TUVL: Your First Listen Thoughts

[Mr Richey]

“Still Snowing In Sapporo”, “Quest For Ancient Colour”, “Happy Bored Alone” and that piano only version of “The Secret He Had Missed” are the only tracks I like unfortunately. And I got the leak so I’ve been listening to it for a week already and it’s just not doing anything for me. I am a sad Manics fan.

[Porco]

Originally Posted by Jack

is it me or does it sound like they've used the same guitar lick on multiple songs? not sure the muso term for it but think of the solo at the end of recuerda.

maybe I should be kind and call it a 'motif'? it's also there in the piano chords at the start or Orwellian

Yeah, for sure, I think you’re right. But I also think re-using motifs, riffs, licks is fine if it’s not over-done, and everyone’s tolerance for that will be different. I think it’s interesting people seem generally less concerned with re-use of words and themes (i.e. subject matter) where it’s seen as perfectly ok, poetic even, than musical repetition between songs or albums. But if you have a bucket of Lego, you can build countless different models. Context matters so much.

“I built so many walls…” “my cheeks are turning yellow” ‘No one nose: what it's like to be me’ - see it’s all about Lego really…

TUVL has a lot of themes that have been covered before in various respects, but given the context and possible interpretations they bring new meanings. If Another Invented Disease was release today, it could be assumed it had a COVID angle. Loss and death and melancholia crop up all the time, but with this album we know the context Nicky has lost his parents, and that knowledge surely has a part to play if one is paying attention. Maybe any musical licks or phrases from Even In Exile also have a connection that extends beyond the surface too, if one wants to read those things into it.

Where James interprets words into music and any of the words and themes find themselves repeated, whether by intent or coincidence from Nicky rather then Patrick, perhaps it’s not surprising, and possibly interesting to consider that interaction, especially through the connections one can draw…

[cameron33]

Really enjoyed it on first listen. Very cohesive. Mostly simple straightforward chord choices and pop song structures, a lot of “west end show” type melodies, but JDB has always had a penchant for the Big Singalong type stuff. Some interesting instrumentation and nice ornamentations and solos throughout which helps to keep things from getting too predictable.

Happy Bored Alone and Into the Waves of Love weakest for me on first listen, both sound a bit B-Sideish. I think all the other songs are quite strong in their own ways.

Would I buy this record if I wasn’t a fairly hardcore Manics fan? I can’t answer that as I just like the Manics songwriting instincts and sound! It’s a bit like asking if I’d like the new Cadbury’s bar if I wasn’t a chocolate fan: I’m virtually guaranteed to like anything they put out, it’s just the way it is. I just wish I could find some music by a few new artists that held the same appeal. Try as I might to get into some more new stuff, my playlist has been mostly diapaused(??) for nearly twenty years!

[Porco]

I think I’ve listened to the album 13 or 14 times now, and am starting to form more solid views, lol.

Still Snowing In Sapporo, Quest For Ancient Colour, Diapause, Complicated Illusions, Happy Bored Alone are probably my top 5, but I don’t know exactly what order. Diapause is probably my favourite if I had to pick one right now.

Into The Waves Of Love and Don’t Let The Night Divide Us are vying for my least-favourite two tracks, but I like them too.

I love the production, I love the lyrics, though I still think some feel slightly awkwardly phrased/crammed or stretched… but that’s kind of signature Manics. I love the loose, slightly dreamy feel at times, and I totally get it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

It feels at once similar in some aspects to all their other work, yet simultaneously unique, in that very Manics-esque, paradoxical and enigmatic manner.

I love it.

[cameron33]

@wireobsessed
I can see that perspective. I’ve only listened once all the way through. I think there are at least five or six very good songs on the album. Will any of them come to rank on the top 30 or even top 40 Manics tracks? Possibly not, but I’m not really expecting that at this stage in their career. Creativity within you own niche gets harder as the years go by and you inevitably end up retreading old ground (or chord progressions, themes etc).

Anyway, it sounds a nice cohesive album and I think many if not most of the songs on it might feature among the “better half” of their 200 odd (?) songs. The fact that there aren’t perhaps any absolutely “killer” compositions on it doesn’t necessarily write it off for me as a disappointment. At least not yet.

[Lee]

Anyone having issues with the iTunes download?

I downloaded Orwellian when it came out but it’s appearing as a separate track and not appearing on the (deluxe) downloaded album?

[blackflower]

On my third listen and I am loving it without really being able to explain why. It's not like "Lifeblood" in sound, but I feel like it perfectly encapsulates a particular period of life in the same way that album did. It feels very comfortable and familiar, which may sound like faint praise, but it turns out that's really what I want from the Manics right now.

Also, on being familiar, not sure if this has been mentioned before but "Blank Diary Entry" seems to use the exact same chord sequence from Bowie's "Blackstar" at the end of the choruses. It sounds brilliant but once I recognised it, it's so obvious that I'm surprised Bowie's not in the songwriting credits!

[savemejebus]

Originally Posted by Dancing Kirby

Between the Clock and the Bed was low key the best song on Futurology.

Even though it sounded like James dueting with Stewie Griffin?

[db26]

Just done first listen.
Love the opening three tracks. The singles sound much better as album tracks for some reason. Also really like Diapause and Afterending. Complicated Illusions is this albums "Distant Colours" for me which isn't a bad thing imo. Understand some of the comments that some of the tracks passed me by a bit but plenty of time for them to sink in.

Overall, even though this one almost certainly won't trouble the top half of their top album league, I love the fact that they have again done an album that sounds almost nothing like any of their others. Long may that continue.

[theraven1979]

I like it. I like it a lot but then I love Lifeblood. Expansive, melodic, classy, Abba etc.

[Europa Gluten Free]

Anyone not connecting with the songs should watch the St Davids Hall gig on Iplayer. The songs sound a million times better there. Especially Don't Let the Night Divide Us.

[cameron33]

Surprised at the negativity toward Don’t Let the Night Divide Us. I think that songs an absolute blast. I thought the lyrics might be a bit heavy handed (in particular the middle eight “Eton” bit) but think it works in the context of the song.

[cameron33]

This album is way superior to Resistance is Futile. I can’t for the life of me figure how the professional critics have put these roughly on a par. I couldn’t really argue with a 3* assessment of the latter, but album to me this to me this sounds 4* at minimum.
RiF had half a dozen really good songs, but felt like a really generic effort composition wise, and retreading old ground textures/ production/instrumentation wise (which is why it’s more or less at the bottom of my list). This album sounds really fresh by comparison, I really like its unconscious ease with melody pared with some interesting sound textures. Even Complicated Illusions, your typical sort of latter day Manics anthem, has a certain lightness about it and doesn’t grate. No mean feat for a 14th album!

[cameron33]

That should be *un self-conscious* ease with melody, ie it’s happy to be unabashedly melodic/pop.

[Glyn]

The home demos are making me very nostalgic for IKTZ.
Complicated Illusions is mix of Ritual No1 and Break my Heart Slowly. Don't Let The Night Divide Us could have been a great Wire indie track.