Day 0826 - Everything Must Go

Manic Street Preachers "Everything Must Go" (1996)

Following the disappearance of guitarist Richey Edwards the band relocated themselves to France with producer Mike Hedges to work on the follow-up to "The Holy Bible" (see day 777).

The sound of the previous album was dark, angsty and brittle.   "Everything Must Go" instead brings energy and a cathartic, at times almost euphoric sound.

This album features single "A Design for life" which was my introduction to the band back in the 90s sometime.   I'm not a hardcore MSP fan by any stretch of the imagination, I have a greatest hits album, and that's it.   Having said that I frequently hear sounds from them that I enjoy, and definitely the two albums on this list so far are full of 'good bits'.

Day 0777 - The Holy Bible

Manic Street Preachers "The Holy Bible" (1994)

Possibly the darkest MSP album, and the last featuring guitarist Richey Edwards who disappeared suddenly during the promotion for the album.  To this day it's not known what happened to him or where he went.

In addition to the situation with Edwards, vocalist/lyricist/guitarist James Dean Bradfield was suffering depression, alcohol abuse, self-harm and anorexia.  This is not the sing-along preachiness of latter stage MSP, this is some grinding, grim and angsty rock.   The guitar riffs are distorted and angular, my favourite being "the Intense Humming of Evil" which sounds like a mix of NIN, TOOL and Radiohead.

The album did not sell well initially, though it was critically vaunted.   The band were probably just a bit ahead of their time, with gloom and angst... which would be fairly marketable over the next few years.   I personally thought it was a great slice of rock.

Day 0440 - Quiet Life

Japan "Quiet Life" (1979)

I've never heard of Japan before (well... not the band.  I've heard of a Japan), but apparently their move from glam rock to trendy arthouse was "a revelation" - or so says the book.

This is quite nice, not amazing, but nice.  Reminds me of Duran Duran, but with sparser, dreamier production. Lots of fretless bass backed by synths.

Day 0424 - Germfree Adolescents

X-Ray Spex "Germfree Adolescents" (1978)

I was quite interested in this one, partly because I think the cover is kind of groovy. Plus the lead singer sounds like a kind of an interesting lady. She went on to renounce punk after having a religious vision, and made a couple of more mellow albums under her own name. Then she left music altogether to focus on her Krishnan studies.

The music is pretty enjoyable punk rock.  The saxophone adds an extra flavour to the mix.  All in all it's like a mix of Roxy Music, the Runaways and the Stooges.  It's full of raw aggression, and Poly Styrene has a hell of a yell on her.