret that they cant identify the source of, people whove been offered the moon on a stick and found that it created as many problems as it solved (a bit like The Boo Radleys after "Wake Up Boo!" granted them success beyond their wildest dreams and they realised that theyd rather make weird and wacky left-field new psychedelia instead). And that might go some way towards explaining why "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" is their mellowest album yet. Its also the first Manics album bereft of any of Richeys lyrics: remember, it was their determination to write around his sprawling, uncompromising verse without sweetening it that made "The Holy Bible" such a challenging, almost unlistenable, listen. "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" is their first post-post-Richey album, in the sense that its the first to be released to the scrutiny of the massively expanded fanbase (myself included) "Everything Must Go" afforded them, the album that could make or break them even though theyve undoubtedly been made and broken dozens of times before. Even now, five albums into their career, the feelings of questing and expectation, of bravura and belief in the face of adversity, hasnt subsided. The thing about the Manics is that each of their albums suggests the work of a band desperately trying to prove themselves: from the manifestos and sloganeering of "Generation Terrorists" to their first post-Richey work "Everything Must Go" the impression is of a band operating against the traditional expectations of both the music industry and the public. PAST ARCHIVES Manic Street Preachers MANIC STREET PREACHERS This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (Epic)
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